LoLPilot's Private Checkride

Shepherd said:
Airplanes were designed with the "Drunkards Walk" in mind. Take advantage.
Click to expand...

I don't follow?

I know I'm still writing... writing is kind of what I do right now. Got my PPL. Can't afford to fly for a while now. That's called irony.
 
"Drunkards Walk" is a mathematical term for just randomly moving from one place to another.
Visualize someone who is almost falling down drunk trying to walk across an open field.
Now fly an airplane like that.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

A tip of the hat to Dr. Seuss.
 
Shepherd said:
"Drunkards Walk" is a mathematical term for just randomly moving from one place to another.
Visualize someone who is almost falling down drunk trying to walk across an open field.
Now fly an airplane like that.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

A tip of the hat to Dr. Seuss.
Click to expand...

I pulled out a sectional once and said to myself "all those purple and blue dots are airports..."

Kind of like that.
 
WAY TO GO....Congratulations. Great write-up.

I used to go to the airport I fly out now of with my Dad when I was a kid to watch the planes. Unfortunately,
he's no longer here to fly with me, but I know he'd be proud.

Enjoy.
 
When I got my ticket I had visions of grandeur too as far as going for my IR. I think when we are on that hardcore study mode we want to just keep on going. After a while though I realized I just want to poke around VFR on nice days. PerhapS the IR will come one day. I think I may get my AGI just to keep me sharp.
 
LoLPilot said:
I bet Norway is beautiful from the air! It was a question about where I could get ATC help to land at an untowered airport when you were far away from any towered airport. My instructor and I had gone over a similar question in one of my mocks and I got it right, but this was a little bit different scenario. For some reason I didn't put it together that it was the same answer. Once again, the info was right on the chart staring me in the face but I looked right past it!




@mscard88 haha he didn't like how aggressive I was with my steep turns so I'm sure he'd have loved me rolling the plane over! The best part of this is that I got it done while I can still tell. Grandpa I did it. He's 93 now. I am disappointed that he probably won't be able to fly with me but I got to tell him I passed last night. :)
Click to expand...


Thanks for the reply. I'm just a student, and was wondering more on that question, since I fly out of an untowered airport, I'm not sure why (unless maybe IF conditions in emergency?) one would need help from a tower, but in any case would the answer be if it is in the TMA of an airport, they could be contacted, but outside...not sure.

Also was still wondering about the "mains" question. I thought first you meant the main wheels, but in context I think it was after rotation, so I figured I was wrong.

It was a great write up though!
 
LongRoadBob said:
Thanks for the reply. I'm just a student, and was wondering more on that question, since I fly out of an untowered airport, I'm not sure why (unless maybe IF conditions in emergency?) one would need help from a tower, but in any case would the answer be if it is in the TMA of an airport, they could be contacted, but outside...not sure.

Also was still wondering about the "mains" question. I thought first you meant the main wheels, but in context I think it was after rotation, so I figured I was wrong.

It was a great write up though!
Click to expand...

I rotated at 50 kts but we were near gross on a warm evening with no wind and so she stayed on the ground for a hundred feet or so with the nosewheel in the air before taking off.
 
Mike Smith said:
When I got my ticket I had visions of grandeur too as far as going for my IR. I think when we are on that hardcore study mode we want to just keep on going. After a while though I realized I just want to poke around VFR on nice days. PerhapS the IR will come one day. I think I may get my AGI just to keep me sharp.
Click to expand...

My reasoning is odd. I don't have a desire to fly in IMC, and I don't really see a small aircraft as a practical means of personal transportation. I am going to Florida in August for vacation. I am flying Southwest round trip for $600. That is half of what it would cost me to rent a plane and fly myself round trip, and I will get there in half the time and not have to worry about renting a tiedown at an FBO for the week I am there. If I owned a plane it would still be how I view trips on my motorcycle. Take much longer than I need to reach my destination and get back and just take my time. If the weather is bad I chill where I'm at. So in that case the mode of transportation is the point of the trip in the first place. The destinations are punctuation points on the journey itself.

The reason I'd want it is for CYA. In my training I was told you learn a little about instrument flying so that if you inadvertently run into IMC you can survive long enough to get out with ATC's help. I can see this panning out:

Pilot: help I just got into IMC

ATC: are you instrument rated?

Pilot: no

**user: FAA has joined the session**

FAA: fly safe. We need you alive so we can take action against you. Call us when you're done.

**user: FAA has left the session**

ATC: so where we're we?
 
It'd be more like:

Pilot: Help, I just got into IMC, I'm not instrument rated, I'm declaring an emergency.
ATC: Whatever you need, my friend.
FAA; Do whatever you need to.
 
kath said:
It'd be more like:

Pilot: Help, I just got into IMC, I'm not instrument rated, I'm declaring an emergency.
ATC: Whatever you need, my friend.
FAA; Do whatever you need to.
Click to expand...

I always figured since you technically just violated a FAR the FAA was going to come after you if you still had a pulse.

Hence the instrument rating desire. I would just imagine that the process goes a bit easier if you do that and can honestly tell ATC that you are instrument rated, even if you're not current. Add to that if there is more fruit to be picked from a tree, I usually want to try and reach for it.
 
They want you to ask for help. If you are really in IMC, Aviate, Communicate. When they ask if you are instrument rated, it's about how they can best help, not whether or not to bust you.
 
LoLPilot said:
I always figured since you technically just violated a FAR the FAA was going to come after you if you still had a pulse.
Click to expand...

Please banish this thought from your mind. As much as we all like to rag on the FAA, they really do want to prevent things like this happening. Call and confess and get your butt down safely. Forget the FAA.

 
LoLPilot said:
I always figured since you technically just violated a FAR the FAA was going to come after you if you still had a pulse.
Click to expand...
This is the new FAA. They check your intentions and whether your sorry before they bring down the hammer.
LoLPilot said:
I'll look but I've seen a shirt with the cat pic on it that says "MIKE ECHO OSCAR WHISKEY! Do you copy?"
Click to expand...
Make your next towered call up as "Podunk Tower, Cessna 123, ten south with information whisker" and see if anyone notices.
 
luvflyin said:
Ya did it, way to go. That reminded me of mine. Wasn’t a fire, he just pulled the throttle. Did all the stuff, picked a spot and said I’m gonna land there. He said something like that’s not a bad one but I think I’d land at that airport over there. We were about 5 miles from CRQ, a 5000 foot runway.
Click to expand...

SAME THING happened to me, even being warned that it was one of her tricks, but the private strip she had in mind was REALLY obscure.
 
LoLPilot said:
I always figured since you technically just violated a FAR the FAA was going to come after you if you still had a pulse.
Click to expand...

No. Don’t think like this. When you’re PIC, use all available help and resources including the controllers in any sort of emergency.

Deal with ground stuff on the ground. FAA lawyers live on the ground.


Inadvertent VFR into IMC where you did a proper pre-flight brief and could reasonably say your route was forecast to be and remain VMC, could MAYBE turn into a request to do a little extra training with a CFI on weather, if they felt you didn’t know why or how you ended up there in bad weather, but even that’s not super likely.

I’ve seen one person “violated” for something like that in two decades, and that person was absolutely clueless about what happened and never looked at a weather forecast before, or even after he landed. Not even to see WTH happened. He made it clear when FAA called, that he didn’t care about flight planing and FAA rightly tossed the book at him.

No matter what, if you’re in the air and need help, call for it. Deal with the rest later.

And here’s another hard one... don’t. DO NOT get the IFR if you aren’t serious about maintaining proficiency. Knowing a little IFR will eventually lead to a similar trap... “The forecast says this will be an easy IFR flight and I’ll break out 1000’ above the airport and land visually.”

Then the real weather goes to crap, just like the VFR into IMC guy’s weather did, against the forecast, and you now either fly an ILS to minimums, or you don’t get in. Or you need a completely different Plan B and an alternate that wasn’t the alternate on your flight plan. And you have to go there right NOW or you’ll be out of gas when you get there.

If you do the IFR, take it seriously. It makes weather decisions harder, not easier.
 
Excellent report LoLPilot! I really enjoyed your backstory and the flow through the checkride experience, very easy to read, thanks! I am about to start my second year into PP training and getting pretty frustrated. So much so I'm taking leave in August to try to speed things along before I go broke trying to keep this dream alive. If you don't mind me asking, how many total hours did you log in your three years of training?
 
Bryant said:
Excellent report LoLPilot! I really enjoyed your backstory and the flow through the checkride experience, very easy to read, thanks! I am about to start my second year into PP training and getting pretty frustrated. So much so I'm taking leave in August to try to speed things along before I go broke trying to keep this dream alive. If you don't mind me asking, how many total hours did you log in your three years of training?
Click to expand...

I was right at about 70 when I took my checkride. I had to do an extra cross country because a tailwind on my long CC put me .2 hours low on cross country time. I also had an awful time in the early pattern work and probably had 8 hours of flying in circles just learning to land when I first started.
 
Thanks,
I think I'll end up around there too, maybe even a little more. It's nice to know I'm not alone in taking so dadgum long to get this done. With the lack of A/C, CFIs and crappy weather these days, it takes FOREVER to get some traction in training. When I'm only able to get in the cockpit on average once or twice a month, repeating lessons has been the standard.
Again, congrats on your accomplishment and thanks for sharing your story! For guys like me, it's important to know that one day we might actually get there.
 
Bryant said:
Thanks,
I think I'll end up around there too, maybe even a little more. It's nice to know I'm not alone in taking so dadgum long to get this done. With the lack of A/C, CFIs and crappy weather these days, it takes FOREVER to get some traction in training. When I'm only able to get in the cockpit on average once or twice a month, repeating lessons has been the standard.
Again, congrats on your accomplishment and thanks for sharing your story! For guys like me, it's important to know that one day we might actually get there.
Click to expand...

Thanks! For me it was finances. I have a couple of different things I do for money (contract work, my assistanceship, extra teaching) and I took a job hit in 2017 and had to take over a year away from it. I almost didn't go back because I figured I'd be so rusty and I found out that my initial instructor wasn't even with the school anymore. I drove by one day and just asked if they still had my student file and the new assistant chief instructor was super nice about it and got me in with an instructor who is there part time. Within a few hours I was flying better than I had been when I stopped. So you're not the only one that's taking the long way round, as I say it ;)
 
asicer said:
This is the new FAA. They check your intentions and whether your sorry before they bring down the hammer.

Make your next towered call up as "Podunk Tower, Cessna 123, ten south with information whisker" and see if anyone notices.
Click to expand...

"Cessna 123 turning left base right meow" "Cessna 123 report 5 meow final":p
 
LoLPilot said:
I was right at about 70 when I took my checkride. I had to do an extra cross country because a tailwind on my long CC put me .2 hours low on cross country time. I also had an awful time in the early pattern work and probably had 8 hours of flying in circles just learning to land when I first started.
Click to expand...
I gotta tell ya, if'n that had been me, that would have been a world record long taxi.
 
Mike Smith said:
I gotta tell ya, if'n that had been me, that would have been a world record long taxi.
Click to expand...

I didn't realize it until we started to do my endorsements for my ride! My CFI gets this worried look on his face and says "you're .2 hours short of cross country time." I was like what?? And we looked at it and I remembered my long CC. I had gotten lost and had to toss in the towel and find myself on GPS because I couldn't find my waypoint and still had two waypoints left to go before airport #2. Turns out I'd picked up a tailwind that wasn't on winds aloft that morning and I'd been cruising at a cool 120-130 kt ground speed. When I checked the GPS it showed me right over my target airport and sure enough when I looked straight down over the tire there it was. I remember I thought "wow I'm 15 minutes early." So I re-did my first dual CC except I flew it solo. It had a 1 leg distance of 50.1 or so nm and so just barely qualified. Go, take a picture of the FBO, text it to CFI, immediately turn around and book it home.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top