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1000RR

1000RR

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Aug 18, 2019
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1000RR
Last week I [posted here] about my checkride getting discontinued after my Oral due to weather. So yesterday was my actual checkride. Short story is - I got the pass! Long story as follows... I had a handful of surprises, but nothing too bad.
  • Surprise 1: My instructor indicated I wouldn't be able use to my iPad/Foreflight to show the XC route, no magenta line on it. But he said I'd be able to plug my route into the plane's GPS (small Garmin). Examiner said - no magenta anywhere, electronic maps are OK (just don't enter in your route). No biggie and it was understandable... but I had always had the Plane's GPS going during my practice XC's so I was definitely 100% visual to find my way along my XC.
  • Surprise 2: The diversion went really well (I thought I might stumble a little there). He gave me a diversion to an airport we had passed by. I got a rough magnetic course and distance from the Sectional on my lap (used a VOR to estimate the MC), noted the time of diversion, made the turn towards it, spun the E6B to get my GS with my current wind conditions, spun the E6B again and gave him an ETA and a fuel burn. He said good job and we were off to do air work.
  • Surprise 3: For my soft field take-off, he asked if I wanted to do it for real, over on the parallel grass runway - sure why not. So that was kinda cool.
  • Surprise 4: For the soft field landing - you guessed it... he said do you want to do the soft field over in the grass - sure why not (I had only done that a few times, but figured what the heck).
  • Surprise 5: We're at a non-towered airport but the guy in the pattern ahead of me was flying 737 patterns and stretching his downwind so far that it made for about a 3-4 mile final. This examiner would have failed me if I initiated a pattern like that where I took myself away from glide distance of the airport. This trip around the pattern was for my short field landing which I was a little apprehensive about anyway (I've been 50-50 on that level of accuracy, +200'/-0'). So we stretched the final approach out a few miles with no PAPI/VASI so that made things a little more interesting. I kept my altitude all the way until I was on final and then worked the power to try establish a good glide path. Intended touchdown point was the 1000 footers. I'll be damned if I didn't either put it right on them or maybe 50' past. Nailed it! Apparently "good me" showed up.
Overall, went a LOT better than I thought it would... but I will say I felt ready and after having ~135hrs leading into the checkride, I probably better damn well be ready. So today, I took my wife up for a little ocean shoreline cruise. It was great to finally enjoy this adventure with her after all this time getting through everything. Yesterday was also our 26th anniversary so it was a really big day all the way around!

Safe Flying!
 
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1000RR said:
Last week I [posted here] about my checkride getting discontinued after my Oral due to weather. So yesterday was my actual checkride. Short story is - I got the pass! Long story as follows... I had a handful of surprises, but nothing too bad.
  • Surprise 1: My instructor indicated I wouldn't be able to my iPad/Foreflight to show the XC route, no magenta line on it. But he said I'd be able to plug my route into the plane's GPS (small Garmin). Examiner said - no magenta anywhere, electronic maps are OK. No biggie and it was understandable... but I had always had the Plane's GPS going during my practice XC's so I was definitely 100% visual to find my way along my XC.
  • Surprise 2: The diversion went really well (I thought I might stumble a little there). He gave me a diversion to an airport we had passed by. I got a rough magnetic course and distance from the Sectional on my lap (used a VOR to estimate the MC), noted the time of diversion, made the turn towards it, spun the E6B to get my GS with my current wind conditions, spun the E6B again and gave him an ETA and a fuel burn. He said good job and we were off to do air work.
  • Surprise 3: For my soft field take-off, he asked if I wanted to do it for real, over on the parallel grass runway - sure why not. So that was kinda cool.
  • Surprise 4: For the soft field landing - you guessed it... he said do you want to do the soft field over in the grass - sure why not (I had only done that a few times, but figured what the heck).
  • Surprise 5: We're at a non-towered airport but the guy in the pattern ahead of me was flying 737 patterns and stretching his downwind so far that it made for about a 3-4 mile final. This examiner would have failed me if I initiated a pattern like that where I took myself away from glide distance of the airport. This trip around the pattern was for my short field landing which I was a little apprehensive about anyway (I've been 50-50 on that level of accuracy, +200'/-0'). So we stretched the final approach out a few miles with no PAPI/VASI so that made things a little more interesting. I kept my altitude all the way until I was on final and then worked the power to try establish a good glide path. Intended touchdown point was the 1000 footers. I'll be damned if I didn't either put it right on them or maybe 50' past. Nailed it! Apparently "good me" showed up.
Overall, went a LOT better than I thought it would... but I will say I felt ready and after having ~135hrs leading into the checkride, I probably better well damn be ready. So today, I took my wife up for a little ocean shoreline cruise. So it was great to finally enjoy this adventure with her after all this time getting through everything. Yesterday was also our 26th anniversary so it was a really big day all the way around!

Safe Flying!
Click to expand...
Cool. con gratu effin lations. Have fun
 
Awesome! Sounds like you did a great job handling some situations you hadn't planned on. The examiner probably appreciated that.

Congratulations!! Hope that first flight with your cert was a good one!
 
Great job! We often think it’s an easy exam - truth is, it only becomes easy when we pass.
 
Thanks everyone. It has been a heck of a journey so far and it's only just begun.

@Jumpmaster - truth! And to pass, you will have been prepared.

@Deelee - it most definitely was. My wife spent most of the time trying to see if she could find any sharks just off the beach LOL.
 
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Congratulations, and good for you for sticking in there.
 
1000RR said:
Last week I [posted here] about my checkride getting discontinued after my Oral due to weather. So yesterday was my actual checkride. Short story is - I got the pass! Long story as follows... I had a handful of surprises, but nothing too bad.
  • Surprise 1: My instructor indicated I wouldn't be able use to my iPad/Foreflight to show the XC route, no magenta line on it. But he said I'd be able to plug my route into the plane's GPS (small Garmin). Examiner said - no magenta anywhere, electronic maps are OK.
Safe Flying!
Click to expand...

serious question. What’s this about magenta lines? I don’t understand. (And good on you for having & using a prayer wheel & an accordion chart.)
 
rhkennerly said:
serious question. What’s this about magenta lines? I don’t understand. (And good on you for having & using a prayer wheel & an accordion chart.)
Click to expand...
In the case you were not being sarcastic about the magenta line, here's my answer. If you were begin sarcastic - I get it, funny!

Basically he wanted no electronic navigation aids that would show a Course (magenta line) such that I might glance/look at it and cheat the direction I was trying to go (instead of purely the old fashioned way - looking outside and reading a map). The small Garmin in the plane will show that path for your flight in Magenta/Purple... same with Foreflight. So that's all I meant - I was not able to plug in my flight plan to any electronic navigation aids. The XC was purely a sectional in my lap marked up with my way points, a flight plan/log with all the calcs, an E6B, and I had the VOR to use as well. Once I made my diversion and gave him an ETA and fuel burn, he then allowed me to use the electronic naviagational aids again (plane's GPS, and Foreflight).
 
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1000RR said:
Basically he wanted no electronic navigation aids that would show a Course (magenta line) such that I might glance/look at it and cheat the direction I was trying to go (instead of purely the old fashioned way - looking outside and reading a map). The small Garmin in the plane will show that path for your flight in Magenta/Purple... same with Foreflight. So that's all I meant - I was not able to plug in my flight plan to any electronic navigation aids. The XC was purely a sectional in my lap marked up with my way points, a flight plan/log with all the calcs, an E6B, and I had the VOR to use as well. Once I made my diversion and gave him an ETA and fuel burn, he then allowed me to use the electronic naviagational aids again (plane's GPS, and Foreflight).
Click to expand...

Okay, understood. It was just EFBs in general. That’s good.
 
1000RR said:
Basically he wanted no electronic navigation aids that would show a Course (magenta line) such that I might glance/look at it and cheat the direction I was trying to go (instead of purely the old fashioned way - looking outside and reading a map). The small Garmin in the plane will show that path for your flight in Magenta/Purple... same with Foreflight. So that's all I meant - I was not able to plug in my flight plan to any electronic navigation aids. The XC was purely a sectional in my lap marked up with my way points, a flight plan/log with all the calcs, an E6B, and I had the VOR to use as well. Once I made my diversion and gave him an ETA and fuel burn, he then allowed me to use the electronic naviagational aids again (plane's GPS, and Foreflight).
Click to expand...

Normally the applicant is permitted to use an EFB in airplane mode. The chart and magenta line is there, your position on the chart isn’t.

You also did a lot of work on the diversion that wasn’t needed, but hey you passed.
 
Clip4 said:
Normally the applicant is permitted to use an EFB in airplane mode. The chart and magenta line is there, your position on the chart isn’t.
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Interesting... Mine was the opposite... no magenta line, but position was live w/GPS on the chart. That said, I will say... I didn't look at the GPS on the plane (it's so small and not enough detail) and I didn't look at my iPad/Foreflight mainly because I knew the way points I was going to be flying over pretty well so I was good with just looking outside w/my sectional in my lap.
 
1000RR said:
Last week I [posted here] about my checkride getting discontinued after my Oral due to weather. So yesterday was my actual checkride. Short story is - I got the pass! Long story as follows... I had a handful of surprises, but nothing too bad.
  • Surprise 1: My instructor indicated I wouldn't be able use to my iPad/Foreflight to show the XC route, no magenta line on it. But he said I'd be able to plug my route into the plane's GPS (small Garmin). Examiner said - no magenta anywhere, electronic maps are OK. No biggie and it was understandable... but I had always had the Plane's GPS going during my practice XC's so I was definitely 100% visual to find my way along my XC.
  • Surprise 2: The diversion went really well (I thought I might stumble a little there). He gave me a diversion to an airport we had passed by. I got a rough magnetic course and distance from the Sectional on my lap (used a VOR to estimate the MC), noted the time of diversion, made the turn towards it, spun the E6B to get my GS with my current wind conditions, spun the E6B again and gave him an ETA and a fuel burn. He said good job and we were off to do air work.
  • Surprise 3: For my soft field take-off, he asked if I wanted to do it for real, over on the parallel grass runway - sure why not. So that was kinda cool.
  • Surprise 4: For the soft field landing - you guessed it... he said do you want to do the soft field over in the grass - sure why not (I had only done that a few times, but figured what the heck).
  • Surprise 5: We're at a non-towered airport but the guy in the pattern ahead of me was flying 737 patterns and stretching his downwind so far that it made for about a 3-4 mile final. This examiner would have failed me if I initiated a pattern like that where I took myself away from glide distance of the airport. This trip around the pattern was for my short field landing which I was a little apprehensive about anyway (I've been 50-50 on that level of accuracy, +200'/-0'). So we stretched the final approach out a few miles with no PAPI/VASI so that made things a little more interesting. I kept my altitude all the way until I was on final and then worked the power to try establish a good glide path. Intended touchdown point was the 1000 footers. I'll be damned if I didn't either put it right on them or maybe 50' past. Nailed it! Apparently "good me" showed up.
Overall, went a LOT better than I thought it would... but I will say I felt ready and after having ~135hrs leading into the checkride, I probably better damn well be ready. So today, I took my wife up for a little ocean shoreline cruise. So it was great to finally enjoy this adventure with her after all this time getting through everything. Yesterday was also our 26th anniversary so it was a really big day all the way around!

Safe Flying!
Click to expand...
Congratulations ! :)
 
Congrats! My ppl checkride was out of a Bravo so the iPad and ForeFlight were allowed. Just used to ensure compliance with airspace. Overall sounds like your ride was 10x more difficult than mine it seems. And I still have not landed in grass.
 
woodchucker said:
Congrats! My ppl checkride was out of a Bravo so the iPad and ForeFlight were allowed. Just used to ensure compliance with airspace. Overall sounds like your ride was 10x more difficult than mine it seems. And I still have not landed in grass.
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This DPE loves the grass, owns a couple tail draggers and typically you'll see him always using the grass at our airport. He has a loonnnnnggg history of all kinds of aviation (military/helicopters/military flight tester/instructor/owned tons of various planes/owned flight clubs/etc.). It's amazing to just hang out and listen to him and his experiences, etc. During my Oral debrief as well as my flight debrief (2 separate days due to weather) I had pen and paper taking any/all kinds of notes I could.

There's an island on the other side of Florida w/their own private field (grass). By air or boat is the only way to it. You can rent a house (VRBO or similar) over there and then fly in for the weekend. That's on my list of places to visit, something different. Being here in Florida, I'm also already mapping out the various options to get down to the Keys. The Bahamas is on my list too, but that will be a little more involved as for the prep for that. The good news is I have already applied for (and obtained) my FCC license and within the club I belong to, there are several that have flown over there before. But that's down the road a little bit. Honestly, I still can't believe I can just go down to the hangar and grab a plane any time I want and head out to anywhere I want.
 
That's good, you were taught to be a pilot and not just to pass a checkride. Many CFI just teach what they know the DPE will cover and just the basics of the ACS. I always tell my students, I teach you to be a pilot, not just pass the ride. If that doesn't work feel free to find another CFI because I throw things out there that are not covered in the ACS, but more real life flying experiences.
 
Good on you too @TommyG ! I'm sure you run into those situations where someone is wanting to get through things as quick and cheap as possible. Personally this was not where I wanted cheap nor quick. In part, that contributed to my pretty high number of hours going into the checkride. My instructor is also a Ground School instructor as his regular job. He told me in the very beginning, being a great pilot starts on the ground. So we spent a LOT of time with ground school as well.

The Examiner gave a few good compliments during my debrief - said my landings were solid (I was crossing my fingers I would do good there), navigation went really well (was hoping I didn't have a hiccup there), ground ops were excellent, and said I was actually within commercial standards. Now that said, there were a number of things he provided feedback to me to work on or work into my flights, etc. and even spent some time sharing some of his personal experiences and approaches to flying that attempts to mitigate or prevent complacency and lazy flying. I've got tons to learn but am excited to have what I think is a great foundation to move forward with.
 
A "foundation" is a great way to think of it. The most dangerous time for a new PPL is somewhere around 200-300 hours when they think they're hot sheet. I think there's another danger point later, but I don't remember it. If you're interested check the Nall Safety reports on AOPA's website.

My personal speculation is, the younger the new PPL, the more pronounced the effect.
 
Domenick said:
A "foundation" is a great way to think of it. The most dangerous time for a new PPL is somewhere around 200-300 hours when they think they're hot sheet. I think there's another danger point later, but I don't remember it. If you're interested check the Nall Safety reports on AOPA's website.

My personal speculation is, the younger the new PPL, the more pronounced the effect.
Click to expand...
The FAA Examiner said similar. I think he said something like this... today you are towards the top of how safe of a pilot you'll be. You're prepared for the checkride and doing all the right things. Somewhere between 300-500 hours pilots can become complacent and become lazy. So I spent some time with him picking his brain on how to prevent that in some sort of actionable manner (verses just saying I'm not going to be that pilot). He shared some good thoughts/suggestions/experiences.
 
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