ARFlyer
En-Route
Sorry if this was hard to read. I just saw the double post inside of the main body.
This is about a day late for the write up. Anyway I passed my Commercial Checkride yesterday morning.
Ground: The ground last for about two hours and overall was easy. The only question that had me stumped for two seconds was cloud clearance in class A. I started with 5 F111 and he just took off his glasses and put his hand to his face. I started to say 32 1/5 but he said stop and think about the question and the requirements to be in class a. At that point it dawned on me and I said the is none since its IFR only. He didn't give the x/c location until about half way through, which was to KMEM. Normally I been told the location a few days before. However he said he wanted to watch how I plan and read the performance charts. I only got to the time and distance to climb chart before he stopped me and said he was happy. He used the line I drew to base his chart questions on. Most of the chart questions were the basic where is xyz and what does this mean. He taught me the difference between isotonic and agonic lines. Which is that only 1 agonic line exists and that is the 0* line. This line happens to run through east AR, so all our our VORs make sense. In lay mans terms the 180 radial is almost 180 true course. Makes in flight mental mapping easier according to my CFI. We went over how constant speed props work and how the gear work on the Piper. At one point I made him laugh to the point he was crying. He told me I will always be known as the "It's electricity" man. He asked me what the electrical system is on the Piper. Confused at his question I jokingly replied "It's electricity". After he got done laughing he said I was good on the ground and told me to go get the aircraft ready.
Flight: Overall the flight went very well. We took off and proceeded to make planned course. On take off he commented on how he really like that I stated the runway number, compared it to our heading and asked him to verify. I have always done it after seeing what happened in Lexington, KY. Some of my CFIs havnt liked it saying it was unneeded distractions and time consuming. On our way outbound we proceeded to do the high work of steep turns and chandelles. After that he told me to find Malvern via pilotage only at 2000'. During this he told me to proceed at the minimum controllable speed. So I slowed down to around 54-55 knots for the next few miles as he told me some stories and told me headings to turn to. While doing the slow flight turns he asked me high altiude requriments and O2 use. After doing all three stalls he told me to point out the Malvern airport. Knowing this was coming up I had kept an eye on it the whole time. He seemed surpised when I pointed it out as soon as he asked. I did my short and soft field ops and proceeded back towards home base. On the way back we did eights on pylons and lazy 8s. He was talking in a lazy tone during the maneuver. "Nice bannnkkkk, this is verryyyy lazyyyyyyy, ohhhhh birrrddddd" At home base we did the power-off 180 on 4 which ironically I had never trained on. We had always done them the other direction for 22. So I had gotten use to all the points I had made for various winds. I turned a little to soon so I ended up slightly high but managed to touch down within 100' feet of the 1000 footers. I strive for 0/0' so I get annoyed when I miss. After clearing the runway he proceeded to shake my hand and say congrats.
Overall: He said my ground was basically flawless and I know my knowledge areas very well. He can tell I love to study and breath aviation. Which he said alot of people lack. They love to fly but outside the airport they don't like talking or reading but it. Which I have come to find out is a lot of my aviation friends. They hate reading for ground and knowledge tests. My flying was very good and he even went further and said he enjoyed flying with me. He could tell I knew my aircraft inside and out and controlled it very smoothly. He also said I looked like I enjoyed every minute of the flight and was calm and relaxed even during the power off 180. He said I have a slight systematic error of high airspeed on short final. My approach airspeed was perfect but I speed up a few knots which causes me to float slightly. So he said I just need to pull out the power a little bit earlier. Nothing out of PTS or safety just something to work on. He said my checklist usage was excellent and commented again on my runway incursion prevention at the start of the flight. He told me that my enjoyment of reading and breathing aviation will come in very handy for CFI and part 121 training.
So now I am off to try to get my CFI by the start of the school year!
This is about a day late for the write up. Anyway I passed my Commercial Checkride yesterday morning.
Ground: The ground last for about two hours and overall was easy. The only question that had me stumped for two seconds was cloud clearance in class A. I started with 5 F111 and he just took off his glasses and put his hand to his face. I started to say 32 1/5 but he said stop and think about the question and the requirements to be in class a. At that point it dawned on me and I said the is none since its IFR only. He didn't give the x/c location until about half way through, which was to KMEM. Normally I been told the location a few days before. However he said he wanted to watch how I plan and read the performance charts. I only got to the time and distance to climb chart before he stopped me and said he was happy. He used the line I drew to base his chart questions on. Most of the chart questions were the basic where is xyz and what does this mean. He taught me the difference between isotonic and agonic lines. Which is that only 1 agonic line exists and that is the 0* line. This line happens to run through east AR, so all our our VORs make sense. In lay mans terms the 180 radial is almost 180 true course. Makes in flight mental mapping easier according to my CFI. We went over how constant speed props work and how the gear work on the Piper. At one point I made him laugh to the point he was crying. He told me I will always be known as the "It's electricity" man. He asked me what the electrical system is on the Piper. Confused at his question I jokingly replied "It's electricity". After he got done laughing he said I was good on the ground and told me to go get the aircraft ready.
Flight: Overall the flight went very well. We took off and proceeded to make planned course. On take off he commented on how he really like that I stated the runway number, compared it to our heading and asked him to verify. I have always done it after seeing what happened in Lexington, KY. Some of my CFIs havnt liked it saying it was unneeded distractions and time consuming. On our way outbound we proceeded to do the high work of steep turns and chandelles. After that he told me to find Malvern via pilotage only at 2000'. During this he told me to proceed at the minimum controllable speed. So I slowed down to around 54-55 knots for the next few miles as he told me some stories and told me headings to turn to. While doing the slow flight turns he asked me high altiude requriments and O2 use. After doing all three stalls he told me to point out the Malvern airport. Knowing this was coming up I had kept an eye on it the whole time. He seemed surpised when I pointed it out as soon as he asked. I did my short and soft field ops and proceeded back towards home base. On the way back we did eights on pylons and lazy 8s. He was talking in a lazy tone during the maneuver. "Nice bannnkkkk, this is verryyyy lazyyyyyyy, ohhhhh birrrddddd" At home base we did the power-off 180 on 4 which ironically I had never trained on. We had always done them the other direction for 22. So I had gotten use to all the points I had made for various winds. I turned a little to soon so I ended up slightly high but managed to touch down within 100' feet of the 1000 footers. I strive for 0/0' so I get annoyed when I miss. After clearing the runway he proceeded to shake my hand and say congrats.
Overall: He said my ground was basically flawless and I know my knowledge areas very well. He can tell I love to study and breath aviation. Which he said alot of people lack. They love to fly but outside the airport they don't like talking or reading but it. Which I have come to find out is a lot of my aviation friends. They hate reading for ground and knowledge tests. My flying was very good and he even went further and said he enjoyed flying with me. He could tell I knew my aircraft inside and out and controlled it very smoothly. He also said I looked like I enjoyed every minute of the flight and was calm and relaxed even during the power off 180. He said I have a slight systematic error of high airspeed on short final. My approach airspeed was perfect but I speed up a few knots which causes me to float slightly. So he said I just need to pull out the power a little bit earlier. Nothing out of PTS or safety just something to work on. He said my checklist usage was excellent and commented again on my runway incursion prevention at the start of the flight. He told me that my enjoyment of reading and breathing aviation will come in very handy for CFI and part 121 training.
So now I am off to try to get my CFI by the start of the school year!
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