Yes, GregSRT8, tell us about it. I never heard of that plane before, is it an experimental? (SRT8)
New guys buys beer.
Thanks!
I told my wife yesterday morning that I was more nervous today than the day of our wedding. She laughed and said you'll be fine. I must have heard "relax, you'll be fine" 100 times from a dozen people. Every pilot friend, every flight instructor and every relative that knew I was taking my check ride. It doesn't matter how many times you hear it, you can't relax and you don't think you'll be fine.
My oral/practical was scheduled for 1:00 in the afternoon. I've been looking at the weather for 3 days leading up to it and in the back of my head hoping that the forecast would be wrong. It wasn't....HOT 100+ degrees and winds 180 @ 18 gusting to 25. I would have loved for a calmer day but at least I wasn't dealing with a crosswind. My runways were 17 (KHQZ) and 15 (KADS).
I was just as nervous for the oral as I was for the practical. First thing we did was check all my paperwork and go on the IACRA website to verify my eligibility for PPL. This really calmed my nerves. I felt having all the right paperwork as he asked for them was like answering questions correctly and it put me in a positive frame of mind. Relaxed and finally confident for the first time all day we jumped into it. 1.5 hours of questions and the only thing he asked that I missed was the 4 types of altitude and to explain what they are...I answered density and pressure right off the bat and stumbled on the other two. I finally started to talk about AGL and MSL and he asked me what we call those altitudes...he was looking for absolute and indicated but my brain never gave my mouth the answer. Aside from that he said I did excellent. Took a 10 min break and then he briefed me about what we were going to do for the practical.
Preflight was pretty standard...he asked me a few questions about the parts of aircraft and why we do certain preflight checks and then it was time to fly.
We started out on the XC that I was told to preplan for the check ride. KADS to KTYR. After climb out and turn to the east and avoiding class B airspace we got to my second waypoint and checked the heading and the time. We were on course and ahead of schedule. He said that was enough of the XC and told me to put on foggles. He told me that I accidentally flew into the clouds...what to you do? Well I wasn't in clouds before so I did a 180. We did a few more scenarios as if that didn't work (turns and ascents etc) and I got to take the foggles off. He then told me we were lost and wanted me to use a nav aid to find ourselves. I told him we can tune to a VOR and he said lets use the Cedar Creek VOR 114.6. I tuned the VOR and after a few seconds he asked me how we would identify that we had the right VOR. At this time I am confused...I was hearing the morse beeps but was also hearing HIWAS (Cedar Creek doesn't have HIWAS). It took me what felt like forever to realize he gave me the BONHAM VOR freq. Cedar Creek is 114.8. (He tricked me - I never verified the Cedar Creek VOR freq on the sectional and I trusted he was giving me the right info.) We then simulated an engine failure...plenty of places to land in middle of nowhere Texas. We went over one more lost procedure that turned into a ground reference maneuver. Reading town names on water towers also know as turns around a point. We were over Talty, TX! The DE then said take me to Mesquite Metro (KHQZ)...which was perfect as we were southeast of the airport for a perfect 45 degree entry into the left downwind. Normal landing full stop taxi back. Short field take off. Short field landing. Soft field take off. He pulled the power on me on the up wind and yelled WHAT DO YOU DO. I yelled back LAND STRAIGHT AHEAD!! Then he yelled RIGHT ANSWER!! FULL POWER LETS GO BACK TO ADDISON (KADS). I wasn't as entertained as he seemed to be. I wasn't expecting that. We got ATIS called approach then handed off to KADS Tower and it was time for the final test. Soft field landing. Then things got weird...there was a lot of traffic in the pattern and both the DE and myself felt there was something wasn't right with one of the pilots the way he was communicating...after taking off he asked to return to land. He said he didn't have an emergency but just needed to come back so he was number 2 behind us. My DE said do you think you can bring it in tight for a short final soft field. I knew I could do it and I did. Then ATC told us to get off at Golf no delay and contact ground immediately. We complied and went back to the flight school. (We learned later that the Cessna 310 behind us landed gears up on his belly). What a way to end a check ride....we got back JUST IN TIME because the airport shut down for an hour+.
Upon shutting down the DE turned to me and said congratulations you are now a Private Pilot!! After tying down the plane debriefing and getting my Temp Airman Cert. I called everyone I knew...posted on Facebook...tweeted. I was so giddy. One of the happiest days of my life (after my wedding of course).
-Gregg
Thanks!
I told my wife yesterday morning that I was more nervous today than the day of our wedding. She laughed and said you'll be fine. I must have heard "relax, you'll be fine" 100 times from a dozen people. Every pilot friend, every flight instructor and every relative that knew I was taking my check ride. It doesn't matter how many times you hear it, you can't relax and you don't think you'll be fine.
My oral/practical was scheduled for 1:00 in the afternoon. I've been looking at the weather for 3 days leading up to it and in the back of my head hoping that the forecast would be wrong. It wasn't....HOT 100+ degrees and winds 180 @ 18 gusting to 25. I would have loved for a calmer day but at least I wasn't dealing with a crosswind. My runways were 17 (KHQZ) and 15 (KADS).
I was just as nervous for the oral as I was for the practical. First thing we did was check all my paperwork and go on the IACRA website to verify my eligibility for PPL. This really calmed my nerves. I felt having all the right paperwork as he asked for them was like answering questions correctly and it put me in a positive frame of mind. Relaxed and finally confident for the first time all day we jumped into it. 1.5 hours of questions and the only thing he asked that I missed was the 4 types of altitude and to explain what they are...I answered density and pressure right off the bat and stumbled on the other two. I finally started to talk about AGL and MSL and he asked me what we call those altitudes...he was looking for absolute and indicated but my brain never gave my mouth the answer. Aside from that he said I did excellent. Took a 10 min break and then he briefed me about what we were going to do for the practical.
Preflight was pretty standard...he asked me a few questions about the parts of aircraft and why we do certain preflight checks and then it was time to fly.
We started out on the XC that I was told to preplan for the check ride. KADS to KTYR. After climb out and turn to the east and avoiding class B airspace we got to my second waypoint and checked the heading and the time. We were on course and ahead of schedule. He said that was enough of the XC and told me to put on foggles. He told me that I accidentally flew into the clouds...what to you do? Well I wasn't in clouds before so I did a 180. We did a few more scenarios as if that didn't work (turns and ascents etc) and I got to take the foggles off. He then told me we were lost and wanted me to use a nav aid to find ourselves. I told him we can tune to a VOR and he said lets use the Cedar Creek VOR 114.6. I tuned the VOR and after a few seconds he asked me how we would identify that we had the right VOR. At this time I am confused...I was hearing the morse beeps but was also hearing HIWAS (Cedar Creek doesn't have HIWAS). It took me what felt like forever to realize he gave me the BONHAM VOR freq. Cedar Creek is 114.8. (He tricked me - I never verified the Cedar Creek VOR freq on the sectional and I trusted he was giving me the right info.) We then simulated an engine failure...plenty of places to land in middle of nowhere Texas. We went over one more lost procedure that turned into a ground reference maneuver. Reading town names on water towers also know as turns around a point. We were over Talty, TX! The DE then said take me to Mesquite Metro (KHQZ)...which was perfect as we were southeast of the airport for a perfect 45 degree entry into the left downwind. Normal landing full stop taxi back. Short field take off. Short field landing. Soft field take off. He pulled the power on me on the up wind and yelled WHAT DO YOU DO. I yelled back LAND STRAIGHT AHEAD!! Then he yelled RIGHT ANSWER!! FULL POWER LETS GO BACK TO ADDISON (KADS). I wasn't as entertained as he seemed to be. I wasn't expecting that. We got ATIS called approach then handed off to KADS Tower and it was time for the final test. Soft field landing. Then things got weird...there was a lot of traffic in the pattern and both the DE and myself felt there was something wasn't right with one of the pilots the way he was communicating...after taking off he asked to return to land. He said he didn't have an emergency but just needed to come back so he was number 2 behind us. My DE said do you think you can bring it in tight for a short final soft field. I knew I could do it and I did. Then ATC told us to get off at Golf no delay and contact ground immediately. We complied and went back to the flight school. (We learned later that the Cessna 310 behind us landed gears up on his belly). What a way to end a check ride....we got back JUST IN TIME because the airport shut down for an hour+.
Upon shutting down the DE turned to me and said congratulations you are now a Private Pilot!! After tying down the plane debriefing and getting my Temp Airman Cert. I called everyone I knew...posted on Facebook...tweeted. I was so giddy. One of the happiest days of my life (after my wedding of course).
-Gregg
