Relaxing for the checkride

ScottM

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iBazinga!
I was on another board a short while ago where there is a constant discusion of what to expect on 'THE' checkride. The 'THE' being the very first checkride that many of has had, the private pilot one. I remember being very nervous and wondering if I had adequately prepared. Hoping against all hopes that I would walk away with a white slip and not a pink. I passed and then went on to instrument and last year commercial.

As I was reading these posts I could not help but think of my own checkride experiences. The last one, my commercial, was probably the most fun I had during a checkride. The DE was an old codger ex-airline type, but I was so relaxed that I actually enjoyed 'showing off' my knowledge and skills. Is that unusual? While I now have three check rides under my belt I am wondering if some of you who have many more also have gotten to the point where the checkride is just one more step and not a something to fear.
 
I've only done two - PP-ASEL, then PP-RH. The second was easier for the reasons you indicated. With one exception! Hovering autorotations have always given me trouble, and the only part of the checkride I was dreading was the hovering auto.

I think my CFI must have told the DE that I had trouble with these, because he told me before he asked me to demonstrate one, was all that he cared about was that I keep the helo straight -- he didn't care what I did with the collective. So I rolled off the throttle, kept it straight with the pedals and didn't touch the collective until the bird contacted the ground. I passed with no deficiencies.

The other thing about getting an add-on rating was that I had a lot more fun doing it -- the x-countries and towered field solos were fun because I had gobs of x-c time in airplanes by then, and gobs of landings at controlled fields.
 
Dave Krall CFII said:
What are they good for besides demonstrating energy management?
Beats me, Dave. I've heard that there's a push on from both DE's and FSDO people to remove the hovering auto from the PTS.
 
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