tapioca
Pre-takeoff checklist
I started the day at 5:00AM, early, well by my standards at least. I did a little more last minute preparation for the flight plan that I had been working on to Mapleton. I wasn't expecting to actually fly there so I skipped the last minute check of the weather, besides the night before showed that there shouldn't be much any weather today. I was more concerned with the winds than anything. I hadn't seen this type of wind pattern before the lower you were in altitude the stronger the winds were until you were below 2,000 feet. At six o'clock I had to get ready to go I wanted to get to the airport by 6:30 because I still had to do the pre-flight inspection and meet with my instructor and have him sign off on the flight and document that I was ready for the tests.
A lot of things were going through my head here as I circled the plane inspecting the wings. Mostly I was trying to remember my first flight just so I could measure the difference between then and now.
As I was finishing up my instructor came out and we did the checklist for the prep of the test together.
"You have the airworthiness documents and registration?"
Its there.
Ok how about the maintenance logs and Airworthiness directives.
Its in the binder in the back.
and so on down the list of things that I needed to bring with me.
Then he said you know this stuff, trust me. Just relax and have fun. Just be sure to let me know how it all turns out. We pulled the plane out together and he had to leave.
I kept on trying to tell myself that this was just another flight, another step. Just do things one at at time and everything will work out. I worked through the start up check list for the plane. Started it up and headed out to the runway.
Then I was off at 7:15 for a 28 minute flight to Ankeny. This was the first dawn flight that I have ever done. The skies where pretty calm but there was a wind and it was pushing me south and west.
As I passed Monroe I could see that the night beacon light was still running at Ankeny airport it was nice to have this additional guide to the airport. But it was turned off a couple minutes later. As I was getting closer to Des Moines, so where the houses getting closer and closer together.
There was a bit of a morning mist that I knew would burn off soon but it did limit what I could see clearly to about 5 miles. I knew that I was within 10 miles to I called that I was inbound for a landing, even though I didn't have the airport in view just yet.
Ankeny is right under the outer ring of the Des Moines Class C airspace, this airspace starts at 2,200 feet and ends at about 4,000. So the last part of the flight needed to be done at 2,000 foot. All around the airport there were radio/cell phone towers and I would be in a perfect altitude to run right into one if I didn't pay attention to where I was going.
Because of the towers, all traffic at Ankeny was to the east of the airport. This means that there is a right handed pattern for runway 36 and 4, a left hand pattern for runway 18 and 22 at the other end. This worked out great for me as I was east of the airport and I knew what the direction of the winds were, as I checked before leaving Pella, so I knew that I wanted to land on 18. This was a bit of a break too because my work at right hand patterns isn't too developed yet.
Made a good landing and headed towards the buildings on the taxiway. There was a good line of them, first there where some Hangers then the FBO, then the FAA building, which was where I was heading. I taxied into their parking lot, thinking how easy this had been so far. I took it as a good omen for what was to come as I went through the shut down procedures for the plan. Stop the engine ok now turn off the radio, ok now turn of the transponder...Hey it is already off. How did I manage that?
Well gee I am glad that this is Class C airspace and not Class B otherwise I would be writing up an incident report rather than taking the check ride. I had 15 minutes to calm down and tell myself not to let this shake me up.
At 8:00 I went in to the FAA building and met the Designated Examiner. We went back to the plan and got all the required paperwork that he gave to one of his co workers to pour over. We went back to the exam room and started talking. It worked out pretty well it was quiet and just the two of us. At about 10:30, he told me I passed that portion of the test. Now it was time to take the practical test.
We took a short break before heading out to the plane. I went through the preflight again this time with him watching. I used the check list. When I was done. I notice the clouds forming in the South. Then I remembered that during the oral test he had given me a current weather report and that it was calling for low ceiling as a temporary condition. I remembered that it was going to be around 2,200 foot and then lowering to about 1700 feet for a couple of hours before starting to clear. I wasn't sure how far north it would go or what it would look like to the west.
I pointed at the clouds and asked if he though that would be a problem, he said that he didn't think so. Anyway we got in the plane and got started. I took off at about 11:15 turned down wind then headed west at that point I could see that the clouds where right with us at 2000 foot and started to get concerned.
I told him "That doesn't look too inviting. I don't really want to go much lower. "
He said "Well lets try 1700 and see how that works."
I dropped down to 1700 and it was better but I still wasn't happy. We were only a couple miles from the airport and I was fighting a strong desire to go back. We crossed over the Sailorville lake and at that point I was sure that I didn't want to press on. So I turned the plane around towards the airport and said
"If we need to go this way lets do it some other time. This wasn't in the forecast that I saw so I have no idea what is ahead of us."
He said "Ok, these things happen. We can try and do some of the take off and landings to see if the weather improves."
Sounds good to me. We did about half of the take off and landings that we needed then he saw an clearing to the north of the airport. We climbed up to 3,300 foot and did the instrument only portion of the test. After I did the turns, and climbs, he did a simulated vacuum out. This was something new. To do this he covered the airspeed indicator, the aditude indicator and the directional gyro and altidude indicator. The only thing I had left was the turn cordinator and the vertical speed indicator and compass. We did some turns then I got the instruments back. After all of this I am pretty turned around what more I have about a 3 mile visibility around be due to the clouds. So of course he hands me the map and asks
"Where are we?"
I looked around and say "Well we are still in Iowa." He smiled and said "Can you be more specific?" I said "Central Iowa." and started to work on getting a proper fix while he was laughing. I found a couple of likely landmarks and started to look at the map. Then he pulled the power for a simulated off airport engine out. So I dropped the map and got the plane's speed to best glide and started looking for a place to land.
I could see to the left and right but there was a cloud in front of us I elected to loose altitude to get a better view. Then he asked what was wrong. I missed that as a que to start to trouble shoot the engine out problem.
After I had a landing area lineded up and the plane headed toward it, I got the power back.
It was time to head back to the airport, I still didn't know where we where but I knew that we where somewhat north east of the airport so I started in that direction. We crossed over a minor river so I turned the plane to that heading. Looked around some more and found a radio tower then a town and finally Highway 35. As we passed a town I told him what I though the name of the town was. He said that was good enough for him.
A couple minutes later I could see the airport and I was lined up with a runway.
Here is where I came close to busting the ride. I wasn't sure which runway it was and I just keep my heading toward it we were well within the 3 miles out mark and I didn't see any traffic and the Examiner was cautioning me about people making IFR landings at the airport. So I was looking around for traffic then I worked out that first I was heading upwind on the downwind leg of the pattern and there was a plane on the active runway taking off. At this point I decided that the best course would be to over fly the runway and hook up to the pattern on the otherside. At I turned toward the airport the examiner got nervous and started to take control of the airplane. Which made me nervous not because if he did it would end the ride, but because I was certain that he was not aware of the plane taking off. So I told him there is a plane taking off and that the best bet is the follow him out. He looked supprised and then sat back and said ok your plane.
We finished with the last couple required landings and then went to the taxiway. At this point I wasn't worried about if I passed or failed the test. It was wierd feeling, on one hand I knew that I did all of the required manuvers correctly but I was still pretty sure that the approach to the airport was going to bust the ride. All that I could really think about is how I could have done that differently.
I shut the plane down, got out and just stood there leaning on the plane replaying that whole approach I had a lot of options. He asked me what I was thinking, and I told him that I was just going over the approach and how I could have done it differently.
I didn't want to turn away from the airport for a couple of reasons, first all traffic is to the east on the side that I was on. Normally when I am not sure of my position what I would do is fly over the top of the airport to get my bearing and check out where the wind is. but the ceilings right now would put me at pattern altitude and that means I would risk interferring with what ever traffic is out there.
I didn't want to stay on the side that I was on because I was pretty much on the down wind leg going upwind. The only thing that I could think of doing that was safe was following the inactive final until the plane took off then treat it as a go around.
How I would do this next time is was once I see that I was aligned with an inactive runway pull away at once and get my bearing down a little better so that I could make a better decision on how to do the approach.
That was when he told me I passed the check ride. He told me that if I had done that at a controlled airport it would have been a violation. That was when I told him if I ever get this close to a controlled airport it would be a viloation.
Then he said "Just remember that this is a license to learn."
So now I have a piece of paper in my wallet that says I have the right to continue to learn how to fly.
Lessons learned:
Too many to count. However I would recommend not skimping on the cross country weather report on the day that you are scheduled to take you check ride. I think that the other big one I already explained.
It would also be a good idea to keep the airport layout handy, I put mine in my bag after I arrived. When I needed it, I didn't have time to dig for it.
Finally for those that are curious why it would be a violation for me to be in controlled airspace, I am deaf...NORO between the ears.
A lot of things were going through my head here as I circled the plane inspecting the wings. Mostly I was trying to remember my first flight just so I could measure the difference between then and now.
As I was finishing up my instructor came out and we did the checklist for the prep of the test together.
"You have the airworthiness documents and registration?"
Its there.
Ok how about the maintenance logs and Airworthiness directives.
Its in the binder in the back.
and so on down the list of things that I needed to bring with me.
Then he said you know this stuff, trust me. Just relax and have fun. Just be sure to let me know how it all turns out. We pulled the plane out together and he had to leave.
I kept on trying to tell myself that this was just another flight, another step. Just do things one at at time and everything will work out. I worked through the start up check list for the plane. Started it up and headed out to the runway.
Then I was off at 7:15 for a 28 minute flight to Ankeny. This was the first dawn flight that I have ever done. The skies where pretty calm but there was a wind and it was pushing me south and west.
As I passed Monroe I could see that the night beacon light was still running at Ankeny airport it was nice to have this additional guide to the airport. But it was turned off a couple minutes later. As I was getting closer to Des Moines, so where the houses getting closer and closer together.
There was a bit of a morning mist that I knew would burn off soon but it did limit what I could see clearly to about 5 miles. I knew that I was within 10 miles to I called that I was inbound for a landing, even though I didn't have the airport in view just yet.
Ankeny is right under the outer ring of the Des Moines Class C airspace, this airspace starts at 2,200 feet and ends at about 4,000. So the last part of the flight needed to be done at 2,000 foot. All around the airport there were radio/cell phone towers and I would be in a perfect altitude to run right into one if I didn't pay attention to where I was going.
Because of the towers, all traffic at Ankeny was to the east of the airport. This means that there is a right handed pattern for runway 36 and 4, a left hand pattern for runway 18 and 22 at the other end. This worked out great for me as I was east of the airport and I knew what the direction of the winds were, as I checked before leaving Pella, so I knew that I wanted to land on 18. This was a bit of a break too because my work at right hand patterns isn't too developed yet.
Made a good landing and headed towards the buildings on the taxiway. There was a good line of them, first there where some Hangers then the FBO, then the FAA building, which was where I was heading. I taxied into their parking lot, thinking how easy this had been so far. I took it as a good omen for what was to come as I went through the shut down procedures for the plan. Stop the engine ok now turn off the radio, ok now turn of the transponder...Hey it is already off. How did I manage that?
Well gee I am glad that this is Class C airspace and not Class B otherwise I would be writing up an incident report rather than taking the check ride. I had 15 minutes to calm down and tell myself not to let this shake me up.
At 8:00 I went in to the FAA building and met the Designated Examiner. We went back to the plan and got all the required paperwork that he gave to one of his co workers to pour over. We went back to the exam room and started talking. It worked out pretty well it was quiet and just the two of us. At about 10:30, he told me I passed that portion of the test. Now it was time to take the practical test.
We took a short break before heading out to the plane. I went through the preflight again this time with him watching. I used the check list. When I was done. I notice the clouds forming in the South. Then I remembered that during the oral test he had given me a current weather report and that it was calling for low ceiling as a temporary condition. I remembered that it was going to be around 2,200 foot and then lowering to about 1700 feet for a couple of hours before starting to clear. I wasn't sure how far north it would go or what it would look like to the west.
I pointed at the clouds and asked if he though that would be a problem, he said that he didn't think so. Anyway we got in the plane and got started. I took off at about 11:15 turned down wind then headed west at that point I could see that the clouds where right with us at 2000 foot and started to get concerned.
I told him "That doesn't look too inviting. I don't really want to go much lower. "
He said "Well lets try 1700 and see how that works."
I dropped down to 1700 and it was better but I still wasn't happy. We were only a couple miles from the airport and I was fighting a strong desire to go back. We crossed over the Sailorville lake and at that point I was sure that I didn't want to press on. So I turned the plane around towards the airport and said
"If we need to go this way lets do it some other time. This wasn't in the forecast that I saw so I have no idea what is ahead of us."
He said "Ok, these things happen. We can try and do some of the take off and landings to see if the weather improves."
Sounds good to me. We did about half of the take off and landings that we needed then he saw an clearing to the north of the airport. We climbed up to 3,300 foot and did the instrument only portion of the test. After I did the turns, and climbs, he did a simulated vacuum out. This was something new. To do this he covered the airspeed indicator, the aditude indicator and the directional gyro and altidude indicator. The only thing I had left was the turn cordinator and the vertical speed indicator and compass. We did some turns then I got the instruments back. After all of this I am pretty turned around what more I have about a 3 mile visibility around be due to the clouds. So of course he hands me the map and asks
"Where are we?"
I looked around and say "Well we are still in Iowa." He smiled and said "Can you be more specific?" I said "Central Iowa." and started to work on getting a proper fix while he was laughing. I found a couple of likely landmarks and started to look at the map. Then he pulled the power for a simulated off airport engine out. So I dropped the map and got the plane's speed to best glide and started looking for a place to land.
I could see to the left and right but there was a cloud in front of us I elected to loose altitude to get a better view. Then he asked what was wrong. I missed that as a que to start to trouble shoot the engine out problem.
After I had a landing area lineded up and the plane headed toward it, I got the power back.
It was time to head back to the airport, I still didn't know where we where but I knew that we where somewhat north east of the airport so I started in that direction. We crossed over a minor river so I turned the plane to that heading. Looked around some more and found a radio tower then a town and finally Highway 35. As we passed a town I told him what I though the name of the town was. He said that was good enough for him.
A couple minutes later I could see the airport and I was lined up with a runway.
Here is where I came close to busting the ride. I wasn't sure which runway it was and I just keep my heading toward it we were well within the 3 miles out mark and I didn't see any traffic and the Examiner was cautioning me about people making IFR landings at the airport. So I was looking around for traffic then I worked out that first I was heading upwind on the downwind leg of the pattern and there was a plane on the active runway taking off. At this point I decided that the best course would be to over fly the runway and hook up to the pattern on the otherside. At I turned toward the airport the examiner got nervous and started to take control of the airplane. Which made me nervous not because if he did it would end the ride, but because I was certain that he was not aware of the plane taking off. So I told him there is a plane taking off and that the best bet is the follow him out. He looked supprised and then sat back and said ok your plane.
We finished with the last couple required landings and then went to the taxiway. At this point I wasn't worried about if I passed or failed the test. It was wierd feeling, on one hand I knew that I did all of the required manuvers correctly but I was still pretty sure that the approach to the airport was going to bust the ride. All that I could really think about is how I could have done that differently.
I shut the plane down, got out and just stood there leaning on the plane replaying that whole approach I had a lot of options. He asked me what I was thinking, and I told him that I was just going over the approach and how I could have done it differently.
I didn't want to turn away from the airport for a couple of reasons, first all traffic is to the east on the side that I was on. Normally when I am not sure of my position what I would do is fly over the top of the airport to get my bearing and check out where the wind is. but the ceilings right now would put me at pattern altitude and that means I would risk interferring with what ever traffic is out there.
I didn't want to stay on the side that I was on because I was pretty much on the down wind leg going upwind. The only thing that I could think of doing that was safe was following the inactive final until the plane took off then treat it as a go around.
How I would do this next time is was once I see that I was aligned with an inactive runway pull away at once and get my bearing down a little better so that I could make a better decision on how to do the approach.
That was when he told me I passed the check ride. He told me that if I had done that at a controlled airport it would have been a violation. That was when I told him if I ever get this close to a controlled airport it would be a viloation.
Then he said "Just remember that this is a license to learn."
So now I have a piece of paper in my wallet that says I have the right to continue to learn how to fly.
Lessons learned:
Too many to count. However I would recommend not skimping on the cross country weather report on the day that you are scheduled to take you check ride. I think that the other big one I already explained.
It would also be a good idea to keep the airport layout handy, I put mine in my bag after I arrived. When I needed it, I didn't have time to dig for it.
Finally for those that are curious why it would be a violation for me to be in controlled airspace, I am deaf...NORO between the ears.
)
Good work!
