madriverman
Pre-Flight
Hi Guys!
Passed my PPL Check Ride this past weekend! Whew. We only have one examiner around here so we have lots of beta on his profile. Strangley...the Check Ride was not like any profile I had heard of from 3 CFIs and two students who had taken a ride with this Examiner. Here's a little recap:
After the oral, we walked to the airplane (C182L). I had flown that morning so he told me that I didn’t need to preflight. He was cold and wanted to get the show on the road.
I used the checklist to start the engine…I began to brief him. He told me he did not need a passenger briefing and knew how to work the doors and the seat belt. He urged me to get going.
I made my call to Unicom. I taxied to 31 and did a run up. Made sure I checked my checklist to ensure I did not miss a thing. I asked him if he’d like to see a soft field take off because I know he is hot on them and he said yes. While working through the run up and doing final checks, he nonchalantly mentioned that there was snow past the threshold. I lower 20 degree flaps and talk through the procedure for a SF t/o, make my departing call and roll past the threshold, forgetting that in his incessant talking (he does this to throw you off your game), that he mentioned the snow. As I roll past the threshold, he says, “Well you just buried your nose wheel in all that snow. Better get out and push.” I say “really?” He says, “No, but soft fields don’t begin on the runway—this is real life, not practice life.” Damn good advice.
We depart. He tells me to climb to 7500 feet. While doing so he has me put on the foggles. Once foggles were on, he has me vector towards a tiny private airpark about 20 miles north of my airport. He’s talking the whole time. Asking questions about family, flying, work…just trying to throw me off.
Under the hood he has me track toward the field, do slow flight above the stall horn speed (50 mph, full flaps)…no turns, no descents or anything…just fly in slow flight. We do 2 recoveries from unusual attitudes under the hood. Both were nose high. Then the hood comes off. He’s still talking.
Still in slow flight, he asks me to go full power, full flaps and stall the airplane. I had never done a full flap, full power stall—I tell him this. He asks, “Well, what are you going to do if you stall on a go around?” I say, good point. We do one…lots of left yaw. Lots. I ask to do one more. Tons of right foot and nail it.
We then head to this tiny field…he’s still talking the whole time. I did not have the airport info handy for what I thought was a pretty random request…he shows me how to find it on the Garmin 430…I make my call to traffic. He tells me I talk to much on the radio. I say I am announcing my position in case of other traffic. He says I don’t have to. I slow up the airplane to give me more time. He asks why?
He tells me to land. It’s fully snow covered. Looks like it hadnt been used since the snow started falling months ago. He tells me to land on RWY 04—I ask if I can do right traffic due to the 500' hills surrounding the strip. He says, no—the standard is left traffic. I begin to **** my pants. Fully snow covered, terrain all around, I do my prelanding check (GUMP), cross midfield and turn downwind, with 20 degree flaps, I notice I am high and add full flaps…and line up on final. Nervous of the tiny, snow covered runway, with no obvious centerline, and terrain all around, I begin to sweat. I keep my speed just under 80, still high, he asks me to do a slip. More sweat. I get down quick, bleed my speed, keep the nose up, kick the rudder, and bam—greased it. He says, “good job! Let’s do another but from the other direction.” We taxi to the end of 04, turn around, he cautions me not to stop because that’s an immediate fail…we depart on 22 and he mentions how rare it is to do an actual soft field on a check ride (lucky me). We climb 500, left turn, downwind, base…making calls the whole time, he tells me to stop making calls and fly the airplane. High again, we slip again…same deal, just landing the other way this time—he has me do a touch and go, which on a very short runway seems a bit scary. He’s still talking.
We then proceed to 6700 feet, make a right turn and he asks me to do some S turns over the highway. Done. He has me do turns about a point. Done. He directs me back to my origin airport and after 45 seconds pulls the engine. “Where you going to land?” I get to 80mph and begin to pick my field. I find a nice one. Really nice. And he says, “Why the hell would you land in a field and flip me upside down when you can land at the airport below us.” We were right over the soft field!!! But it wasn’t in front of me—and the pressure of the check ride…didn’t even occur to me where I was!!! So, we turn left, super high for Rwy 22, slip down into…100 feet above the ground he says, “Deer in the runway!” I push carb heat in and then power for the go around…he screams, “FAIL! That’s a FAIL!!!!” Fully ****ting my pants now, I ask, “What’s a fail?” He says on a go around, NEVER put carb heat to cold before power. That can freeze up the engine—he’s seen it happen. Always power first on a go around. Always. I tell him I will never, ever, ever do it again—he says, “Good.” Still talking.
We head towards Montrose. I level off at 7000 feet and we do steep turns. I do some clearing turns, pick a point, line up my DG bug, make sure I am trimmed and enter my steep turn to the right. At 30 degrees add power…I watch the dot on my attitude indicator, watch airspeed, watch, heading, watch outside, watch altitude…roll into one to the left, same, same…DONE. The whole time, have I mentioned, that he’s talking?
We head back to MTJ. Straight in for 13. I announce my position. He reminds me again that I don’t have to in Class E. He says this will be a normal landing. I think, “finally.”
Days after, my PTSD is subsiding and have had the family out for a few flights. Loving it.
Passed my PPL Check Ride this past weekend! Whew. We only have one examiner around here so we have lots of beta on his profile. Strangley...the Check Ride was not like any profile I had heard of from 3 CFIs and two students who had taken a ride with this Examiner. Here's a little recap:
After the oral, we walked to the airplane (C182L). I had flown that morning so he told me that I didn’t need to preflight. He was cold and wanted to get the show on the road.
I used the checklist to start the engine…I began to brief him. He told me he did not need a passenger briefing and knew how to work the doors and the seat belt. He urged me to get going.
I made my call to Unicom. I taxied to 31 and did a run up. Made sure I checked my checklist to ensure I did not miss a thing. I asked him if he’d like to see a soft field take off because I know he is hot on them and he said yes. While working through the run up and doing final checks, he nonchalantly mentioned that there was snow past the threshold. I lower 20 degree flaps and talk through the procedure for a SF t/o, make my departing call and roll past the threshold, forgetting that in his incessant talking (he does this to throw you off your game), that he mentioned the snow. As I roll past the threshold, he says, “Well you just buried your nose wheel in all that snow. Better get out and push.” I say “really?” He says, “No, but soft fields don’t begin on the runway—this is real life, not practice life.” Damn good advice.
We depart. He tells me to climb to 7500 feet. While doing so he has me put on the foggles. Once foggles were on, he has me vector towards a tiny private airpark about 20 miles north of my airport. He’s talking the whole time. Asking questions about family, flying, work…just trying to throw me off.
Under the hood he has me track toward the field, do slow flight above the stall horn speed (50 mph, full flaps)…no turns, no descents or anything…just fly in slow flight. We do 2 recoveries from unusual attitudes under the hood. Both were nose high. Then the hood comes off. He’s still talking.
Still in slow flight, he asks me to go full power, full flaps and stall the airplane. I had never done a full flap, full power stall—I tell him this. He asks, “Well, what are you going to do if you stall on a go around?” I say, good point. We do one…lots of left yaw. Lots. I ask to do one more. Tons of right foot and nail it.
We then head to this tiny field…he’s still talking the whole time. I did not have the airport info handy for what I thought was a pretty random request…he shows me how to find it on the Garmin 430…I make my call to traffic. He tells me I talk to much on the radio. I say I am announcing my position in case of other traffic. He says I don’t have to. I slow up the airplane to give me more time. He asks why?
He tells me to land. It’s fully snow covered. Looks like it hadnt been used since the snow started falling months ago. He tells me to land on RWY 04—I ask if I can do right traffic due to the 500' hills surrounding the strip. He says, no—the standard is left traffic. I begin to **** my pants. Fully snow covered, terrain all around, I do my prelanding check (GUMP), cross midfield and turn downwind, with 20 degree flaps, I notice I am high and add full flaps…and line up on final. Nervous of the tiny, snow covered runway, with no obvious centerline, and terrain all around, I begin to sweat. I keep my speed just under 80, still high, he asks me to do a slip. More sweat. I get down quick, bleed my speed, keep the nose up, kick the rudder, and bam—greased it. He says, “good job! Let’s do another but from the other direction.” We taxi to the end of 04, turn around, he cautions me not to stop because that’s an immediate fail…we depart on 22 and he mentions how rare it is to do an actual soft field on a check ride (lucky me). We climb 500, left turn, downwind, base…making calls the whole time, he tells me to stop making calls and fly the airplane. High again, we slip again…same deal, just landing the other way this time—he has me do a touch and go, which on a very short runway seems a bit scary. He’s still talking.
We then proceed to 6700 feet, make a right turn and he asks me to do some S turns over the highway. Done. He has me do turns about a point. Done. He directs me back to my origin airport and after 45 seconds pulls the engine. “Where you going to land?” I get to 80mph and begin to pick my field. I find a nice one. Really nice. And he says, “Why the hell would you land in a field and flip me upside down when you can land at the airport below us.” We were right over the soft field!!! But it wasn’t in front of me—and the pressure of the check ride…didn’t even occur to me where I was!!! So, we turn left, super high for Rwy 22, slip down into…100 feet above the ground he says, “Deer in the runway!” I push carb heat in and then power for the go around…he screams, “FAIL! That’s a FAIL!!!!” Fully ****ting my pants now, I ask, “What’s a fail?” He says on a go around, NEVER put carb heat to cold before power. That can freeze up the engine—he’s seen it happen. Always power first on a go around. Always. I tell him I will never, ever, ever do it again—he says, “Good.” Still talking.
We head towards Montrose. I level off at 7000 feet and we do steep turns. I do some clearing turns, pick a point, line up my DG bug, make sure I am trimmed and enter my steep turn to the right. At 30 degrees add power…I watch the dot on my attitude indicator, watch airspeed, watch, heading, watch outside, watch altitude…roll into one to the left, same, same…DONE. The whole time, have I mentioned, that he’s talking?
We head back to MTJ. Straight in for 13. I announce my position. He reminds me again that I don’t have to in Class E. He says this will be a normal landing. I think, “finally.”
Days after, my PTSD is subsiding and have had the family out for a few flights. Loving it.
In any case, I'm pretty sure you're not going to get an iced up carb in the 2 seconds it takes to get the throttle forward.
