ChrisK
En-Route
After a week of oral and checkride prep, my instructor called me this morning with a date and a time for my checkride, and my initial response was "oh crap!"
I did a "simulated checkride" on Wednesday with another instructor, who determined that I was weak on slips and short field landings. In my defense a front was moving in and our entire base leg on both maneuvers was in the front, giving us a positive rate of climb with power off Also, slips and short field landings are probably two of the maneuvers that I've worked on the least (I had a real issue with soft field landings before I fixed those!), so it is no surprise that I'm the least comfortable with those. The fake DPE said he thought I'd be ready for a checkride this week, and I guess my instructor agreed. Today and tomorrow I work with my instructor on these two maneuvers and go through the rest of the PTS...
I have to say that I'm split on my readiness. Part of me feels that, yes, I have demonstrated capabilities with navigation and maneuvers, and that technically I will do fine. The other part feels like, provided I pass on Tuesday, I'm not really tremendously more capable than I was two weeks ago. I feel like the kid who just had a birthday when someone asks if they feel any older. I still feel like a student, and I think I'll try to remain studious regardless Tuesday's outcome. I have been doing this for a couple weeks shy of a year, so I guess things will change after I put in some self-released cross countries.
I really don't have the oral prep guide memorized. I did really well with my instructor asking questions, only missing a couple few, but when I read through the book myself I noticed that he was skipping some of the questions. I'm wondering if he's prioritizing the questions based on the ones he feels the DPE is likely to ask.
Off I go to plan my cross country from 15G to I12, do a couple weight and balance sheets, read the oral prep guide, and hopefully calm down a little bit...
I did a "simulated checkride" on Wednesday with another instructor, who determined that I was weak on slips and short field landings. In my defense a front was moving in and our entire base leg on both maneuvers was in the front, giving us a positive rate of climb with power off Also, slips and short field landings are probably two of the maneuvers that I've worked on the least (I had a real issue with soft field landings before I fixed those!), so it is no surprise that I'm the least comfortable with those. The fake DPE said he thought I'd be ready for a checkride this week, and I guess my instructor agreed. Today and tomorrow I work with my instructor on these two maneuvers and go through the rest of the PTS...
I have to say that I'm split on my readiness. Part of me feels that, yes, I have demonstrated capabilities with navigation and maneuvers, and that technically I will do fine. The other part feels like, provided I pass on Tuesday, I'm not really tremendously more capable than I was two weeks ago. I feel like the kid who just had a birthday when someone asks if they feel any older. I still feel like a student, and I think I'll try to remain studious regardless Tuesday's outcome. I have been doing this for a couple weeks shy of a year, so I guess things will change after I put in some self-released cross countries.
I really don't have the oral prep guide memorized. I did really well with my instructor asking questions, only missing a couple few, but when I read through the book myself I noticed that he was skipping some of the questions. I'm wondering if he's prioritizing the questions based on the ones he feels the DPE is likely to ask.
Off I go to plan my cross country from 15G to I12, do a couple weight and balance sheets, read the oral prep guide, and hopefully calm down a little bit...