Update: Checkride - Brainfart and Full Rundown

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brooklyn26point2

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Apr 13, 2012
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brooklyn26point2
It's done. Whew. I went up with my instructor this morning, and we went diverting all over. The DPE was free today, so then he came by, and we went on a little flight. Headed into Jersey, we went 15 miles, then he diverted me to Miller.

Thanks all for the encouragement in response to yesterday's post. And, for all the encouragement since I first vaguely explored the idea of doing this. Been a lot of fun so far, with much more ahead.
 
.....and it's Miller time!
 
Getting PASEL was the greatest feeling. Im sure you're ecstatic. GJDM!
 
Nice! That's the way to do it. No sweating it out for weeks. :D
 
Good for you knew you could do it ,after reading your post. Now go enjoy.
 
Congratulations...nice job finishing it off today!!! Miller is right around my neck of the woods great airport.
 
Congrats. Now divert and buzz something.
 
Congrats!

Now your next big and interesting learning experience will be the very first time you're on a really long X-C to somewhere unfamiliar and the weather starts doing things you didn't see in the forecast and you make your OWN call to divert. It feels a little different that first time... there's no one sitting next to you feeding you a line of bull saying "the engine is running just a little rough, let's go to the nearest airport"... it's your own voice in the back of your head saying it. :)

Glad you got 'er done! Told ya. :)
 
denverpilot said:
Congrats!

Now your next big and interesting learning experience will be the very first time you're on a really long X-C to somewhere unfamiliar and the weather starts doing things you didn't see in the forecast and you make your OWN call to divert. It feels a little different that first time... there's no one sitting next to you feeding you a line of bull saying "the engine is running just a little rough, let's go to the nearest airport"... it's your own voice in the back of your head saying it. :)

Glad you got 'er done! Told ya. :)
Click to expand...

Nice job to the OP for sticking it out and getting it done. This is a great point up above! The first time I had to divert because of weather, even though I knew how to, the intensity of the moment made it really much harder. I had to divert for unpredicted weather( a small snow storm) and fumbled with the on board GPS so badly that I accidentally added a new waypoint into the system instead of typing the airport identifier in. Opps, everything worked out in the end but yeah the real deal is different!

Either way, go out there and enjoy the well earned privellages your PPL gives you!
 
jspilot said:
Nice job to the OP for sticking it out and getting it done. This is a great point up above! The first time I had to divert because of weather, even though I knew how to, the intensity of the moment made it really much harder. I had to divert for unpredicted weather( a small snow storm) and fumbled with the on board GPS so badly that I accidentally added a new waypoint into the system instead of typing the airport identifier in. Opps, everything worked out in the end but yeah the real deal is different!

Either way, go out there and enjoy the well earned privellages your PPL gives you!
Click to expand...

This is a really good point. One of the flight instructors at the school says "In an emergency in the air, an A student becomes a C student." I think it's really true - under pressure you're more prone to these simple mistakes than in calm conditions.
 
jspilot said:
The first time I had to divert because of weather, even though I knew how to, the intensity of the moment made it really much harder. I had to divert for unpredicted weather( a small snow storm) and fumbled with the on board GPS so badly that I accidentally added a new waypoint into the system instead of typing the airport identifier in. Opps, everything worked out in the end but yeah the real deal is different!
Click to expand...

The first time I used "Nearest TO" in a GPS in "anger" I was in deteriorating weather and never even looked at the chart to see if the airport was *suitable* for my aircraft. Luckily I was flying a restart 172 and they don't need much runway. I found myself standing next to a paved narrow strip in north-central Texas next to a Quonset Hut that was locked tight, obviously a public but little used strip for crop dusters. This was in the days before cell phones were common and luckily someone had mounted a pay phone with the world's noisiest phone line on the outside of the hut, or FSS would have started SAR procedures.

I was very glad to be on the ground, priority one, but later looking at the chart, a much more comfortable place to wait out the ceiling was only a few miles further in the direction of better weather.

Heh. Stuff you learn the hard way. At least I had a couple of magazines in the flight bag and no get-home-itis at all and it was a warm climate. Sunshine, the strip overlooked the back of a huge green golf course and a giant country club on a hill to the east, a bottle of water, and a magazine later, and a real FSS briefer to talk to who knew the local weather and said the overcast had stayed unusually longer than it usually did in that area and if I'd give it an hour it would likely all disappear at once, and there I sat. Ended up fine, but the experience made me decide that "Nearest TO" isn't always better than picking where to go. You know, being a pilot. I also later realized it could have turned me into the lower weather.

You can't learn that stuff sitting at home. So just go do it and enjoy the new ticket! ;) Plenty of stuff will teach you things you never thought of. What fun!
 
brooklyn26point2 said:
It's done. Whew. I went up with my instructor this morning, and we went diverting all over. The DPE was free today, so then he came by, and we went on a little flight. Headed into Jersey, we went 15 miles, then he diverted me to Miller.

Thanks all for the encouragement in response to yesterday's post. And, for all the encouragement since I first vaguely explored the idea of doing this. Been a lot of fun so far, with much more ahead.
Click to expand...

Told you it would be piece of cake. Congrats!
 
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