SkyChaser
Pattern Altitude
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- Mar 22, 2020
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SkyChaser
Here's the promised write-up! I apologize for the length since it was thankfully rather boring! 
The only "interesting" part was in the timing. (Sorry, @EdFred . Nothing even close to scary...) I'd been scheduled for 1pm, but was heading down to the airport early so I could do a few touch and goes, get fresh weather for my xc, and get all my paperwork nicely organized. As I was driving there, my CFI called and said the checkride before mine had been cancelled so I was going to get to go earlier. I had just enough time to get my xc plan updated before the examiner showed up at about 10:15. When I saw him walk in to the FBO, I finally realized this was actually happening and I got so nervous. I guess it just didn't seem real until that moment, and right then, I was sure I'd fail miserably in the first five minutes of the oral. I wasn't ready for this! I was supposed to have some more review time first! There was no turning back now, though, so after my instructor introduced us (she took some of her checkrides with him), I followed him to the FBO "classroom" to start the torture - uh, checkride.
We started, obviously, with looking over all my documents. That wasn't so bad, as I knew those were in shipshape, apple-pie order. Then he went through my logbook, which checked out nicely except my instructor needed to update my solo sign-off. I found her to get that done, and I think she was at least as nervous as I was!
After that was all done, the DPE said, "That was the hard part. Now comes the fun part!" I looked at him and said, "That was definitely not the hard part!" He laughed, and asked about the xc I'd planned - where to, how far away, about how long it'd take to get there and if we would need to take any stops. Then he gave me a sheet of paper to fill out with stuff like the weight and balance I'd calculated, required fuel reserves, some of the same info he'd asked about the cross country, and the V-speeds of the Archer. While I did that and tried to calm myself down, he went to grab his Gatorade he'd left out on the counter. I was very grateful for that slight pause to try to get myself mentally prepared!
When he came back, we talked through the sheet quickly (I learned that Vg was best glide speed...did not know that!) and then jumped right into his scenario and the rest of the oral. He asked me how I'd picked which route I'd fly and why I'd chosen the altitude I had, so I opened up the sectional and basically showed him my thought processes. That opened up some questions about different airspaces and cloud clearance requirements, weather, where to find info about the airports, how to get flight following, differences in night flight, types of hypoxia and carbon monoxide poisoning, how weight and balance and center of gravity affect the airplane, what is an acceptable amount of payment if pax want to chip in, the privileges and limitations of a private cert, how to determine if the plane is still airworthy after stuff breaks, and how to properly mark stuff "inop", which sent us into the aircraft maintenance logs to show that it had all it's required inspections and such. Then we talked about the engine, the pitot-static system and the landing gear. Then he says, "Okay, the oral is done, and here's what we're going to do for the flight portion."
After running through the list, he went to get his headset and I went to get the plane out. I was sure that the oral had taken at least three days and I felt like I barely squeaked by, but it hadn't even quite been an hour and a half! While I was getting my headset hooked up and all my xc stuff ready, the DPE came over, stopping to chat with my instructor first. Then he watched me preflight before we hopped in. For the first time ever, the plane didn't start on the first try. I didn't say it, but I thought, "Of course it won't start nicely today!". A little use of the primer, though, fixed it and it roared to life. Checkride part two really begins now!
After Monday's 15G18 direct crosswind, the 5kt variable wind was welcome. Run-up was good, so we took to the skies with a normal take-off, and headed off on-course for a fictitious trip to Huron, SD. We didn't even make it to the second checkpoint before he said, "There are clouds building up in front of us so what are you going to do?" I said I'd turn around and go back to Estherville or divert to one of the airports we could see from our present position, depending on the location of the clouds. He then told me he had the plane and had me put my foggles on. We did the instrument stuff and unusual attitudes. That was actually fun, but only took about four minutes. When I took off my foggles, the DPE handed me back the plane and said, "You're lost. What are you going to do?" He was very pleased I didn't automatically resort to direct enter enter.
Then we headed back to the practice area for maneuvers, talking about emergency procedures for an electrical fire. Steep turns were first. I botched the right one up a bit but the left one was absolutely perfect. We did slow flight and stalls, power on and off. Super simple and easy. Then came the engine out. Since it was from 4500', that was really easy, too. We got low and did turns around a point, and then headed back to Estherville for the landings.
At this point, I was not very happy with my performance and was acutely aware of the fact that the DPE was very quiet in the right seat. He had not, however, told me I had busted anything, so I knew the game was still on. I spent the whole rest of the time praying that he wouldn't say anything.
We did a normal landing first. Went around the first time as I had got caught in a thermal on final and didn't want to try and get down again on short final. First impressions and all. Second time around was an absolute greaser. Best landing I've had in weeks, if not months. Taxied back, did a short field take-off. Then short field landing. First time, I was worried I wouldn't get it down (again due to that thermal screwing up my approach) within the tolerance, so I went around, nailing it the second time. Got stopped on the runway, did a soft field take-off from there. I did a very decent soft field landing first try. Then went back up for the DPE's "pet" equipment failure - a no-flap landing. Couldn't do it the first attempt, but got her down nicely second time around. He said, "Alright, that's it." I back-taxied to the turn-off, cleared the runway and then taxied over to the fuel pump. I shut her down and he said, "I'll get my stuff for the paperwork and meet you inside." I replied, "Okay, I'm just going to put the chocks in and I'll be right in." Then he said, "Oh, and you passed. Congratulations!" Since he hadn't told me otherwise, I was thinking I must have, but it sure was nice hearing those words!
After I got out and put the chocks in, I headed back to the FBO. I have never been so tired and sweaty in my life! My instructor met me about halfway and when I gave her a two thumbs up, she was so happy she started crying and gave me a hug. I'm her first part 61 student to take a checkride, so it was pretty special. She's sent a few from the 141 school, but she wasn't their sole instructor.
Anyway, I went in, got my temp certificate and debriefed with the DPE. He didn't have a single negative thing to say, which surprised me. He said he could tell I wasn't very pleased with my performance, but I didn't let that distract me from what I was doing and that I had good judgment. He liked that I didn't get flustered with all the bumps and thermals we had to deal with. And then he said if he had to give me a grade for my oral, it would have been a 95%! The only thing he said was I seemed very "spring-loaded" to go around, since I went around three times. Most of that was due to the fact it was a checkride and I wanted the landings as perfect as possible. I probably wouldn't have had to go around for the short field, but I really didn't want to bust tolerance and I wasn't one hundred percent sure I could get it down in the right spot.
So there it is! It still seems very surreal. I can't wait to take up some pax! Thanks, everyone, for all the help, and excitement now that I've finally got it done. A special thank you to @Stewartb for letting me buy his old headsets and to @Half Fast for all the motivation, encouragement, and tips on being a pilot in planes that, though small, are still too big without accommodations! I could not have done it without you all!
The only "interesting" part was in the timing. (Sorry, @EdFred . Nothing even close to scary...) I'd been scheduled for 1pm, but was heading down to the airport early so I could do a few touch and goes, get fresh weather for my xc, and get all my paperwork nicely organized. As I was driving there, my CFI called and said the checkride before mine had been cancelled so I was going to get to go earlier. I had just enough time to get my xc plan updated before the examiner showed up at about 10:15. When I saw him walk in to the FBO, I finally realized this was actually happening and I got so nervous. I guess it just didn't seem real until that moment, and right then, I was sure I'd fail miserably in the first five minutes of the oral. I wasn't ready for this! I was supposed to have some more review time first! There was no turning back now, though, so after my instructor introduced us (she took some of her checkrides with him), I followed him to the FBO "classroom" to start the torture - uh, checkride. We started, obviously, with looking over all my documents. That wasn't so bad, as I knew those were in shipshape, apple-pie order. Then he went through my logbook, which checked out nicely except my instructor needed to update my solo sign-off. I found her to get that done, and I think she was at least as nervous as I was!
After that was all done, the DPE said, "That was the hard part. Now comes the fun part!" I looked at him and said, "That was definitely not the hard part!" He laughed, and asked about the xc I'd planned - where to, how far away, about how long it'd take to get there and if we would need to take any stops. Then he gave me a sheet of paper to fill out with stuff like the weight and balance I'd calculated, required fuel reserves, some of the same info he'd asked about the cross country, and the V-speeds of the Archer. While I did that and tried to calm myself down, he went to grab his Gatorade he'd left out on the counter. I was very grateful for that slight pause to try to get myself mentally prepared!
When he came back, we talked through the sheet quickly (I learned that Vg was best glide speed...did not know that!) and then jumped right into his scenario and the rest of the oral. He asked me how I'd picked which route I'd fly and why I'd chosen the altitude I had, so I opened up the sectional and basically showed him my thought processes. That opened up some questions about different airspaces and cloud clearance requirements, weather, where to find info about the airports, how to get flight following, differences in night flight, types of hypoxia and carbon monoxide poisoning, how weight and balance and center of gravity affect the airplane, what is an acceptable amount of payment if pax want to chip in, the privileges and limitations of a private cert, how to determine if the plane is still airworthy after stuff breaks, and how to properly mark stuff "inop", which sent us into the aircraft maintenance logs to show that it had all it's required inspections and such. Then we talked about the engine, the pitot-static system and the landing gear. Then he says, "Okay, the oral is done, and here's what we're going to do for the flight portion."
After running through the list, he went to get his headset and I went to get the plane out. I was sure that the oral had taken at least three days and I felt like I barely squeaked by, but it hadn't even quite been an hour and a half! While I was getting my headset hooked up and all my xc stuff ready, the DPE came over, stopping to chat with my instructor first. Then he watched me preflight before we hopped in. For the first time ever, the plane didn't start on the first try. I didn't say it, but I thought, "Of course it won't start nicely today!". A little use of the primer, though, fixed it and it roared to life. Checkride part two really begins now!
After Monday's 15G18 direct crosswind, the 5kt variable wind was welcome. Run-up was good, so we took to the skies with a normal take-off, and headed off on-course for a fictitious trip to Huron, SD. We didn't even make it to the second checkpoint before he said, "There are clouds building up in front of us so what are you going to do?" I said I'd turn around and go back to Estherville or divert to one of the airports we could see from our present position, depending on the location of the clouds. He then told me he had the plane and had me put my foggles on. We did the instrument stuff and unusual attitudes. That was actually fun, but only took about four minutes. When I took off my foggles, the DPE handed me back the plane and said, "You're lost. What are you going to do?" He was very pleased I didn't automatically resort to direct enter enter.
Then we headed back to the practice area for maneuvers, talking about emergency procedures for an electrical fire. Steep turns were first. I botched the right one up a bit but the left one was absolutely perfect. We did slow flight and stalls, power on and off. Super simple and easy. Then came the engine out. Since it was from 4500', that was really easy, too. We got low and did turns around a point, and then headed back to Estherville for the landings.
At this point, I was not very happy with my performance and was acutely aware of the fact that the DPE was very quiet in the right seat. He had not, however, told me I had busted anything, so I knew the game was still on. I spent the whole rest of the time praying that he wouldn't say anything.
We did a normal landing first. Went around the first time as I had got caught in a thermal on final and didn't want to try and get down again on short final. First impressions and all. Second time around was an absolute greaser. Best landing I've had in weeks, if not months. Taxied back, did a short field take-off. Then short field landing. First time, I was worried I wouldn't get it down (again due to that thermal screwing up my approach) within the tolerance, so I went around, nailing it the second time. Got stopped on the runway, did a soft field take-off from there. I did a very decent soft field landing first try. Then went back up for the DPE's "pet" equipment failure - a no-flap landing. Couldn't do it the first attempt, but got her down nicely second time around. He said, "Alright, that's it." I back-taxied to the turn-off, cleared the runway and then taxied over to the fuel pump. I shut her down and he said, "I'll get my stuff for the paperwork and meet you inside." I replied, "Okay, I'm just going to put the chocks in and I'll be right in." Then he said, "Oh, and you passed. Congratulations!" Since he hadn't told me otherwise, I was thinking I must have, but it sure was nice hearing those words!
After I got out and put the chocks in, I headed back to the FBO. I have never been so tired and sweaty in my life! My instructor met me about halfway and when I gave her a two thumbs up, she was so happy she started crying and gave me a hug. I'm her first part 61 student to take a checkride, so it was pretty special. She's sent a few from the 141 school, but she wasn't their sole instructor.
Anyway, I went in, got my temp certificate and debriefed with the DPE. He didn't have a single negative thing to say, which surprised me. He said he could tell I wasn't very pleased with my performance, but I didn't let that distract me from what I was doing and that I had good judgment. He liked that I didn't get flustered with all the bumps and thermals we had to deal with. And then he said if he had to give me a grade for my oral, it would have been a 95%! The only thing he said was I seemed very "spring-loaded" to go around, since I went around three times. Most of that was due to the fact it was a checkride and I wanted the landings as perfect as possible. I probably wouldn't have had to go around for the short field, but I really didn't want to bust tolerance and I wasn't one hundred percent sure I could get it down in the right spot.
So there it is! It still seems very surreal. I can't wait to take up some pax! Thanks, everyone, for all the help, and excitement now that I've finally got it done. A special thank you to @Stewartb for letting me buy his old headsets and to @Half Fast for all the motivation, encouragement, and tips on being a pilot in planes that, though small, are still too big without accommodations! I could not have done it without you all!
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