Keane
Pre-takeoff checklist
So I was told this is a requirement to become a real member here, so here it is! I just hit 40 hrs on Wednesday, and did another .9 with my instructor on Friday. Anyway, here it is:
The test was Sunday, so I spent all day Saturday trying to prepare. I couldn’t sleep very well, so I ended up waking up at 7 am, so I spent from just about then until the late afternoon reading through the ASA Oral prep book. After studying, I spent some time looking for a watch as a Christmas/birthday gift, and think I decided on a Citizen Skyhawk (I haven’t decided if I want to do the blue angel one though J ). Anyway, after that, I finally got to sleep much later than I should have.
I woke up very early on Sunday morning(~6am!), showered, and drove to the airport. I was wicked nervous (obviously), and ended up getting to the airport ~45 minutes early. I did a preliminary pre-flight on ‘058, and noticed it was in the back of the hanger, behind a pair of 172s!
At about 8am, Forest, the tester, showed up right on time. We chatted while he got his computer setup, and then did all the required paperwork. It took about a half hour during which we talked BS’ed about flying, which did wonders for me! It calmed me down a ton.
Next, we started the Oral Exam portion, which was surprisingly easy! He asked some questions about weather and stuff, then we went to my flight-plan. We discussed the path I took and my plans for following it. My flight plan was 7S3 to ONP (Newport), which is a trip he’s done a few times before and I did once. The only recommendation he found was that I should have travelled to the right of the mountain with the Radomes, instead of to the left.
After that, he started questions about the map. We talked extensively about both class C (PDX) and class B (Sea-Tac) airspace. He brought up the Pearson stuff, which I knew because my instructor prepare me for it! On that portion, there were 2 questions I had a hard time with. He talked about the approach E-airspace around Salem, and asked when I’d have to talk to the tower. I mentioned in SVFR conditions, and he kept prodding me. He mentioned that it was required to listen to ATIS when going through them, because that is how you determine SVFR conditions. The other question I had a hard time with was where class G airspace tops out. I said 18k (where A starts), but he had me look up the definition of class E airspace, which specifies that it starts at 14,500 under certain conditions!
He asked some questions about aeromedical factors which I had no problem with, and a few other things. The only other question I answered incorrectly was the start of Oxygen requirements, where I said 10k instead of 12,500 for the 30 minute requirement. I went up to the FBO, where Betty (the woman who owns the airport with her husband) made us muffins, and I picked up the materials for the plane.
Next, we checked the weather (I showed him RunwayFinder.com, which he thought was really cool), and realized that the ceilings were 800 ft! We talked for a few minutes and checked the TAFs, and decided to wait a few hrs or so for the weather to break.
The clouds finally climbed to ~2500-few, so we decided to take off. I did my preflight, and all was good! I was actually the last pilot to fly this plane two days before, so it even had the right amount of gas (we were about 2 lbs under max-gross!). I tried to set up my VOR before we took off, but apparently the radio was having power issues! The entire nav-side of the radio was dead, so we couldn’t set up the VOR unfortunately. Even so, we took off and climbed to about 2000 feet, which was tough, since our Vx Climb was only about 300 ft/min! Having the plane that full made it pretty tough to get up!
We crossed the field at Sportsman’s airpark (in Newberg), and started toward MMV. A few minutes later he had me turn east and head toward Aurora, where the clouds were a little better. We passed over the field, and finally found an opening to do steep turns and stalls. He had me do both stalls and the steep turns, which went without a hitch! Then I got to do some hood time, which took us over to Mulino. By that time, a 6knot headwind had started, so we were in good shape! I did a short-field landing without a problem, then we switched to a soft-field takeoff (since we did a SF takeoff at 7S3). The soft-field takeoff went splendidly, he even commented at how well I controlled the plane when the nose was up!
We came around for a soft field landing, but I was quite high. He told me to do a slip, then a go-around (since he had to see one anyway), which went perfectly. I came around again and nailed it! We did a ‘normal’ takeoff, and found an area for turns around a point and S-turns. I did a single time around the point, then a full S-turn, and he told me to take him home!
On the way, I noticed that the VOR panel was partially back up, so he had me tune to both battlegrounds and Newburg VOR, and find which radial we were on. I confirmed the channel by listening to the morse code, and we were good! He then asked about lost-procedures, and we talked about it for a few minutes.
Finally, he pulled my engine power over a bunch of fields. I got best-glide, then punched in Nearest in the GPS. There was nothing really close enough, so I picked a field, told him which it was, and started to go toward it. I tried engine-restart procedures, and told him I’d do the radio next. At about 1200 feet (only ~600 feet of drop!) he said we were good and to go home! I landed at 7S3, and taxied back and parked the plane!
We went back and filled out the paperwork, and I was finally, officially a private pilot!
The test was Sunday, so I spent all day Saturday trying to prepare. I couldn’t sleep very well, so I ended up waking up at 7 am, so I spent from just about then until the late afternoon reading through the ASA Oral prep book. After studying, I spent some time looking for a watch as a Christmas/birthday gift, and think I decided on a Citizen Skyhawk (I haven’t decided if I want to do the blue angel one though J ). Anyway, after that, I finally got to sleep much later than I should have.
I woke up very early on Sunday morning(~6am!), showered, and drove to the airport. I was wicked nervous (obviously), and ended up getting to the airport ~45 minutes early. I did a preliminary pre-flight on ‘058, and noticed it was in the back of the hanger, behind a pair of 172s!
At about 8am, Forest, the tester, showed up right on time. We chatted while he got his computer setup, and then did all the required paperwork. It took about a half hour during which we talked BS’ed about flying, which did wonders for me! It calmed me down a ton.
Next, we started the Oral Exam portion, which was surprisingly easy! He asked some questions about weather and stuff, then we went to my flight-plan. We discussed the path I took and my plans for following it. My flight plan was 7S3 to ONP (Newport), which is a trip he’s done a few times before and I did once. The only recommendation he found was that I should have travelled to the right of the mountain with the Radomes, instead of to the left.
After that, he started questions about the map. We talked extensively about both class C (PDX) and class B (Sea-Tac) airspace. He brought up the Pearson stuff, which I knew because my instructor prepare me for it! On that portion, there were 2 questions I had a hard time with. He talked about the approach E-airspace around Salem, and asked when I’d have to talk to the tower. I mentioned in SVFR conditions, and he kept prodding me. He mentioned that it was required to listen to ATIS when going through them, because that is how you determine SVFR conditions. The other question I had a hard time with was where class G airspace tops out. I said 18k (where A starts), but he had me look up the definition of class E airspace, which specifies that it starts at 14,500 under certain conditions!
He asked some questions about aeromedical factors which I had no problem with, and a few other things. The only other question I answered incorrectly was the start of Oxygen requirements, where I said 10k instead of 12,500 for the 30 minute requirement. I went up to the FBO, where Betty (the woman who owns the airport with her husband) made us muffins, and I picked up the materials for the plane.
Next, we checked the weather (I showed him RunwayFinder.com, which he thought was really cool), and realized that the ceilings were 800 ft! We talked for a few minutes and checked the TAFs, and decided to wait a few hrs or so for the weather to break.
The clouds finally climbed to ~2500-few, so we decided to take off. I did my preflight, and all was good! I was actually the last pilot to fly this plane two days before, so it even had the right amount of gas (we were about 2 lbs under max-gross!). I tried to set up my VOR before we took off, but apparently the radio was having power issues! The entire nav-side of the radio was dead, so we couldn’t set up the VOR unfortunately. Even so, we took off and climbed to about 2000 feet, which was tough, since our Vx Climb was only about 300 ft/min! Having the plane that full made it pretty tough to get up!
We crossed the field at Sportsman’s airpark (in Newberg), and started toward MMV. A few minutes later he had me turn east and head toward Aurora, where the clouds were a little better. We passed over the field, and finally found an opening to do steep turns and stalls. He had me do both stalls and the steep turns, which went without a hitch! Then I got to do some hood time, which took us over to Mulino. By that time, a 6knot headwind had started, so we were in good shape! I did a short-field landing without a problem, then we switched to a soft-field takeoff (since we did a SF takeoff at 7S3). The soft-field takeoff went splendidly, he even commented at how well I controlled the plane when the nose was up!
We came around for a soft field landing, but I was quite high. He told me to do a slip, then a go-around (since he had to see one anyway), which went perfectly. I came around again and nailed it! We did a ‘normal’ takeoff, and found an area for turns around a point and S-turns. I did a single time around the point, then a full S-turn, and he told me to take him home!
On the way, I noticed that the VOR panel was partially back up, so he had me tune to both battlegrounds and Newburg VOR, and find which radial we were on. I confirmed the channel by listening to the morse code, and we were good! He then asked about lost-procedures, and we talked about it for a few minutes.
Finally, he pulled my engine power over a bunch of fields. I got best-glide, then punched in Nearest in the GPS. There was nothing really close enough, so I picked a field, told him which it was, and started to go toward it. I tried engine-restart procedures, and told him I’d do the radio next. At about 1200 feet (only ~600 feet of drop!) he said we were good and to go home! I landed at 7S3, and taxied back and parked the plane!
We went back and filled out the paperwork, and I was finally, officially a private pilot!
