Pnwannabe2
Pre-Flight
After 30 years of daydreaming and 6 months of flight training, I passed my check ride today! After hearing so many folks say the flight portion is the easy part, I really studied hard and the oral was a breeze at just under an hour.
The flight, on the other hand, was a real challenge. I made some of the worst steep turns of my life (within tolerance, but ugly), almost forgot to make clearing turns before a maneuver, had my engine “fail” 3 times, my gps “failed”, diverted to an airport I had never been to with a closed runway under construction, and generally just forgot how to use the rudder. On return to the home drome, of course I got a pattern direction and runway that I hadn’t seen before, followed by taxi instructions on the only 3 taxiways I had never been on (have a taxi diagram handy, even at your home airport!)
Overall had a great experience and learned a lot, but boy was I tense with a DPE sitting next to me! I probably would have benefited from more solo flight practice and a bit less oral prep.
The flight, on the other hand, was a real challenge. I made some of the worst steep turns of my life (within tolerance, but ugly), almost forgot to make clearing turns before a maneuver, had my engine “fail” 3 times, my gps “failed”, diverted to an airport I had never been to with a closed runway under construction, and generally just forgot how to use the rudder. On return to the home drome, of course I got a pattern direction and runway that I hadn’t seen before, followed by taxi instructions on the only 3 taxiways I had never been on (have a taxi diagram handy, even at your home airport!)
Overall had a great experience and learned a lot, but boy was I tense with a DPE sitting next to me! I probably would have benefited from more solo flight practice and a bit less oral prep.
Now get out there and fly...
