MAJOR UPDATE - !

kimberlyanne546 said:
Another update: we flew on Tuesday after work. It was one of the most clear, calm afternoons in memory.

The airports we went to (in anticipation of where the DPE may "deviate" from my XC) were over 20nm from O69 and it seemed as though the entire flight home was conducted with my hands in my lap. Just a perfect, perfect night. Healdsburg (HES) and Cloverdale (O60) have shorter runways than my home airport of Petaluma (O69) and HES even has trees at both ends.

When doing short field landings at these other places, though slightly off centerline, I was VERY happy with the progress made overall.

To pass the time during the 40+nm flying portion, my CFI quizzed me on the oral, asked me to do E6B calculations such as density altitude, calibrated air speed, etc.... and reminded me how to divide my attention between inside the cockpit and outside (scanning for traffic).

I submitted my IACRA and gave him a copy of the FTN number, printed submission, and application number.

He told me to program the DPE's three phone numbers into my phone and asked me to please call him on Saturday night ONLY IF I had not heard from him by 7pm. Apparently, the DPE will be calling me the night before my checkride to discuss where I am going to plan a cross country to.


I meet with my CFI again tonight - not sure yet if we will fly or do paperwork (that will depend on the weather). I am not yet signed off in my logbook, so that will need to be done either tonight or tomorrow.

Getting closer.........
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Most excellent. I never really worry about the centerline, I'm watching way down the runway, the centerline usually ends up between the wheels, as long as I end up on the runway, I'll take it.

As for your XC and diversion on your ride, don't expect that to take too much time. You'll likely just fly to your first checkpoint to establish your winds aloft correction and then divert you you, you'll figure the nav for the diversion, get established, and that will likely complete that phase of the ride. One thing that impressed my examiner is that it took me about 2 seconds with my fingers to determine we did not have the fuel required for that diversion but I did give him an intermediate airport I could make and got us established +/- 5* all using nothing but the chart and my fingers. Then I dialed us in on a VOR there and trimmed my heading accordingly.
 
Henning said:
Also remember you can ask the DE to do anything you would ask a passenger to do like hold a chart or whatever. I did that in the 152, "Since you're sitting on my desk, I'm gonna ask you to hang onto this..."
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You know, I was just thinking about that the other day, great tip, thanks! Another instructor I flew with also said I should ask him to keep an eye out for traffic for me too.
 
My "final flight" was last night. It was OK though not as stellar as the last few flights have been.

My CFI is being a lot more honest with me nowadays - meaning, in the past before we started prepping for the checkride, he would pretty much shoot for "the best" landings.... and now, he will at least say "that was not very good, but it will pass."

We simply did stalls, stalls in a turn, VOR work, short and soft field takeoffs, short and soft field landings, emergency landings (to our airport), airspace clearing / traffic scanning, and discussions of what the examiner is looking at (he glanced at my instruments on crosswind and asked me what I thought he was paying attention to - I answered: coordination - ball in center during turn, airspeed - Vy, and altitude).

Tonight we will meet AGAIN but just for paperwork.... I guess he will finally sign me off for the checkride LOL. We're also going to review my documents, W & B calculations, etc.

I *might* fly solo tomorrow, but I think the time would be better spent studying for the oral exam. I am not as worried about the flying portion..... but the questioning scares me to death.

Checkride is on Sunday at 1:00pm ......
 
just looked in my logbook and my checkride was 1.3 hours.....I think that was about average for the time-1989 anyway.

Good luck on yours. You should do fine.

Frank
 
BiffJ said:
just looked in my logbook and my checkride was 1.3 hours.....
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OK, that right there is funny. I just checked, and mine was identical, 1.3 hours. Best of luck Kim. I hope I get to meet a pilot at 6Y9.
 
steingar said:
OK, that right there is funny. I just checked, and mine was identical, 1.3 hours. Best of luck Kim. I hope I get to meet a pilot at 6Y9.
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Mine was 1.6 in 2005 at a class d airport. We did do some landings at another nearby airport as well.
 
You guys got put through the motions, Mine was 1.2. Had a steady crosswind straight across the runway about 12kts. I was going to abort but told the DPE, I'd fly in if you weren't with me, worst I can do is fail, lets go. So he was nice and took me to a nearby airport with better winds for short/soft got me lost by flying me right over it while I was doing simulated XC then unusual attitudes. Got back, X-wind still there. I got it down with what I thought was a good landing. He gave me my ticket and told me to work on my X-Wind landings.
 
RyanShort1 said:
Mine was 2 hours...

Ryan
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2 hrs flight time for a PPL ride? Damn.

Mine was a bit on the low side - 0.9 on the hobbs.....that number is more indicative of the examiner, not my flying skill. In contrast, my PPL MEL addon was 1.6
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Thanks, Chris.

I actually HAVE TO fly to the checkride. I fly 18nm North from O69 to KSTS. This is cool for two reasons:

1 ) I will have already flown the plane. This helps me tremendously. No more wondering how my flying is, or how the weather is.

2 ) If I get my PPL, the flight back to O69 will be my first flight as a private pilot!!!
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You're right, Kimberly, that flight home WILL be awesome. I had to fly 40nm back to my home base after my check ride in 2005, and it felt like it took 5 minutes. enjoy the moment.

I also started a new logbook with that flight. First, I dragged my training out for 22 months, so my endorsements in my student logbook were filling up. But I once saw an old-timer with one of those large "senior" logbooks nearly full of entries, beat up and torn but his prized posession, and I just had to have one. I will never fill it up, so it will last forever for me.

Best wishes!
 
Steve likes HES by the way..... good you went there study up where the windsock is --- AWOS CTAF click mic 3 times

oise abatement

Use right traffic for 13, left for 31.
No straight-in approaches for 31.
No low approaches.
Avoid approaching below 1500' northeast of airport.
Turn 20° W on departure.
Reduce RPM after takeoff if safe.
Climb at best rate or steeper to 1300' MSL.
Do not cross to northeast side of airport below
1500' MSL.
No touch-and-goes (please taxi back for another takeoff).
Practice landings 3 per day max., no practice at night.
No intersection takeoffs.
Avoid flying low over homes and noise-sensitive areas (see here for map).
Taxiing Okay to taxi across the runway at midfield, please announce on CTAF.
have fun and enjoy Steve is a good DPE
 
SkyHog said:
I'm pretty sure that's not true.

FWIW, my PPL Checkride was 1.3.
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Sorry, someone came and knocked me unconcious for a couple hours. Though, I must say it was rather nice :D

Here is what I found from the examiner's handbook:

I.Conduct Practical Test. After determining the applicant is eligible and meets all prerequisites for the certificate/rating sought, accept the application and conduct the practical test in accordance with the private pilot PTS.


So we went to the private pilot PTS (assuming this will be the same for all certificates with regaurd to time.

This is what I found







:D:D So the answer is that there are no time constraints put on the checkride per the PTS. I'm glad I finally looked that up. The DPE who tried to relay that info to me was a goof ball and it was at the end of my MEI ride. He was worried it was only gonna be .7 so we did a go-around and and he had me do one more manuver. Never had the care or reason to go look that up till now, but you guys would also be right in that there are no time limits.

Cool, now when I renew my CFI---- wait, I never did :nono::yesnod:
 
gprellwitz said:
I don't recall that. Are you thinking perhaps of the rules for a flight review?
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No, I looked it all up to be sure.... It was bad information given to me - which I never had a need to confirm. Kinda like saying never powdercoat true mag wheels -- I'll never had a need to find out what happens when you do :goofy::lol:
 
So, today is the 28th! Kimberley..... did you fly today?
 
3:18 now -- just got back from the airport and did not see her plane so she must still be up.
Weather is perfect so the timing was great -- fog gone by 11:15
 
Hope she knows we're down here cheering for her quietly...........
 
I would rather read about her checkride than another hurricane story.
 
None, unless the DPE has had a cardiac arrest or something and can't "save" the plane .... that would be my guess anyway.... except of course I guess there could be mechanical failures for which the DPE/applicant pilot could do nothing about
 
Jeez... I want to go to bed, but I don't want to miss it. It's like waiting up for the "good" tv shows when I was a kid.
 
Jeanie said:
None, unless the DPE has had a cardiac arrest or something and can't "save" the plane .... that would be my guess anyway.... except of course I guess there could be mechanical failures for which the DPE/applicant pilot could do nothing about
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The only reason my buddy passed his CMEL ride when he almost landed gear up was because the DE was about to let him. They had come in shallow and he was holding enough power no gear horn. When he pulled the power for the flare the horn came on and bailed. The DE was unaware of the ommision until the gear horn came on as well. Worst thing? There was an audience of 6 of his buddies watch him almost gear up on his CMEL ride...:D:D:D Did that cost him that night. We were all amazed that he passed.
 
Henning said:
The only reason my buddy passed his CMEL ride when he almost landed gear up was because the DE was about to let him. They had come in shallow and he was holding enough power no gear horn. When he pulled the power for the flare the horn came on and bailed. The DE was unaware of the ommision until the gear horn came on as well. Worst thing? There was an audience of 6 of his buddies watch him almost gear up on his CMEL ride...:D:D:D Did that cost him that night. We were all amazed that he passed.
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~~~~~~~~~~ the gear horn came on and he managed a go around?
I bet he never heard the end of that!
What were they doing just visiting and got distracted? Both of them overlooked it, wow.
 
Jeanie said:
~~~~~~~~~~ the gear horn came on and he managed a go around?
I bet he never heard the end of that!
What were they doing just visiting and got distracted? Both of them overlooked it, wow.
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We were all ready for it too...:rofl: He said as he was pulling back he heard the horn, recognized it instantly and just pushed the throttles up, put the nose down a bit and hoped it would drive out, and it did with a only a couple of feet to spare. DEs are human, they make mistakes. They are probably far more lulled than a CFI with a new student.
 
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