TazzyTazzy
Pre-takeoff checklist
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2013
- Messages
- 359
- Display Name
Display name:
Mitch
I slapped the alarm at 5am, my normal wake up is 8am (hard life). Slapped it again at 5:07. Didn't sleep well all night, nerves kept rem sleep from invading my bed.
Rolled into the airport at 6:15, met up with my instructor shortly after. Asked him to remind me of all the antennas one last time. He showed me and then told me to calm down and enjoy the beautiful California morning weather.
7am sharp, the DPE rolls up in his trusty old Volvo. Lets do this. I'll only cover what's different than from other PPL check ride write ups. In short - answer the question and shut-up. Don't volunteer, he'll ask you another way to get more information. BTW, my CFI is sitting in the back of the room as if he's auditing! Uggh. More pressure.
Had 3 hours of oral and my mouth is sore (slap, not that kind). Basically followed the PAVE model throughout the entire process. Was perfect and had a great flow without jumping around too much. Slowly talking about the Pilot - my limitations, privileges, what I need to do before a pre-flight. Tons more about pilot, but it's basically the same any most other write ups.
Moved on the the Airplane. Talked about required inspections, looked at the logs. Asked about the primary control surfaces. Then asked which each control surface does. Elevator for pitch, ailerons for rolls, rudder for yaw. Then asked me the names of the axis for each one...Dear in head lights moment! I kind of fumbled here, I sat quietly remembering, he sat quietly looking at me. A few minutes later, the words came out, no looking through books. A little awkwardness. How can i forget Vertical, Longitudinal, and Lateral? Shesh. I'll remember them now. Required equipment, failed equipment, do we have a MEL? A few more basic questions about the plane.
Onto the Environment. Got out the charts, the cross country, POH. Asked how I planned it and why the route. He thought the route was great. What weather tools did I use, how did I pick my altitude, asked if there were any special air spaces. I pointed out some really tinny NSA and Restricted airspaces (the restricted is about 3x4NM) and I said we won't be flying near the restrictions. Showed him how I get my heading from true heading, used my trusty E6B slide ruler (g). Fun. He pointed to a few spots, asked what type of airspace each was and class requirements. Easy. Then. He found an airport (try to guess!) on his electronic knee board. There's an untowered airport, but controlled airport nestled in class B airspace. He asked what type of airspace it was in. I looked at it for a few moments. I answered "This is an interesting area. The blue hash marks are class D, but the airport is magenta for untowered. I've never seen that." He started laughing. He explained it a little more and not worry. It said it took him many months to find an airport in class D and untowered.
Finished up some more environment. Asked me "how long are sigments good for". I spit out an answer then promptly said "wait, I don't think that's right.". Finally, about 2 hours into this I'm finally going to open my FAR/AIM to the aim section. 7-1-6..BAM. Right there. Thank goodness I double checked, I was off by 2 hours.
External pressures. Asked a few questions about this, easy.
He had a few misc questions. What side is the green nav light on? Can you fly without it? Etc.
Ok, lets go fly.
Preflight. I'm checking out the plane and praying to the weather gods to stop having random rain. I pre-flight, he watches. Asks me questions about various antennas, what's this thing behind the alternator - I looked. Saw the teeth retracted, guessed starter from my knowledge of replacing the starter in my car. Asks me what would happen if the exhaust came loose. Asks me a few more boring questions as I inspect.
Engine start, run-up, depart using modified cross country from original plan - only climb 5500, not 7500. Climb checklist. I get flight following because the straight out departure is an alert area, he thanks me for getting FF. Level off, cruise checklist. Ran into a sudden smoke cloud (hood on). We simulate filing PIREP for the smoke. I tell him I need to divert due to sudden visibility lost, he tells me which airport to head to. I mark the time, put X on chart, estimate heading, altitude change, distance, time, fuel. I inform flight following we are diverting. I pull the map out and start looking for frequencies.....all of a sudden he declares "my control." "Your control" "My control, time for unusual attitudes since you were looking at the map". Done. Back to navigating. Wasn't allowed to use the GPS after the diversion - not even back to home airport.
With flight following, hood on, diverting. Getting lots of traffic calls, I respond with looking for traffic. When the DPE spots it, he tells me, I radio it in. Control terminates flight following, sqawk VFR. Remove hood. There's the airport, straight ahead and below us! Perfect! Radio that we are 5 miles south, inbound for landing. Get AWOS. Engine failure. Change from over flying mid field and start making a run away from airport and line up for a straight in landing. Perfect. About to land, he declares go around. So I do.
Around the track, soft field landing. Full stop. Taxi back, soft field take of. Around the track, short field landing. Short field take off. Depart to the north.
Monitor Approach, DPE thanks me. Clearing turns (between most the following). Steep turns, stalls, Electrical fire - emergency descent without flaps. Recover. S-turns. Head back to home airport. No Flaps landing, demonstrate slip.
Land. Engine shut down at fuel station. Shakes my hand and says "Congratulations, meet you inside when you're done here".
Whew. Went home, had lunch, took yet another shower. Time for a nice cold one.
As has been said MANY MANY TIMES: Relax. Breathe. Relax. Answer questions short and to the point then shut up (i was actually good at this).
Rolled into the airport at 6:15, met up with my instructor shortly after. Asked him to remind me of all the antennas one last time. He showed me and then told me to calm down and enjoy the beautiful California morning weather.
7am sharp, the DPE rolls up in his trusty old Volvo. Lets do this. I'll only cover what's different than from other PPL check ride write ups. In short - answer the question and shut-up. Don't volunteer, he'll ask you another way to get more information. BTW, my CFI is sitting in the back of the room as if he's auditing! Uggh. More pressure.
Had 3 hours of oral and my mouth is sore (slap, not that kind). Basically followed the PAVE model throughout the entire process. Was perfect and had a great flow without jumping around too much. Slowly talking about the Pilot - my limitations, privileges, what I need to do before a pre-flight. Tons more about pilot, but it's basically the same any most other write ups.
Moved on the the Airplane. Talked about required inspections, looked at the logs. Asked about the primary control surfaces. Then asked which each control surface does. Elevator for pitch, ailerons for rolls, rudder for yaw. Then asked me the names of the axis for each one...Dear in head lights moment! I kind of fumbled here, I sat quietly remembering, he sat quietly looking at me. A few minutes later, the words came out, no looking through books. A little awkwardness. How can i forget Vertical, Longitudinal, and Lateral? Shesh. I'll remember them now. Required equipment, failed equipment, do we have a MEL? A few more basic questions about the plane.
Onto the Environment. Got out the charts, the cross country, POH. Asked how I planned it and why the route. He thought the route was great. What weather tools did I use, how did I pick my altitude, asked if there were any special air spaces. I pointed out some really tinny NSA and Restricted airspaces (the restricted is about 3x4NM) and I said we won't be flying near the restrictions. Showed him how I get my heading from true heading, used my trusty E6B slide ruler (g). Fun. He pointed to a few spots, asked what type of airspace each was and class requirements. Easy. Then. He found an airport (try to guess!) on his electronic knee board. There's an untowered airport, but controlled airport nestled in class B airspace. He asked what type of airspace it was in. I looked at it for a few moments. I answered "This is an interesting area. The blue hash marks are class D, but the airport is magenta for untowered. I've never seen that." He started laughing. He explained it a little more and not worry. It said it took him many months to find an airport in class D and untowered.
Finished up some more environment. Asked me "how long are sigments good for". I spit out an answer then promptly said "wait, I don't think that's right.". Finally, about 2 hours into this I'm finally going to open my FAR/AIM to the aim section. 7-1-6..BAM. Right there. Thank goodness I double checked, I was off by 2 hours.
External pressures. Asked a few questions about this, easy.
He had a few misc questions. What side is the green nav light on? Can you fly without it? Etc.
Ok, lets go fly.
Preflight. I'm checking out the plane and praying to the weather gods to stop having random rain. I pre-flight, he watches. Asks me questions about various antennas, what's this thing behind the alternator - I looked. Saw the teeth retracted, guessed starter from my knowledge of replacing the starter in my car. Asks me what would happen if the exhaust came loose. Asks me a few more boring questions as I inspect.
Engine start, run-up, depart using modified cross country from original plan - only climb 5500, not 7500. Climb checklist. I get flight following because the straight out departure is an alert area, he thanks me for getting FF. Level off, cruise checklist. Ran into a sudden smoke cloud (hood on). We simulate filing PIREP for the smoke. I tell him I need to divert due to sudden visibility lost, he tells me which airport to head to. I mark the time, put X on chart, estimate heading, altitude change, distance, time, fuel. I inform flight following we are diverting. I pull the map out and start looking for frequencies.....all of a sudden he declares "my control." "Your control" "My control, time for unusual attitudes since you were looking at the map". Done. Back to navigating. Wasn't allowed to use the GPS after the diversion - not even back to home airport.
With flight following, hood on, diverting. Getting lots of traffic calls, I respond with looking for traffic. When the DPE spots it, he tells me, I radio it in. Control terminates flight following, sqawk VFR. Remove hood. There's the airport, straight ahead and below us! Perfect! Radio that we are 5 miles south, inbound for landing. Get AWOS. Engine failure. Change from over flying mid field and start making a run away from airport and line up for a straight in landing. Perfect. About to land, he declares go around. So I do.
Around the track, soft field landing. Full stop. Taxi back, soft field take of. Around the track, short field landing. Short field take off. Depart to the north.
Monitor Approach, DPE thanks me. Clearing turns (between most the following). Steep turns, stalls, Electrical fire - emergency descent without flaps. Recover. S-turns. Head back to home airport. No Flaps landing, demonstrate slip.
Land. Engine shut down at fuel station. Shakes my hand and says "Congratulations, meet you inside when you're done here".
Whew. Went home, had lunch, took yet another shower. Time for a nice cold one.
As has been said MANY MANY TIMES: Relax. Breathe. Relax. Answer questions short and to the point then shut up (i was actually good at this).
Not sure if he's going to flip more about the box or the ring...the box was not cheap and involves a non-tacky LED to make it shine.. 
