Once again a temporary airman

jsstevens

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jsstevens
With a tip of the hat to @flyingron, I've joined the league of temporary airmen. For the record, this is all @denverpilot 's fault.

Friday I took the practical test for CP-SEL. And passed.

Oral portion was a discussion that covered a few topics:
1)what I can and can't do with a Commercial certificate (mostly I can't supply the airplane as part of the service).
2)What do I need to be legal and proficient to carry passengers if I took 3 years off?
3)What does the plane need to be legal? How can I prove that?
4)If we're flying to X in a week what weather do I look at an when?

I talked about using the field elevation to check the altimeter and he asked "How far off can it be?" I guessed 50 feet. I went into Part 43 to figure out the correct answer (75ft!).

Then we went out to fly. Summerville (KDYB) is the home airport of this DPE. !st up soft field takeoff. We happened to be in a lull for traffic so we stayed in the pattern and did a short field landing, then a soft field. He wasn't happy with my patterns. The turns were too steep for comfort (I was using 30 degree banks as I was taught in primary, but he-rightly-pointed out passengers won't like that and it was unnecessary to do that so close to the ground. We did a normal landing, then on the next normal landing my engine "failed". So once we were established on short final, it came back to life and we flew out to do airwork. We flew a couple of rectangular patterns, did slow flight, a power off stall to first indication, then a chandelle to the left. Then a power on stall, again to first indication. Followed by steep turns, left then right. Next I tracked some GPS nav. Then he set up the RNAV approach into 6 for Summerville and had me fly that. When we landed we were done.

My main takeaways were the gentle turns and landing on the center line (which the CFI had been harping on all week anyway!)

Oh, yes, and my flimsy new paper CP cert.

On to multi-engine this week.

Edited to give a shout out to CRAFT flight training. I used them for my IR intensive and came back for the commercial and multi-engine add on. They are not cheap, but they are organized, professional, the instructors I've worked with are very good and they have the resources to get you through as scheduled.

John
 
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Not even a power off 180 landing? DPE pulled the power but gave it back to you on short final? Your whole flight portion sounds like private pilot (aside from the chandelle), not CP-SEL.

Congrats though!
 
Congrats!!
I disagree about the 30° banks in pattern.
If nothing else, it makes you more visible to other airplanes in the pattern.
 
Congrats!!
I disagree about the 30° banks in pattern.
If nothing else, it makes you more visible to other airplanes in the pattern.

The way I was taught in primary was use 30 degree banks in the pattern for two reasons: 1) Visibility (as you cited), 2) Get your turn done and get the wing out of the way so you can see (high wing airplane).

And there wasn't a specific number the DPE cited, but when I used 15 degrees he was happy. It was also about being smooth with it which is certainly fair.

John
 
Congrats and thanks for the summary of the ride. I just starting on commercial now, hope to get it locked out this year.
 
Congrats and thanks for the summary of the ride. I just starting on commercial now, hope to get it locked out this year.
It was a nice change after the IR. Much more feel, energy management and stick & rudder flying, Also, the skills are fun.

Have you knocked out the written yet?
 
No I have not done the written yet, but have been spending an hour or two every evening preparing, so I plan to get it knocked out in the next few weeks.
 
Congrats!

Oral portion was a discussion that covered a few topics:
1)what I can and can't do with a Commercial certificate (mostly I can't supply the airplane as part of the service).
This part of my oral consisted of reviewing the legalities a local flying service... the Bat plane!!
https://www.flybatplane.com/
 
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