So, student pilots.. Who are we and where do we stand?

And that is how you pass a checkride.

*mic drop*

Been a long time coming. Discovery flight was 2003. Built up 30ish hours in 03-04. Had to quit. Tried again in 2011 but made it 3 lessons in. Finally finished it up this year. Feels good.
 
Congratulation!!! It is hard to stop and start over and over. I know from my own experiences, but you made it to your goal and that is what matters. Stories like yours give me hope. Thank you for sharing.
 
Well, got some IR rust knocked off today. 3.0 hours total, 2.4 Under the view limiting device. 5 approaches, 4 landings, an unsuccessful attempt at breakfast and a stop for cheap gas.

Flew from KORL (Orlando Exec) to LAL VORTAC and did the full VOR/DME 9L into Bartow (BOW) with missed approach, attempted to fly the missed as written but there was a traffic conflict. Vectored around and then did the VOR approach into Plant City (KPCM) with a circle to land T&G. Then ILS 9 into Lakeland (KLAL). Parked and walked across the street to the Holiday Garden Inn for breakfast. Missed it by that much (said in my best Agent 86 voice). Took off from KLAL, flew north, climbing to 2500 then back over the LAL VOR to start the VOR/DME into Winter Haven (KGIF). Landed and got $3.30/gallon avgas. Followed a Stearman in on final. He landed in the grass next to runway 5. He commented "Missed it again." :) Took off from there, and flew the ILS 7 into Orlando (KORL).

I'm beat.

John
 
Well I am officially a student again. Had a couple hours of ground training and took two flights today in a twin Comanche. Two takeoffs and landings at different airports, stalls, steep turns, and slow flight. Logged 2.5 so it was a productive day. It was weird jumping back into my plane after the lessons were over to fly to my weekend destination after flying the twin.
 
mulligan said:
Well I am officially a student again. Had a couple hours of ground training and took two flights today in a twin Comanche. Two takeoffs and landings at different airports, stalls, steep turns, and slow flight. Logged 2.5 so it was a productive day. It was weird jumping back into my plane after the lessons were over to fly to my weekend destination after flying the twin.
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Interesting feeling isn't it? Feel like a newbie in one, and hop in the other and it feels like you've never left and things are much easier.

Engine cuts in the pattern with the gear already down will get your attention soon! :) (Fair warning! Heh heh. Clean it up and then don't forget to put the gear back down!)

Multi is a wicked fun new challenge, honestly. Damn Ted for being the light twin marketing association's best friend around here... single engine flying doesn't make me broke nearly as fast as multi, but man it's fun.
 
denverpilot said:
Interesting feeling isn't it? Feel like a newbie in one, and hop in the other and it feels like you've never left and things are much easier.

Engine cuts in the pattern with the gear already down will get your attention soon! :) (Fair warning! Heh heh. Clean it up and then don't forget to put the gear back down!)

Multi is a wicked fun new challenge, honestly. Damn Ted for being the light twin marketing association's best friend around here... single engine flying doesn't make me broke nearly as fast as multi, but man it's fun.
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Just flew again in my single and it was like wow, this is so darn easy. The twin was pretty cool and fun but I will admit I have to get better at the whole speed/altitude in the pattern. The twin is so much faster and harder to slow down and maintain altitude and blue line and red line and center line and line line lol. Will be able to pick it up quick but the newness of it is an awesome challenge.
 
You'll get it Mulligan! Twin Comanche, where you doing that at? I know a guy does training out of Shelby Cty w/ a Comanche, there?
 
mscard88 said:
You'll get it Mulligan! Twin Comanche, where you doing that at? I know a guy does training out of Shelby Cty w/ a Comanche, there?
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BHM. Think I may head over to Memphis first week of December and knock it out in a few consecutive days in the da42. The G1000 and fadec will help me get through very quickly to get the rating. The real training will take place in whatever plane I buy.
 
mulligan said:
BHM. Think I may head over to Memphis first week of December and knock it out in a few consecutive days in the da42. The G1000 and fadec will help me get through very quickly to get the rating. The real training will take place in whatever plane I buy.
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As my 6 year old grandson says, cool beans! Definitely fun training and flying a twin, even if you're mostly using only one, but hey, think of the fuel savings! ;):D
 
Between work, maintenance, and family stuff it's been hard to get some free time to schedule a lesson. Finally just decided to take a half day at work and go for my second cross country.

Planned it for KTPF (Peter O Knight) to X06 (Arcadia).

Not much to say about the flight itself, everything went about as well as I could have hoped. Hit my checkpoints right on time. Landed at X06 without much issue, it had been a long time since I last flew.

Left Arcadia and flew back to Peter O Knight. Strong winds, something like 16G23 if I remember right but only barely off the nose. Had a decent landing considering the wind.

1.4 hours for a total of 22.8

Next lesson is a ride with another instructor for a check before my solo cross countries.
 
I just completed my CFI-I add on this past Friday. It was pretty straight forward and much easier than my initial CFI.
 
iRyan said:
I just completed my CFI-I add on this past Friday. It was pretty straight forward and much easier than my initial CFI.
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Mine was too. But I think the Fed that gave me the ride wanted to just fly the plane.
 
I'm a "Rusty Pilot". I haven't flown in 10 years. Have PPSEL with 110 hours.

I'm studying the FAA AIM/FAR PDF, watching a bunch of the AOPA videos, and reading the forums. I'm also looking for a good reputable flight school near me in Stuart Florida. I used to fly the Diamond KATANA in AZ then flew 172s in Hollywood FL (North Perry). I preferred the low wing for sure. Any recommendations of a flight school with low wing or any reputable flight school near me?

Thanks
 
LongRoadBob said:
...I'm only in my 8th hour, and ...
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LongRoadBob, I'm curious how many hours are you up to now? Are you trying to beat my 'long road' record of 2 years? Keeping your head in the game is the key to not having to start over every lesson. Reading your checklists, reading and re-reading the handbook sections from the flight you just did, and the stuff you are going to do next. Good luck and keep us updated on your progress.
 
exncsurfer said:
LongRoadBob, I'm curious how many hours are you up to now? Are you trying to beat my 'long road' record of 2 years? Keeping your head in the game is the key to not having to start over every lesson. Reading your checklists, reading and re-reading the handbook sections from the flight you just did, and the stuff you are going to do next. Good luck and keep us updated on your progress.
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Hey, thanks for the kind thoughts. I'm up to ten now...winter came and less VFR conditions. The last flight I had I got sick, and it isn't just motion, I've been a littl under the weather for a while now. I hear you, I'm writing up my thoughts about things I need to work on after each flight. Last flight I had taught me I had a wrong idea about "up" when doing 45 degree banks...up is up from the airplane attitude and angle. Not up from the ground.

Also the procedure I need to do to follow my CFI instructions...thinking ahead of the plane.

I have to balance my flight hours with my ground school and exam, because here I cannot solo until I have passed the exam, CFI is instructing me not to be ready for solo and then have to wait months to pass the exam...

I am hoping to take the exam in January, and take some intensive courses just before to help out, and then finally get to solo soon.
 
Passed my ME check ride last week. Everybody was right. It's the easiest practical I've ever taken. I almost needed the DPE to ask me more questions so I didn't feel like I wasted all my study time.

On to the MEI add-on. Anybody wanna split time building in a Seminole? 13.7 more hours of PIC to go before I can take the MEI ride.
 
Finally got around to taking my written exam. I passed and all, but I have to say that a couple of the questions were garbage questions with garbage answers.

For instance:
"When could a pilot be concerned about wing loading"?
A) Sitting on the taxiway. (or something to this effect)
B) While executing a 30 degree bank turn.
C) When the aircraft is not in straight flight.

Really? I felt like I had to roll the dice on this one...
 
Matt Brasher said:
Finally got around to taking my written exam. I passed and all, but I have to say that a couple of the questions were garbage questions with garbage answers.

For instance:
"When could a pilot be concerned about wing loading"?
A) Sitting on the taxiway. (or something to this effect)
B) While executing a 30 degree bank turn.
C) When the aircraft is not in straight flight.

Really? I felt like I had to roll the dice on this one...
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Yea, what did you put, C? Bad question for sure, you 'could' worry about it sitting on the couch at the house. And B is a form of C.
 
Matt Brasher said:
Finally got around to taking my written exam. I passed and all, but I have to say that a couple of the questions were garbage questions with garbage answers.

For instance:
"When could a pilot be concerned about wing loading"?
A) Sitting on the taxiway. (or something to this effect)
B) While executing a 30 degree bank turn.
C) When the aircraft is not in straight flight.

Really? I felt like I had to roll the dice on this one...
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It's cracks me up that FAA specifically says to CFI candidates NOT to write crap questions like this for student evaluation... and then puts them in their own tests. SMH.
 
hockeyrcks9901 said:
Planned it for KTPF (Peter O Knight) to X06 (Arcadia).
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There's a chance I might take the 182 to FL next year. How's TPF for transients? Better there or over to Clearwater? (We have friends closer to Clearwater but some of the stuff we would be doing would be closer to TPF so it's kinda a toss-up from here... depending on services, etc.)
 
Skates97 said:
I have to second what excnsurfer said, quit waiting. I just had my check ride Saturday and I was nervous about the oral. I knew I could fly the plane, but the thought of sitting there for hours getting asked questions had me nervous. What if I didn't know some obscure regulation? I know that there are all different kinds of DPE's out there and some are more difficult than others. I was fortunate that the DPE I got was a great guy that saw it as the "Practical Test" and how I apply what I know to real world situations, not to see if I could just regurgitate everything I had been putting into my mind. There were a lot of different scenarios he would throw at me and I would work my way through them, what I would do, what do the regulations say about them, etc... I got most of it right, and stumbled around on some of it. He's been flying for over 30 years and knows that this is the "license to learn" so didn't expect perfection. We knew we had time to kill during the oral because the haze wasn't going to clear up until after noon-1pm so the oral went longer than it probably would have otherwise. Turned out to be 4 hours, of which maybe 30 minutes was going over paperwork, maybe 90 minutes of me actually answering questions, and a couple hours of him telling me stories of things he has seen/done flying and me telling stories about my flight training. It really felt a lot more like a discussion than an exam and I actually enjoyed it.

If you don't have copies yet of the ACS and FAR/AIM then get copies. Use tabs and a highlighter to mark up the FAR/AIM. Go through the ACS page by page and make notes about which regulations apply as well as things to help you remember stuff. The oral portion is open book and you can use both of those during it. You are probably more ready for it than you think you are.
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Sorry for the late reply, So I did pass my check ride. Oral wasn't quite as much as I though it would be. Like you said 30 minutes of going over the log books and maintenance records for my plane. Which I admit I did not know much about. If I had to do it all over again I would certainly go back through and get more familiar with my planes logs. Then an hour of q&a.

I had my far/aim tabbed everywhere and I set it out on the table, but mostly just for looks. The DPE did both rapid fire questions and some scenario based questions about the flight plan I created. I didn't have all the answers, some things I didn't know but I just owned up to it and told him I did not know. After it was all done he told me the answers to questions I didn't know.

The flight part went good. Other than a straight cross wind of 13 gusting 18 at the airport. Love a challenge! Certainly not my best landings but apparently good enough.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Congrats Hoss150! Great news!

The DPE can make all the difference in the world. I was lucky to have a DPE who was great at putting me at ease, and told me that "...(his) intention was to pass me, but if I prove to him why I shouldn't pass, then he'll stop the exam." Excellent DPE and like you, he asked questions about the flight plan, rapid fire questions, scenario based questions. But as long as a student is prepared and/or can look-up the regulation (even if not tab marked in the FAR/AIM) he/she will do fine. Confidence and demonstrated command of the aircraft during the practical test goes a long way to putting the DPE at ease, as does vocalizing (saying) everything you're doing and why. That got me through my practical and I was complimented by my DPE on a strong performance. I loved his last comment as we taxied to parking: "As long as you don't hit that helicopter parked outside the hangar, you passed..."
 
rtk11 said:
Congrats Hoss150! Great news!

The DPE can make all the difference in the world. I was lucky to have a DPE who was great at putting me at ease, and told me that "...(his) intention was to pass me, but if I prove to him why I shouldn't pass, then he'll stop the exam." Excellent DPE and like you, he asked questions about the flight plan, rapid fire questions, scenario based questions. But as long as a student is prepared and/or can look-up the regulation (even if not tab marked in the FAR/AIM) he/she will do fine. Confidence and demonstrated command of the aircraft during the practical test goes a long way to putting the DPE at ease, as does vocalizing (saying) everything you're doing and why. That got me through my practical and I was complimented by my DPE on a strong performance. I loved his last comment as we taxied to parking: "As long as you don't hit that helicopter parked outside the hangar, you passed..."
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So I think the DPE was messing with me at the end. We went though all the landings and the last one he just told me to make it a normal landing. This particular airport runway is 5,000 feet with no taxi ways until the end. When I hit the numbers in my little Cessna 150 I can come to a stop fairly quick so you can imagine it was a LONG taxi to the end of the runway. He doesn't say anything except taxi back. I'm rolling 4000' just relieved it is over. Then it hit me, what if I failed? What if he is just sitting there quite waiting for the right chance to tell me sorry but I need to go practice more! That deathly silence was worse than anything on the oral. Get back to the FBO and shut her down. Still complete silence. Head set off and doors open, he pops up real quickly with his hand extended and huge smile on his face with a welcoming CONGRATULATIONS! Whew, now I can breath :).

Good Times Fella's... Good Times


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
denverpilot said:
There's a chance I might take the 182 to FL next year. How's TPF for transients? Better there or over to Clearwater? (We have friends closer to Clearwater but some of the stuff we would be doing would be closer to TPF so it's kinda a toss-up from here... depending on services, etc.)
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I really enjoy TPF, it's an amazing airport with all runways having approaches over the water but CLW is nice too. Probably better services at KTPF as it's a bigger airport.

I haven't flown to CLW but have driven by it and flown over it.

Where are you staying, how long, and what are you doing? Can pm me if you want and I can provide a little better feedback. Grew up by Clearwater and now live on this side of the bay...
 
Official lesson #1 in the books yesterday. Took a while to get my discovery flight booked, then a little while longer to get set up at the school and then to schedule my first lesson, but it was a good one.

All we did was turns, climbs, and descents, but my CFI said I did great. I don't think I varied my altitude in any of my turns more than about 50-75'. Except one, I climbed about 100', but afterward he said that's what he wanted to see, since my turn was toward the mountains and the terrain below was rising, it told him that I was looking outside more than inside so I was judging the relationship to the ground better.

Climbs and descents I had a little trouble maintaining a constant rate of climb (or descent), but that will come.

I felt good about it overall. Next lesson is next week!
 
jordane93 said:
Back to the school house next week for differences. January I should be due in for my recurrent.
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700/900? Man you will see a big difference from that 200. A lot better and fun ride. Plus two FAs to choose from, or both! ;)
 
Monday I did a short solo flight to refresh a little because it had been a while since I'd flown. Just did a little practice slow flight, steep turns, S turn, turns around a point, and stalls.

1.1 hours for 23.9 total

Yesterday I did the progress check with another instructor to check that I'm ready for solo cross countries. Planned a flight from KTPF (Peter O Knight) to KLMB (Melbourne International). The instructor reviewed my plan and said it looked great with a few comments and questions.

The flight started great and then I had "engine roughness" and needed to divert. Decided on KPCM (Plant City). Made a couple mistakes, mainly didn't know the runway direction. I did know it was roughly East West but not sure about the exact numbers and didn't have an AFD with me to find out.

Then we did some minor stuff like finding position using two VORs and short field landing/takeoff.

He said I was doing great so far and approved me to continue.

.8 hours for a total of 24.7
 
Finished up my first solo cross country the other day. I initially planned to fly from KTPF (Peter O Knight) to KINF (Inverness) and did a full flight plan including checking weather, wind correction and fuel calculations, etc...

Only to check the NOTAMs to find out that KNIF was NOTAMed closed until about 20 minutes before I would arrive. Decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to tempt fate there and re planned for X06 (Arcadia).

Met with my instructor on the day of the flight and reviewed plan. He signed me off to go and off I went.

Overall the flight was pretty boring, in a good way. I hit all my checkpoints on time, landed uneventfully but a little rough, and got back to the home airport without any issues. Did a touch n go cause I wanted a little landing practice after the rough landing at X06.

Heard my instructor on the radio as I was turning base on my second landing. He had taken a C182 out for a flight and asked how my flight went. I squeaked the landing on and was glad I did because the first one of the day was a good belly flop and called it a day.

1.3 hours for a total of 26

Next is night flight... I'm excited for this, love flying commercial at night so really ready for GA at night.
 
hockeyrcks9901 said:
Finished up my first solo cross country the other day. I initially planned to fly from KTPF (Peter O Knight) to KINF (Inverness) and did a full flight plan including checking weather, wind correction and fuel calculations, etc...

Only to check the NOTAMs to find out that KNIF was NOTAMed closed until about 20 minutes before I would arrive. Decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to tempt fate there and re planned for X06 (Arcadia).

Met with my instructor on the day of the flight and reviewed plan. He signed me off to go and off I went.

Overall the flight was pretty boring, in a good way. I hit all my checkpoints on time, landed uneventfully but a little rough, and got back to the home airport without any issues. Did a touch n go cause I wanted a little landing practice after the rough landing at X06.

Heard my instructor on the radio as I was turning base on my second landing. He had taken a C182 out for a flight and asked how my flight went. I squeaked the landing on and was glad I did because the first one of the day was a good belly flop and called it a day.

1.3 hours for a total of 26

Next is night flight... I'm excited for this, love flying commercial at night so really ready for GA at night.
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Night is interesting for sure. I kept having the urge to turn on the headlights. But lighted black is still black!
 
After an 11 year hiatus, I took a Flight Review 2 days ago and got my endorsement to continue to fly. Took only 1 flight of 1.7 hours. Its just like riding a bike, a bit rusty but, safe. Time for some long X-Cs for 10 or so hours to get back in the swing of things then on to complete the IR. Halfway through KING IR now.
 
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