dlsmith
Pre-takeoff checklist
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2014
- Messages
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Display name:
Dylan Smith
I've been called many things, but never a slacker.
On Saturday, I flew to Chattanooga and took my Multi Inst/Comm check ride. I found the oral to be pretty easy. The main focus was on Vmc, and factors related to engine out aerodynamics. We talked about the turning tendencies, and how they changed with an engine inoperative. The conditions for how Vmc was determined came up, the SMACFUM acronym for those familiar with multi. There was also discussion of the term critical engine, what it meant, and whether the Seminole I was flying had one (no due to counter rotating props). Then we went into systems (how the gear operates, fuel system, combustion heater, direction of oil flow as related to the constant speed prop, when can we cross feed fuel). I was sharp on all areas, so my oral was over in about 20 minutes.
The flight was straightforward. On the preflight he asked my to point out various things on the airplane, such as the squat switch for the gear, static ports, and fuel vents. He asked how many fuel vents we had, and seemed happy when I remembered the fuel caps were vented. We did steep turns, slow flight, power on and off stalls, a Vmc demo, engine kill and securing. Due to it being cold, he didn't want to leave the engine off for long, so he told me he would cut a mixture and to immediately secure the engine and then air start it using flows rather than checklists to keep it from losing too much heat. From there we did an emergency descent, then entered Chattanooga airspace for a single engine ILS. That went well, so we taxied back and he gave me an engine failure on takeoff roll. We taxied back again for a short field takeoff. We returned to KFGU, and he told me to go around, and killed an engine on the go around to make sure I got the gear and flaps up ASAP. Then we did one sho rt Wfield landing and he wrote my temporary up.
Apparently I'm a glutton for punishment. I got home, parked the Seminole, got some sleep, and got up the next morning, hopped in the Arrow, and flew to M01 in Memphis. I sat in on a MEI oral, and got a hotel for the evening. I left my hotel at 6 the next morning and began my oral for my CFI at 7:30.
At the beginning of the CFI oral, we started by qualifying myself and the airplane. He had me pull up my IACRA application and all applicable endorsements in my log book. Then we pulled out the airframe, engine, and prop logs and I showed him the last 100hr, annual, ELT, and transponder checks. After that was complete, we began on FOI material. He didn't spend a lot of time on this, we talked mainly about the responsibilities of a flight instructor and professionalism. From there we dove into endorsements. This was mainly scenario-based, with him using the examples of being a student ready to solo, ready for his first cross-country, ect. I had AC61-65E on hand, but was able to name the endorsements needed from memory, even though I mentioned that I would reference the AC to make sure I hadn't missed anything. He asked where I would find the requirements for a private pilot. On most questions of that nature, I found that I could tell him where to find things in the FARs and he was satisfied with that. Then we moved into technical areas. He had me teach airspace, and was happy that I had a lesson plan ready to go. I used my lesson plan, drew charts, listed weather requirements, listed required equipment, ect. He pulled out a sectional and went over airspace. That part was fairly simple, with no real trick questions. I taught where different sorts of airspace started and ended at certain points on the chart. One thing that I was weak on that he wanted to know were speed restrictions at different altitudes and in different classes of airspace. He had no issue when I told him I would like to look it up, because I wasn't completely certain and, following the law of Primacy, wanted to be sure I taught it correctly the first time. After he was satisfied on that, we began into aerodynamics. His initial question was "how does an airplane fly?" I taught airfoils, bernoullis principle, pressure differentials, relative wind, angle of attack, ect. We discussed how a stall occurs, what can cause a spin, and spin recovery techniques. We also had an interesting discussion on spin training, as he and i are both in support of spin recovery training at the private level. He wanted to know the lift equation, the coefficient of lift, the coefficient of drag, and how they're related. He had me draw what's basically a VG diagram, explain load factor, maneuvering speed, and how load factor and stall speed go into determining it. We also got into different types of drag, what causes each, how can we reduce each, how does ground effect influence drag, ect. Basically everything in the PHAK. One trick question he threw me was "if our approach speed is 90kts, and we go to an airport with a 9000ft elevation, how do we adjust our approach speed?" He seemed happy when I told him that our indicated speed should remain the same, but our true airspeed would be different and explained why. Finally, he had me teach a ground lesson on S turns across a road, and we concluded the oral. All in all, it lasted 6 hours.
The flight was straightforward. He had me call Memphis and get flight following into the practice area. We did a could chandelles, lazy 8s, power on and off stalls, elevator trim stalls, accelerated stalls, steep turns, an emergency descent, 8s on pylons, S turns, and an engine loss descent to landing in a field. He flew half the time and I critiqued. We did a normal, short field, and soft field landing.
Through the CFI ride, the whole thing was fairly relaxed. He had his dog with him, and we took a break every hour or so to let the dog out, grab a cup of coffee, and unwind. He also bought me lunch. I noticed that we spent a lot of time comparing techniques in both teaching and the way we worded and performed things. He seemed please by my desire to see a style of teaching other than my own, both on the ground and in the airplane. We took things from each other. I noticed him writing down my wording for certain things and he would comment that he liked the way I put some things. I soaked up a lot of what he did and took notes for my own use in teaching. At the end he invited me to come back, observe him teaching, and to teach some myself to compare notes further. He also mentioned that we might just have to pull his T6 Texan out for a little flying, considering that we are both big tailwheel guys. It was an awesome experience, I felt like, in addition to being tested, I was also gaining a lot of insight to different methods than what I've always seen.
I hope these write ups are useful to anybody preparing for either of these tests.
I will say, I will never do 2 rides back to back like that again. I think I developed a couple grey hairs at 20 years old
On Saturday, I flew to Chattanooga and took my Multi Inst/Comm check ride. I found the oral to be pretty easy. The main focus was on Vmc, and factors related to engine out aerodynamics. We talked about the turning tendencies, and how they changed with an engine inoperative. The conditions for how Vmc was determined came up, the SMACFUM acronym for those familiar with multi. There was also discussion of the term critical engine, what it meant, and whether the Seminole I was flying had one (no due to counter rotating props). Then we went into systems (how the gear operates, fuel system, combustion heater, direction of oil flow as related to the constant speed prop, when can we cross feed fuel). I was sharp on all areas, so my oral was over in about 20 minutes.
The flight was straightforward. On the preflight he asked my to point out various things on the airplane, such as the squat switch for the gear, static ports, and fuel vents. He asked how many fuel vents we had, and seemed happy when I remembered the fuel caps were vented. We did steep turns, slow flight, power on and off stalls, a Vmc demo, engine kill and securing. Due to it being cold, he didn't want to leave the engine off for long, so he told me he would cut a mixture and to immediately secure the engine and then air start it using flows rather than checklists to keep it from losing too much heat. From there we did an emergency descent, then entered Chattanooga airspace for a single engine ILS. That went well, so we taxied back and he gave me an engine failure on takeoff roll. We taxied back again for a short field takeoff. We returned to KFGU, and he told me to go around, and killed an engine on the go around to make sure I got the gear and flaps up ASAP. Then we did one sho rt Wfield landing and he wrote my temporary up.
Apparently I'm a glutton for punishment. I got home, parked the Seminole, got some sleep, and got up the next morning, hopped in the Arrow, and flew to M01 in Memphis. I sat in on a MEI oral, and got a hotel for the evening. I left my hotel at 6 the next morning and began my oral for my CFI at 7:30.
At the beginning of the CFI oral, we started by qualifying myself and the airplane. He had me pull up my IACRA application and all applicable endorsements in my log book. Then we pulled out the airframe, engine, and prop logs and I showed him the last 100hr, annual, ELT, and transponder checks. After that was complete, we began on FOI material. He didn't spend a lot of time on this, we talked mainly about the responsibilities of a flight instructor and professionalism. From there we dove into endorsements. This was mainly scenario-based, with him using the examples of being a student ready to solo, ready for his first cross-country, ect. I had AC61-65E on hand, but was able to name the endorsements needed from memory, even though I mentioned that I would reference the AC to make sure I hadn't missed anything. He asked where I would find the requirements for a private pilot. On most questions of that nature, I found that I could tell him where to find things in the FARs and he was satisfied with that. Then we moved into technical areas. He had me teach airspace, and was happy that I had a lesson plan ready to go. I used my lesson plan, drew charts, listed weather requirements, listed required equipment, ect. He pulled out a sectional and went over airspace. That part was fairly simple, with no real trick questions. I taught where different sorts of airspace started and ended at certain points on the chart. One thing that I was weak on that he wanted to know were speed restrictions at different altitudes and in different classes of airspace. He had no issue when I told him I would like to look it up, because I wasn't completely certain and, following the law of Primacy, wanted to be sure I taught it correctly the first time. After he was satisfied on that, we began into aerodynamics. His initial question was "how does an airplane fly?" I taught airfoils, bernoullis principle, pressure differentials, relative wind, angle of attack, ect. We discussed how a stall occurs, what can cause a spin, and spin recovery techniques. We also had an interesting discussion on spin training, as he and i are both in support of spin recovery training at the private level. He wanted to know the lift equation, the coefficient of lift, the coefficient of drag, and how they're related. He had me draw what's basically a VG diagram, explain load factor, maneuvering speed, and how load factor and stall speed go into determining it. We also got into different types of drag, what causes each, how can we reduce each, how does ground effect influence drag, ect. Basically everything in the PHAK. One trick question he threw me was "if our approach speed is 90kts, and we go to an airport with a 9000ft elevation, how do we adjust our approach speed?" He seemed happy when I told him that our indicated speed should remain the same, but our true airspeed would be different and explained why. Finally, he had me teach a ground lesson on S turns across a road, and we concluded the oral. All in all, it lasted 6 hours.
The flight was straightforward. He had me call Memphis and get flight following into the practice area. We did a could chandelles, lazy 8s, power on and off stalls, elevator trim stalls, accelerated stalls, steep turns, an emergency descent, 8s on pylons, S turns, and an engine loss descent to landing in a field. He flew half the time and I critiqued. We did a normal, short field, and soft field landing.
Through the CFI ride, the whole thing was fairly relaxed. He had his dog with him, and we took a break every hour or so to let the dog out, grab a cup of coffee, and unwind. He also bought me lunch. I noticed that we spent a lot of time comparing techniques in both teaching and the way we worded and performed things. He seemed please by my desire to see a style of teaching other than my own, both on the ground and in the airplane. We took things from each other. I noticed him writing down my wording for certain things and he would comment that he liked the way I put some things. I soaked up a lot of what he did and took notes for my own use in teaching. At the end he invited me to come back, observe him teaching, and to teach some myself to compare notes further. He also mentioned that we might just have to pull his T6 Texan out for a little flying, considering that we are both big tailwheel guys. It was an awesome experience, I felt like, in addition to being tested, I was also gaining a lot of insight to different methods than what I've always seen.
I hope these write ups are useful to anybody preparing for either of these tests.
I will say, I will never do 2 rides back to back like that again. I think I developed a couple grey hairs at 20 years old
