Will Samurai Husky pass his checkride?

[Samurai Husky]

uhh, let's say i am just over thinking it. I just probably need to think about it for a minute before saying anything. So never mind.  

[Samurai Husky]

Yea, that was what i started to think about; I knew that turning into the wind would give me more IAS and less GS which in my original post made sense of preserving Alt in favor of ground track in order to get through restart. But i forgot about the fact that the engine isnt running and so there is no counter force to the wind at all, so instead of helping it would hurt a lot in the form of drag and the result would be giving up more alt for maintaining the same ground position. 

Again, overthought it and forgot that the engine was out; so never mind.

 

[kpaul]

1 hour ago, Samurai Husky said:

Yea, that was what i started to think about; I knew that turning into the wind would give me more IAS and less GS which in my original post made sense of preserving Alt in favor of ground track in order to get through restart. But i forgot about the fact that the engine isnt running and so there is no counter force to the wind at all, so instead of helping it would hurt a lot in the form of drag and the result would be giving up more alt for maintaining the same ground position. 

Again, overthought it and forgot that the engine was out; so never mind.

 

The best thing you can do is ask and talk through situations with experienced pilots.  Sometimes you have that palm to the forehead moment, but as long as you are still learning then it is all good.

[Yetti]

Engine goes out.

best glide

Trim

Find a place to land.  You should already have one picked out.  Some DPE will fly over an airport/dirt strip then pull the throttle.  Basically they already picked the point they want you to go to and know you can make it.  Study sectionals around the practice area.

make best glide to the airport and set up landing

I always have extra energy in being high on engine out, so have to do a slip to get rid of it once the airport is made.   Slip to landing is part of the test so now you have that part done too.

Our DPE was known to have you a couple feet above the field before he would let you out.  So be really prepared to land it.

Go collect your certificate.

Oh and talked my way through most maneuvers. "looks like I am high"  What are you  "throw in a slip"  while throwing in a slip

 

Edited September 19, 2016 by Yetti

[thinwing]

Ok..so Ksac it is...as far as emerg airstrips ..I bet you will be diverted south of exec 8 miles to Franklin....hint hint...just set up for approach over I5...land to the west if little wind...commone..you can do it blindfolded there...nice approach...even my wife could fly it in a hot Mooney with me blubbering in the back seat!!!Your DPE does all his autos there!,good luck..k

[thinwing]

pS..we are taking a large group of German exchange students for a flight to Tahoe this Sat.Dont know when your check ride is...but if Sat...taxi over to N hanger 104 after test..k

[thinwing]

10 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

So last week i put in a request for Oran to test today. Just got a call back and a apology because i guess the email went to the wrong place in their schedule system, but we cant check ride today because he needs 24 hour notice to the FAA.

But we scheduled for next monday when i get back. I spent about 20 mins on the phone with him saying 'some' of the stuff that has happened to me, but not going into much detail. Overall he was very receptive, optimistic and loved to talk about flying... Basically the guy i have been looking for. Even for the XC stuff he said 'your coming from kpao?' 'yes' 'oh well then just use that as your XC, do one for coming here and back and we will just fly the route you chose back'. 'Uhh ok'.

After talking to him, i felt extraordinary revealed. At one point he even said 'since SAC isnt your home airport, i dont expect you to take control, since they might talk fast or use language you might not be familiar with; i will try and brief you the best i can however, but if you get stuck its ok to let me talk'.

I dont think i will need it but he sounded very accommodating. 

Don't worry about that...just tell ground you are student pilot /check ride ..,,they will give you progressive taxi..etc...same with tower...they will slow it down for you

[carusoam]

Things I got reading this today...or long ago...

0) eat and be hydrated, empty and ready to go...

1) keep studying.  The facts are in the book. Or in the POH. Know where they are. Tell the DPE where you would find it.

2) be able to explain things like the book said.  Don't put any unneeded, mid 30's, Chicago personalization on it. Unless your DPE is mid 30's from the  Chicago area.

3) know your stall speeds for your current weight. Include all the common bank angles.

4) know your best glide speed for your current weight.

5) describe where you would find these.  They are in the POH in the X section.  Fill in X...

6) be brief and direct with the answers.  Brief, confident and direct, usually gets you to the next question.

7) Don't be hot, argumentative, complain or destroy your chance at success. These will get you deeper detailed questions until you fail yourself.

8) If you don't understand the question, ask him to restate it in a different way. In a kind and generous tone.

9) Use verbal mediation.  Talk confidently through every detail prior to executing it. If for some reason you are about to do something wrong it is better to say it, than surprise him by doing it.

10) If he asks you to do something you are uncomfortable with....  We covered this before. Know how you are going to handle this.  It is not expected to do something unsafe in the airplane during the check ride.

11) know that the DPE is incredibly knowledgable.  When they kill the engine, it isn't random.  They have something in mind when they do it.  You look really capable if you see the same things he sees. Staying ahead of the airplane takes practice.  Staying ahead of the DPE is really fun.  If you get ahead of the DPE, don't tip your hand and tell him.  It's your secret. Keep it.

12) have the entire checklist of flight maneuvers memorized. Check them off in your head as you go. The cross country always has a divert to... The engine out often occurs near the airport... Don't rush a decision to select a nice field, when the airport takes a little more of a look around to find. Once you make the decision, execute it...

13) wind direction is important to adjust your ground track at the airport, doing S-turns along the road, and circling around a point. It is most important for an off field landing.  Point out the signs of wind strength and direction... Flags, Clouds, wind socks...

14) best glide speed is about efficiency.  Time in the air to make decisions and get to a safe landing area starts with getting to best glide speed. Waiting too long to get on speed and trimmed leads to more deeper challenging questions... 

15) know your engine out descent rate at best glide. Be able to calculate time and distances on the fly. Descent rate is probably close to 1k' per minute.  Best glide is something like 90kias. How many miles can you glide while descending from 5000' to 1000' at best glide...  4 minutes at 90kias, make adjustments for head or tail wind...  (The process is the important part) 90kias is 1.5 miles /min... 4 minutes you can get 6 miles on a windless day...

16) pay attention to every thing the DPE says. Verify anything you are not sure of. Don't do for everything.  It would send a message of unsureness...

17) be ready to copy

18) put something I left out here...

I enjoy the review part.  Hope you do well this time.

I am only a PP. not a CFI. This is not from my personal experience....

Best regards,

-a-

[thinwing]

So what is happening?No check ride yet?

[Samurai Husky]

Nope, cancelled again. 

Trying again on Friday. 

In the mean time I took advantage of my business trip to chicago to meet my CFI in VA and we did a Ferry flight back from Richmond VA back to the Bay Area. 17.2 hobbs in a sr22. Plus i got in about 4 hours to put towards my IFR and a few interment approaches. 

Plus we ran into that line of thunderstorms from Texas to Canada on saturday/sunday. My first real IMC experience where we had to divert 60nm south from ABI to SJR and spend the night there. In the morning we did a IFR departure in a tiny window of opportunity and managed to get out of the line of thunderstorms. If we had stayed there was another massive storm rolling though and we would have been stuck there until tuesday! But running into that line was crazy. It was all smooth air and then WACK, like we ran into a semi truck. You could see the ground track of a individual cell coming right at us, lightning started flashing all around and we high tailed it out of there.

I learned a TON. I mean I thought the planes traffic scope was broken because we flew maybe 8 hours and didnt see a single person!. We flew over the desserts of AZ and Cali and I learned all about the rising/falling air which was crazy. Saw first hand clouds ascending as the day went on and how easy it could be to get stuck on top. 

Over all I learned an obscene amount in 2 days. I mean, this was real flying.

[gsengle]

Yeah that's the stuff that you have to become confident with when you own a real traveling airplane... But it's awesome.


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[Danb]

3 hours ago, gsengle said:

Thats why they all say once you get your PPL you've got a license to learn, right Greg

[thinwing]

Great experience

[Guest Mike261]

I wonder...

Is Sam on his check ride right now?

[Hank]

It is getting to be that time . . . Richard's should be coming up next week maybe.

[bonal]

We are like a bunch expectant parents. We're all rooting for Sam and Skates to succeed.

[Skates97]

51 minutes ago, Hank said:

It is getting to be that time . . . Richard's should be coming up next week maybe.

I'm the 15th.

[Danb]

4 hours ago, Skates97 said:

I'm the 15th.

Good luck hope yours goes better than Sams

[Samurai Husky]

I'm in denial, but it appears i passed!!!!

More later once i wake up. 

[bonal]

Congrats! Woo hoo ding clang yippee shit!

[glafaille]

Awesome news!  Been following you from the beginning.  

Now go out and fly, safely.

[Hank]

3 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

I'm in denial, but it appears i passed!!!!

 

Congratulations! Now the real fun starts!

[Samurai Husky]

Well, for one i dont think i want to take out any of the clubs planes ever again. I took the other SR20 this time and it was also broken, to the point where it shouldn't have been flown. Basically the fuel gauges in the center console are shorting out. They either read full or empty or bouncing between for both gauges. So either loose connection or shorting. I didnt notice until later when i went to switch tanks as I had full tanks when i left and thought 'yep i have full tanks'; On the way back both were reading empty and i was like.. uh i know there was at least tabs in each tank.... Anyway, extra anxiety on the way back.

So here it goes!

The day before i met with my CFI to go over my XC to KSAC and back (just in case the results weren't what we were expecting); He signed off my log book and made some suggestions to change on the flight plan.. All good. The weather was predicted to be sunny with light winds 9kts from the south, a cake walk.. The weather was even predicting a early burn off of the marine layer; So far all is going as planned. 

My CFI said to not count on the marine layer burn off. It was cloudy that morning and would probably happen the next day. So to CYA, I emailed the DPE and said 'hey there might be some soup in the morning, might not get out of here until 10am' (the check ride was for 9am); Got a email back that said 'no problem just let me know when you are in run up';

Surprisingly i fell asleep early, dont know what it was but woke up the next morning at 7am and saw pea soup out the window. Normally this is where the stress would start, but because this guy had been so accommodating i shrugged it off and did some work from home. 8am... Soup continues. 9AM still soupy... At this point i start getting nervous; I check the weather and damn if everything didnt flip. They were predicting clouds until 11am now and winds at ksac at 12g20kts... crud.....

Magically at 945, the sun poked out and i started for the airport. Ran into the normal bay area traffic (surprise surprise) and ended up sitting there. During that time the DPE called 'hey are you going to make it out this morning'; Me 'yep, looks like things are finally starting to break up, i should be headed out your way by 10-10:15' Him 'ok, well i have some bad news, i messed up my schedule and i have to pick some people up from the airport at noon. Can we postpone until 130?' Me 'sure...' 

I got to the airport and my CFI just happens to be in the parking lot. We talked for a minute and looked at the clouds. He said i would be fine, if anything just climb up in the blue part, get on top then head over (since the marine layer ends at the Pass and doesnt go above 3500'. 'Good idea' (though didnt need it); I took my time getting the plane ready. Talked with people. Then thought i should just go and on the way do some maneuvers. 

Everything went great; Clouds cleared up; On the way there i adjusted my flight plan to 3500 from 5500 because of all the traffic coming in above me, i figure i might as well do it before norcal does it for me. Ended up with a 17knt tail wind and was doing 165GS in a SR20 at 60% power on 8.5g/h... I was floored. But with how windy it was, i was afraid the winds would shift and instead of coming down the runway at KSAC would end up with a XW, so decided to just get there. 

Get to the airport and fly the best pattern i think i have ever flown. Everything was right on, spacing, speeds, approach everything. Landed the plane right of the CL because i caught a gust at the last minute, but over all landed then thing as softly as can be overall a good omen.

Go inside and talk with the DPE (it was about 1130 at this point and he was about to leave); We started working on the paper work when he asked to see the last discontinuance. I said i didnt have one... He said.. 'uh, you have to have one'. I then told him the story on how the guy stormed away etc. etc... He was shocked... He said, with out that we need a new IACRA and the CFI has to sign it... I was like 'crap' how do i keep getting screwed by this guy!. Anyway, he logged into the computer system and said 'oh wait, at least he uploaded it. It says here that there was a severe mechanical failure with the plane?' Told him the story... 'Ah who cares.' he said. 'You're here now and the plane is fine right'; me 'Yep, this is the better one. Everything looked good!'; him 'Ok, then no worries, red alert off, we are good to go. If you want go get some lunch, we will be heading straight out and doing air work over Franklin' me.. 'wheres Franklin?' DPE '10miles south, dont worry if you get confused just ask, there is nothing wrong with asking';

At this point i was like... who are you? Where have you been?. He goes off to pick the person up from the airport. I spent the 90 mins in the terminal looking at the map, looking at the info on fraklin and sadly looking at the weather. Winds now 16g23 from 200. Franklin is rnwy 18... so i was looking at some pretty steep XW. He calls me and asks how do i feel about the wind. I said i feel uneasy. He asked if i wanted to call it off and dont worry, i will return the check if you do. I said 'no, lets do this' mostly because the winds aloft at 3000ft were 12knts and that for airwork it's fine. I figured if i screw up on the 1 landing i have left, then so be it, at least i only have to test out on that 1 landing. 

He gets back and says, ok now give me 15 more minutes, i need to run to the hanger and tell the guys to get my plane ready... I guess he was heading out in a C150 to kRHV after the check ride (i learned that later); He comes back. Ready? i said lets do this! Worst case is i come see you again'.

We get in, we do the run up we take off and its bouncy until about 800ft and then it smoothed out. We get about half way to Franklin and he said, 'steep turn now' ok, clearing turn, steep turn. My right turn wasn't great, because i was figuring out how much more power i needed with the extra wind. I kept getting slow and dropping and needing to add power. So it was up and down. Rolled out right on the numbers, Left turn was to commercial standards. He said i need to 'treat this plane like your bitch, be more aggressive, i know it's a check ride, but you dont need to baby it with me... Look' he took the controls and rolled right into a 60' bank. He was uncoordinated, stall horns started going off. I'm like dude! he goes 'relax, you can feel when you are getting slow when you do, just add power, or level the wings. I can feel the skipping, or buffeting and can correct'; 

I was impressed; he literally flew that plane like he owned it. 

We go into slow flight, which was some of the most stable slow flight i have done. Went under the hood, at one point i was more than std rate and said oppse more then std rate. he said, 'well you saw and corrected for it, but if you have the confidence to do more then std rate im not going to knock you for it'; i said 'well my speeds weren't dropping and i wasn't approaching a stall, so yea, feel good'. 'Great' he said 'look down. I looked down and he began the unusual attitudes.... I am guessing this guy has a military background because i have never been whipped around like i did just then. 'recover' I look up and we are going down. This was my first and only mistake as i added power... As soon as i started to pull up and felt the g's i knew i messed up 'crap, i was supposed to take power off' and cut the power. 'Ok lets do another' same thing felt like i was going to puke 'we arnt upside down are we?' 'do you want to be?' 'Fuk no!' 'recover' This time we are up, i do it right. 'one more time' again down and i recover again correctly., 'take off the foggles' took them off 'Your on fire', 'Thanks!' I said.. 'No your on fire' 'I heard you the first time..........OH you mean the plane is on fire' proceeded into a nose dive per the POH. 'ok recover if we weren't at 3000ft and had more time what else could you have done?' went though, mixture off, pump off, fuel tank off, maday on 121.5, sqwak 7777 IDENT, fly it to the ground or pull the chute. He take the contols and we rocket back up to 4000ft. 

'Ok, pull your engine...' Pulled engine looked outside and were were now at 4000ft right above Franklin... 'Well, normally i would try a restart, but theres a airport right below us, so i am going there' At 4000ft i put flaps in right away, and drifted down. Ended up having to slip from 2000ft to the runway because the 17knt winds kept me higher than i thought. He liked that i slipped all the way to the runway. But he had to help with the rudders. The winds shifted to be a direct crosswind and i wasnt giving it enough. We landed kind of rough, and he said 'good enough, do you think we can take off from here?' i said i didnt think so. So we back taxi'ed and took off again. 'this time land on 27 soft feild' again the winds shifted' well 27 is a T with 18. by the time you take off from 18 you are already in the down wind from 27. He said, i dont need to see you fly a perfect pattern, just make it happen. 'er.. ok' never made it to pattern, but kept making the calls on CTAF letting them know we were being sloppy. No one was around to hear us, there wasnt a single plane on radar or on the radio. Came around and landed, this time a lot better. As soon as we touched down he hit the brakes... I was like 'did i do something wrong?' 'nope, i saw enough, think we can take off from here?' 'i think so? run way is 3500ft we used about 1500ft. so yea, but it would be a short field because there are power lines at the end', 'perfect, do it!' did a short field take off, at first i didnt think we would make it, we had about 500ft of runway left and were still 5knts slow of vr. But magically it jumped to 5knts over vr and off we went. With the wind we climbed fast and almost stayed put horizontally. I was amazed; 'Got kind of worried there' him 'i wasn't, i dont like losing and we were fine, you didnt need to look at your interments, so much, just look outside more and you will be fine'....

He said ok your done.... Get me home safe and i will give you your license.... 'i was like, what? i thought i busted out like 4 times' he said 'nope, you know what you are doing, its not ideal conditions and you made solid decisions, so thats good enough for me'. Got back to KSAC, the winds were howling, i had a ton of confidence at this point, so i man handled the plane down to the center line. We ened up catching a gust at the last second and ballooned up; I pitched up a little and add a shot of power as we came down and she landed nice and smooth. He said 'perfect, exactly what you should have done, most people push to the runway and end up bouncing, or pull but dont add power and end up braking something, perfect'. 

Taxi back and end up going down the wrong way in transient parking... I asked him... 'uhhh, did i go the wrong way? because all the T bars are facing the wrong way'. 'Yep but dont worry about it, you know how many times i've gotten lost at a airport because of crappy signage? just pull a bitch and park this thing' I was like dammmmmnnnnn, you my hero!; Idled up the engine pulled a 180 right into the T spot.... Shut down the engine and we were done.

We went inside and did the paper work.. I asked why i didnt bust. 'you know the maneuvers, you are going to make mistakes, your judgement wasnt off. Sure i could bust you for the 1 unusual attitude, but you knew what you did wrong and tried to correct, thats all that madders. This is a license to learn and you will keep learning, so while this test is to make sure you can do certain things, its more to make sure you dont kill your self or the people around you. I didnt see anything today that would indicate that you would do anything like that. The conditions were challenging and you worked hard, so you deserve to pass., What kind of ahole would send a person back to retest because of 1 maneuver that they know you know how to do?''... me 'well i can think of one....' him 'yea... dont fight that fight.... you will lose. Just tell your story to other students and CFI's, if you take it to the FAA they will probably side with him and then you will have a bad name in the DPE world. I know it sucks, but its the world we live in'. Me 'ok, i agree, i just wanted a fair ride'; him 'i had the same problem with my interment, so i speak from experience, keep learning.' He had me sign my temp license, we went over the paper work and 'now if you EVER need me, call me. I can answer question or give advice. I am here for you! dont feel like you are alone in this world. If you dont know something you can call me. But dont advertise that I am a DPE; I run this business, I fly a commercial helicopter service, i do the DPE thing on the side and i want to make sure that i give good rides so i dont over book my self up or advertise. I only give rides to people that find me. oh, if you give out my phone number i will come and get you!' me 'lol ok, i am in IT i understand!' him 'now if you excuse me i have a flight to reid hillview' me 'oh you taking the chopper?' him 'nope, the c150'.... me 'You are taking a C150 in 17knt head winds for 70nm over mountain ridges?!' him 'yup, i dont expect it will be fast or comfortable!, Stay safe on the way back, the winds are no joke out there' me 'yea i might chill here and see how it plays out'.

We then parted ways. I called my CFI and messed with him for about 2 minutes before saying i passed. At which time he exploded... I was still in denial! The winds back at my airport were 17, but right down the runway, the plane was due back at 6 and the winds weren't going to get any better between now and then. So i decided to head out. About 15 mins in i get a txt from the DPE 'winds are no joke take your time!' me 'roger'; The ride back at 4500ft weren't bad. I did have a 17knt head wind the whole way, only doing about 105knt GS. This is when panic set in, i look at my fuel gauges and saw they weren't working... 'crap!' i check the fuel right? yes, i visually checked the fuel. The right was lower than the left, ok switch tanks to balance out the plane... leave the right tank as reserve. The avionics says i have 35gal left, more than enough.. dont trust it. lean back pull power; Got it down to 8.5g/h; ok, tabs is twice that, i should have 2 hours to get back on the 1 tank, should be fine..... Plane to ditch at KLVK if you are unsure.

Get into air traffic land and the drama continues. 2PG traffic 12'o west bound 500ft above same direction, additional traffic 11'o west bound 500ft below. 2pg, turn 10d left to avoid traffic. 2pg is traffic in sight? me 'dude i am looking right into the sun i cant see anything, please advise!' nor cal 2pg level 3500, stay course, will advise when traffic has passed'.  About 20 seconds later the sun hits both planes at the same time '2pg both traffic is in sight' norcal 'roger contact palo alto' called palo alto. Palo alto tower '2pg, do you see the traffic 1/2 mile off your right wing 500ft above same direction' me 'yep, he is crossing towards me' them 'enter mid field down wind' me 'i cant im at 2700 ft and descending that would put me in the the class charlie for SJC at above 1500ft. them 'expedite your decent'; Well that wasnt working, i was up to 140knts and going down 1000ft a min, i was about 2000ft from the class 'c' and ended up adjusting my course to trim around it. at the same time the traffic called in  and he was also landing at palo alto. So between the 3 of us we worked it out. He was coming in at 100knts and i was blowing past him at 140 something. So i was able to cut in front of him at a lower altitude and make my way in. tower '2pg #2 behind the Cessna, cleared to land rnwy 31, declare when traffic is in sight' me 'the sun in hitting me in the face, i cant see anything, please advise on traffic' tower '2pg traffic is no on right base' luckily the sun hit his wing and flashed me, so i stated the traffic was in sight. I managed to slow up just in time to enter the pattern at 100knts. Winds were now 290 16g20 for rnwy31... Crud thats some XW, plus i was still worried about my fuel. Went ahead and switched tanks just in case it was a go around, but i had a new found confidence. I man handled that plane, any time i would get blown away, i would add a little counter trim, and fight it back. Once i was in ground effect the bouncing stopped and i was able to put it right on the CL, probably the best landing of the day. Taxi'ed back to parking and once shut down. I immediately looked at the fuel in the tanks..... THANK GOD, both tanks were well above tabs, there was nothing to worry about... Good thing i filled it to the top before i left that morning!

Filled out my log book as PIC and ordered my Victory Pizza! 

And that's how this chapter ends! I am sure there are more details that i just cant remember right now... But i am still in disbelief... Im just wanting for the FAA to call and say that the other DPE is blocking my pass, or some other crazy thing to happen! Until that card arrives the mail, i dont think it will set in that the drama is over and i can go back to flying for myself!

 

Edit: 

He asked how i liked training in the cirrus; I said it was a crappy trainer, but i stuck with it. I think that bought me some brownie points, he agreed and said i would probably not get a fair check ride in a cirrus because its seen as learning in a sports car. He also said he wouldnt use the chute until he was  in a spin as thats the only reason why its there. I kept my mouth shut and just agreed with him. Again, brownie points

Edited October 1, 2016 by Samurai Husky

[Skates97]

Woohoooo!!!! Glad you passed and hanks for writing it all up. Hopefully I'm just two weeks behind you.

[gsengle]

And so to close this thread, the answer is yes, yes he will.


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