Had my flight review yesterday

DFH65

DFH65

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DFH65
It was a great reminder of how lazy and set in our ways we can become. Learned a few things as well. At times it felt like a work out I think I even broke a sweat once or twice. :D Flew with the instructor I used when I got back into flying six years ago it was the first time I have flown with him since then so admittedly was a bit nervous and I think my flying showed it.

If I am being honest felt a little beat up when I was done after an hour+ of ground (the easy part) and an hour and a half+ in the air having every mistake pointed out to me. Definitely the most thorough review I have had yet on the ground and in the air.

Probably the biggest take away is I need to be more precise in my practice and my flying in general. All in all a good experience although one or two, "you did that wells" wouldn't have hurt.:rolleyes:

My wife and I flew in to pick up the instructor and it was direct crosswind gusting 15-20 and I greased it on. I looked at her and said why couldn't I have saved that one for the review it will be all down hill from here. :D
 
Mainly little stuff for example first steep turn wasn't steep enough, a little lazy with putting in FULL wind correction on the ground. Little slow on the rudder inputs a few times. He had me do some turning stalls and I don't think I have done one in forever and I was just hesitant to get it to really stall. In general doing better outside traffic scans. All good stuff.

Things that went well...I spent about 25 minutes with the foggles on (turns to heading, descending, descending turns) which I haven't done any simulated instrument in awhile which overall I thought went pretty well. Pattern work short field, soft field, power off landings all were crosswind landings all on center line, I thought went really well.

Overall, like I said to him, I appreciated being held to a high standard it is easy to get less precise (lazy and sloppy) than you should be. May start trying to get an instructor and do at least a little review more often then it will be less of an event when it comes up.
 
Sounds like a GOOD flight review. I agree on the atta boy comment though.

Always find something to praise, even if all you can think of is that the student managed to find the right airplane on the ramp... and end with that.

People end up with a sour taste in their mouth if they think everything was negative.

And clearly you cheated death aloft once again and didn’t kill everyone, so there must have been some good things he could have pointed out.

Don’t be too hard on yourself. A good workout and reminder to “fly gooder” never hurt anybody. :)
 
Yeah over all a good experience. I guess that was the point of the post. I also think my personality is such that I tend to hear the criticism louder than the praise so it is possible he threw in a few good things that I missed in the mix.

It was the first time doing a review in my own airplane which was kind of cool. Flying in picking someone up doing the review and flying home. He offered to let my wife ride along for the review but while she LOVES to fly she really doesn't like stalls (even though I have explained them multiple times) so I declined. So she at in the FBO and read while we got it done. She would not have liked the turning stalls at all. She flew with me on several lessons when I was initially training and had no problem with it.

Kind of interesting thought that you could possibly not have your review signed off but load up your plane and fly home. I wasn't due until next month but wanted to take advantage of a good weather day. March is a completely unpredictable month here. I am going to get it done early next time to move it to a better weather time of year.
 
denver has it right. i have a reputation of being a nit picker on students. good enough is not a goal. but my students also know that im am not putting anyone down, just trying to get them to be the best they can be. as ken miles said, "you cant alwas drive the perfect lap, but you alwas try to". A good instructor will not only praise a student when they do the perfect lap, but also when they did their best and came as close as they could given their skill set and experience or show that they are working to get there, not just good enough, and help them get that extra bit they need to achieve it.
 
Just did my FR Saturday, the oral grilling was worse than the flying. He spend a very thorough 1.5hrs finding all the stuff I couldn't remember. As for the flying, he put me through a number of unusual attitude recoveries, then we spent a good bit of time on foggles. After that was demonstrating all three types of takeoff and landings.

He did pull two fast ones: one, on one takeoff right about as airspeed was active he very convincingly said he smelled smoke. I immediately pulled power, got on the brakes, and headed for the first turnoff, but then he said no need. He just wanted to see what my reaction would be, and he was pleased. The second was on the last landing back at the home field, I'd noticed just after I put the gear lever down that I'd not gotten the mixture and prop forward and did so. Just as I was ready to turn base I realized and said something wasn't right, as the plane wasn't slowing as expected and the gear beeper was still going off. He was happy I caught that, he'd had his hand on the glareshield the whole way down the downwind and when I was putting the prop and mixture forward, he deftly pulled the gear breaker without me seeing it.

So, certified safe to terrorize the airways for another two years...
 
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