Richard's Training Journey

[Skates97]

Check Ride is scheduled for the morning of October 15th! The examiner is Tony Gadis. I fly tomorrow with a different CFI for a stage/phase check. 

Edited September 24, 2016 by Skates97

[Skates97]

1 hour ago, Hyett6420 said:

Hi yes it is my home airport.  Sweet little,place, VERY political, bumpy runway as well as you can see from the pics you posted.  However its location is perfect, 20 mins to the centre of town.  Yes that tree line is the 50 foot obstacle and in those playing fields they have some lovely high goal posts for Rugby.  The trees make a nice wobble on final approach , expecially on windy days.  It Is a "challenging" airport in many respects, but lovely.  

If,you zoom in above the taxiway, you can just about make out a blue mooney AL.   

If you ever get to London ill take you there and take you flying in the busiest airspace in the world!  

Andrew

 

I may just take you up on that one day. London has been on my list for quite awhile.

[Skates97]

This is my flight last Saturday, but I figured I better get it written up before I go fly tomorrow.

Check Ride Stage Check

First things first, I have my actual check-ride scheduled! October 15th.

Today was my stage check with a different CFI, just to see if I'm ready for my check-ride. It would have been a great day to fly a glider, more on that later. I left home a little early to make sure I wasn't running late. I wasn't completely sure what to expect, but thought the worse thing that could happen was a list of things to clean up.

I got to the school and chatted with those in the lobby for a few minutes. They were talking about how busy it was out there today. One of the CFI's said that they did 360's for a few minutes on their way back from the training area before they finally got a chance on the radio to contact the tower.

We went and sat down at the CFI's desk. He asked if this was a full stage check and I told him it was. He took out a piece of paper, started asking me questions, and making notes. The oral portion took almost two hours and went well. I have to remember to 'just answer the question.' A couple of times I offered more information than he was looking for and that led to further questions. There were a few things that I looked up, a few that I just didn't know the answer to, and a few follow up questions that I asked him which he had to think about. We finished up that portion, he gave me the notes with the subjects to go home and brush up on, and then we headed out to the plane.

He left me to pre-flight the plane and by the time he came back I was already done.

CFI: "You're already done?"
Me: "Yep"
CFI: "Everything look good?"
Me: "Yep"
CFI: "Okay, let's go fly. If there's something you feel really good about we'll skip that today."
Me: (With my foggles in hand) "Are we doing instrument flying, unusual attitudes?"
CFI: "How do you feel about it?"
Me: "I'm good to go, unusual attitudes are easy and I just did an hour flight beginning to end under the hood with my CFI. We took off and did unusual attitudes, then flew a triangle from Paradise to Pamona, then south and back to Paradise before shooting the ILS."
CFI: "Sounds good, we'll skip that, anything else?"
Me: "We just did stalls and I feel good about them. I was shallowing out my right turn on steep turns and I need work on my soft field take-offs, I keep flying right up through ground effect instead of staying in it to build speed. Next week when I fly with my CFI we are going to concentrate on short field and soft field take-offs and landings."
CFI: "Well, we can fix the soft field take-offs today."

I went through the rest of the start-up checklist, started the plane, and then we started our taxi. Just before we got to the end of the hangar row another plane from the school was coming around the corner. There's not enough room for us both so he turned around and went back to an intersection so we could get past. We stopped, I got the ATIS information, and then it was about a 3-4 minute wait to get my chance to talk to Ground. It was still a busy day.

On the taxi out to the run-up area he asked what I was having problems with on the soft field take-offs. I told him that for some reason I just kept popping through the ground effect, that I just couldn't get the right sight picture. He said to think about it, the wings are about where the bottom of my feet are and that the ground is only a couple feet below that, so it is flying about as high off the ground as if I was just standing up. I think I still just need to see it...

I went step by step through my run-up checklist and then talked through the different abort procedures (if there was still enough runway left I would try to stop on the runway, if we had just lifted off but under 600' AGL we would be landing straight ahead in the fields, if we were above that we would try to come back and land on runway 3 or in the fields to the south of the airport). The winds were coming a little from the right, but not enough to be considered a cross-wind. It was a warm day, and the plane was not climbing well. KCNO is at 650' and the traffic pattern is 1,400' because we are below Ontario's airspace.  Normally I start my turn at 1,100' but we were well past the point where I normally turn and just barely reaching 1,000' when the tower asked me to start my turn. We got about two miles south of the airport and what had been about a 300' per minute climb suddenly became more than 1000' per minute. Sometimes the thermals can be your friend. He asked me how high I was going to climb and I told him 2,500 to stay below Ontario's 2,700' shelf.

As we were approaching 2,400' I pushed over for what I thought would be a typical leveling off. I don't have a ton of hours, but I have enough that I know what the sight picture out the front looks like in level flight. In fact, I use what is outside the windows to know how I am flying and glance down at the instruments just to verify. (It is Visual Flight Rules after all). I looked at my altimeter, it wasn't slowing down as much as it should have been and the vertical speed indicator (which has a little lag to it) was still showing the climb. I drifted up through 2,500 and finally got the climb to stop at 2,550 with a nose down attitude. That thermal that had been helping me out was now working against me, and I didn't want to bust into Ontario's Class C. Remember that I said earlier that it would have been a good day to fly a glider? It wasn't long before we had moved out of the thermal and I settled in at 2,500' nice and level.

We crossed south over the 91 freeway and began a climb to 4,500' but with the heat we were climbing so slowly that we gave up at 3,500' and decided to do maneuvers there. (We were about 2,000' AGL which is more than what is required). First up was steep turns. I did my clearing turns and the rolled into a left bank. I came out of it right on heading without gaining or losing any altitude. I then rolled into the 'not so friendly right turn' but managed it just fine. As I was rolling out I was close to 100' below my starting altitude, but not quite, and let it come back up to my starting altitude.

CFI: "So if you are losing altitude in your turn what could you do? You already have full power because it's a hot day. You can pull back on the yoke but that will also increase your speed."
Me: "I guess shallow out my bank just a little?"
CFI: "Exactly, not much, because you are supposed to be in a 45° bank, but just a few degrees will help."

From steep turns we went into slow flight. I stayed coordinated and did everything he was asking. I was a little slow in my recovery from slow flight so he gave me a few pointers. After that he needed an "emergency" to get us down lower for ground reference maneuvers. I was waiting for the engine failure, engine fire, or cabin fire. That's not what I got...

CFI: "Okay, here's the scenario. I'm having a heart attack so we need to divert to Riverside and get on the ground. But first, I think I want to see some s-turns over the 15."
Me: "That's creative."

I pulled power and pushed the nose over alternating back and forth between right and left 45° banks to lose altitude faster.

CFI: "So how fast do we want to get going?"
Me: "Well, we can't go faster than 171mph (pointing to the red line on the airspeed indicator) but as bumpy as it is today I don't want to get any faster than 140mph."
CFI: "Why don't we keep it under 120mph."
Me: "Oh, is your heart feeling a little better?"
CFI: "Yeah."

Once we were low enough I brought it around to make some s-turns over the 15 freeway. I made three nice s-turns, rolling wings level right over the freeway before starting my next turn and keeping my altitude dead on.

CFI: "Those look great, but you don't have to make them so tight. Let me have the controls."

He began to make a lazy s-turn to the left.

CFI: "See, this is just fine for an s-turn, we are constantly turning and it gives you a lot more room for mistakes." He finished the turn and then said "Or you can make an s-turn like this" as he threw it into a 60° bank to the right. He rolled out of that turn and said "But that leaves you no room for error. Take us to Riverside."

I got the ATIS information for Riverside and then called up the tower.

Me: "Riverside tower, Cherokee 5800Uniform, over the west end of Lake Matthews at 2,500, inbound for touch-n-go's with information Echo."
Tower: "Cherokee 5800Uniform, report over the auto center for a left base for runway 27."
Me: "Will report over the auto center for left base for runway 27, 00Uniform." To the CFI "That's the auto center right over there right?"
CFI: "I don't know" (Yes he does) "What does your chart say?"

I pulled out my TAC and took a quick look.

Me: "Yep, that's the auto center."
CFI: "What would you do if you couldn't figure it out?"
Me: "Tell the tower I was unfamiliar."
CFI: "Exactly. When we land I want a short field landing and touch down on the top of the 2." (We're coming in on runway 27)

I called up the tower when we were over the auto center and was given clearance for a touch-n-go only. (There was someone on a straight in final behind me). I was lined up on a nice stabilized approach, 80mph, when the tower called up.

Tower: "Cherokee 5800Uniform, make best speed possible."
Me: "Will make best speed, 00Uniform." I nosed over a little and added some power.
CFI: "Let me have the plane."

I gave him the plane, he took out the flaps and went full power briefly, then pulled power back, put flaps back in, and gave the plane back to me. At this point we were coming in faster and very high.

CFI: "Go ahead and make your touchdown point the 1000' marks now that we are high."
Me: "I was just going to put it into a slip and try to hit the numbers."
CFI: "Sounds good."

I was able to slip the plane down and almost touch down at the previous point of the top of the numbers. Immediately after touching down it was flaps up, full power, and we were off again. the tower had advised us of a police helicopter working off the southwest end of the runway so we watched for him as I was going from my crosswind to my downwind. The CFI asked me what I could do if that same situation came up on my check-ride where the tower wanted me going faster. I told him I could just go around which he said would be perfect.

CFI: "Okay, on this one give me a soft field landing followed by a soft field take-off."
Me: "So do you want a stop and taxi back?"
CFI: "No, we can do it as a touch-n-go. How many notches of flaps do you use on landing?"
Me: "Three."
CFI: "How many notches for a soft field take-off?"
Me: "Two."
CFI: "Good, after touching down, just remove one notch of flaps and then do your take-off. Then take us back to Chino."

The tower gave us a touch-n-go only, which was what we wanted anyway, and I brought it in for perhaps my best soft field landing I have ever done. As the nose settled down I took out the one notch of flaps and went full power, keeping the yoke back. We were airborne almost immediately. As soon as we were off the ground he said "Hold it right here" and he gave it some forward pressure on the yoke. I was surprised to see how low were were leveled off at, which is what I needed to see. Now that I have seen it hopefully it will be easier to do. I'll find out when I fly with my CFI next week and we work on it.

I had previously told the tower we wanted to depart straight out for Chino and had been given the clearance, as well as to watch for the police helicopter. I told the tower we had him in sight and I was told to maintain separation. Riverside gave us a frequency change so I dialed in the ATIS for CNO, got the information, and called up the tower asking for a full stop. All the activity at the airport had died down and we were given a straight in for 26R, #2 to land. 

CFI: "Your choice of what kind of landing you want to do."
Me: "How about a no flaps, I haven't done one of those in forever."
CFI: "Sounds good."

I carried the extra speed that I needed without the flaps down, floated it a little and settled down a little left of the center line.

Me: "I think I can still make the first turn off."
CFI: "Oh yeah, no problem."

As I turned off on taxiway Delta I felt pretty good. I had made the first turn-off which is at the 2,000' point on the runway after coming in on a no flaps landing. I called up Ground for my taxi clearance back to the school and then the CFI gave me his review.

CFI: "Well, if I could sign your ticket right now I would, that was great."
Me: "Seriously, I felt like I was pretty sloppy today."
CFI: "You're not going for a commercial ticket, this is just for your Private Pilot. Sure you drifted a little left on that last landing which wouldn't pass commercial, but this is for your Private and that was good enough."
Me: "Great, thank you."

Hopefully my Examiner has the same philosophy. I guess I'll find out on the 15th

[Hank]

Congratulations! Feels good to know that two CFIs think you're ready. 

[Skates97]

Sunday's flight, down to under two weeks to my check-ride.

Last Flight with my CFI??

This could be it, the last time I fly with my CFI before my check-ride. It is odd to think about that possibility.

I arrived at the airport a little early as usual and found my CFI waiting for me in the lounge. We chatted a little about my stage check the previous week and went over the plan for today. We would do a more detailed pre-flight walk around, not more detailed in the sense of what is done, but him asking me questions about what the different names are of parts of the plane, what functions they perform, telling him what kind of engine is in it, how it operates, different aircraft systems, etc.. more prep for my check-ride. After that we would go fly and work through all the maneuvers as well as finish up the last 0.5 of simulated instrument flying I need. Whatever I need work on we will do again next week as well as going through all my paperwork and some ground school prep for my check-ride.

The pre-flight was a good refresher, and I also learned a few things. The pre-flight check list goes through everything to make sure the plane is safe to fly, but you don't recite the names of everything or what their function is. Those are things you should know, but for a normal pre-flight you are just making sure that they are in good working order. You always check the flaps, but what kind of flaps are they? Slotted. You always check the wing tips and lights for damage but what kind of wing tip is it? Hoerner (more efficient then just a rounded wing tip). You check the nose wheel, strut, and faring, but what is the name of the nut and arm that control the steering? You get the picture of what our pre-flight was today. It was like the first time I went flying when he went around and explained everything about the plane, but this time it was my job to do the explaining.

With the pre-flight finished up it was time to get in and start up the plane. We taxied out and I completed the run-up and talked through the abort procedures (It's always good to verbalize them before every time you take off). The first thing that he wanted to see was a soft field takeoff. It was oddly quiet for an afternoon weekend flight so I thought I would see if I could score some "style points" by getting my take-off clearance before reaching the hold short line so I wouldn't have to touch my brakes at all. (On a true soft field you don't need the brakes as long as you stay slow because the grass/dirt/gravel will slow you down, but we were on pavement). I switched over to the tower frequency and listened for a few seconds to see if there was anyone in the pattern, there wasn't, the radio was quiet.

I put in two notches of flaps and just before I started to roll out of the run-up area I called up the tower and asked for my clearance which I fortunately received before getting to the hold short line where I would have had to hit my brakes. With my clearance I rolled right onto the runway keeping full back pressure on the yoke (simulating trying to keep weight off the nose wheel as we pretended we were on grass) and received a "very nice" comment from my CFI. (Style Points) Once I was lined up on the centerline I added full power and we were rolling down the runway. Very soon the nose wheel lifted off followed shortly by the mains. As soon as the mains left the ground I pushed the yoke forward to level out. "Perfect" was the comment from my CFI as I kept it in ground effect and we accelerated toward Vx and then began our climb out. Having the CFI on my last flight help me with my soft field take-off to get the proper 'sight picture' was a huge help.

I turned crosswind and then as I left the pattern to head toward the practice area he handed my my foggles.

CFI: "Here, go ahead and put these on and then take us direct to Paradise (VOR)."

I turned the Nav Radio until the radial came in and then flew us more or less direct there.

CFI: "Once we get to Paradise then track the 150 radial out."

As I tracked the 150 out he had me climb and then wanted me to use my Nav Radios to tell him where we were. I pulled out my TAC and made sure that 2nd Nav Radio was tuned to the Homeland VOR and then turned the knob on the Radio until the line centered on about the 270 'from' radial. I looked back down at my TAC and traced a line out from Homeland on the 270 until I got to about where it intersected the 150 radial from Paradise.

Me: "Looks like about right here" as I pointed to an area just west of Lake Matthews.
CFI: "Okay, take a look outside."

I looked out to my left, and there was Lake Matthews, right where I thought it would be. He had me make a few turns to different headings and climb a little more. At this point we were looking for a way to kill off a little more time to get my 30 minutes of simulated instrument time in.

CFI: "Go ahead and do some slow flight with the foggles on."
Me: "Okay."
CFI: "You won't have to do it with foggles for the check-ride, but it will be good experience."

I pulled power back, kept the nose up as the speed bled off, put full flaps in, then continued to let the speed bleed off. It settled in between 55-60mph and I adjusted the trim to take the pressure off the yoke. Slow flight in visual conditions is easy, in simulated instrument conditions, not so much. When I can see outside the only instruments I am really looking at are my airspeed indicator and altimeter. Without any outside reference the workload goes up, and my ability to perform the maneuver goes down. He had me perform climbing and descending turns to headings before telling me to recover from slow flight and we returned to normal cruising speed.

CFI: "Okay, now do steep turns."
Me: "Really?"
CFI: "Sure, you won't have to with foggles on during the check-ride, but I know you can do it."
Me: "Okay..."

I took a look at my altimeter and heading, then pushed the throttle in and rolled to the left. I was able to keep it right at a 45° and maintained altitude but I rolled out late and overshot my starting heading by about 15°. Next was a turn to the right with the same results, I just don't know exactly where to start rolling out and how quickly to roll out without looking outside.

CFI: "Not bad for your first try with the foggles on. Go ahead and take them off and do the steep turns again."

I took the foggles off, picked one of the mountains in the distance, and then rolled into a left bank. About three quarters of the way through the turn I realized I had made a critical mistake to performing the maneuver correctly. I never really look at my heading before beginning my steep turns because I just pick a landmark to start and end on, but about three quarters of the way through my turn I realized I wasn't sure 'which mountain' I had started with, and I didn't know the heading either... As I rolled out of the turn I confessed my mistake to my CFI which got a laugh out of him.

CFI: "Try it again."
Me: "Okay, but I won't make that mistake again. I'm lining up on San Gorgonio." (the tallest peak in Southern California which was just about 20° to the left of my current heading)

I got lined up, began my turn, and rolled out right on heading and altitude. Then I began my right hand turn rolling back out lined up with the distant mountain peak. Next up was a power on stall. I pulled power and kept the nose up to maintain altitude as my speed bled off. I informed my CFI that this was to simulate a stall on take-off (practicing for talking my way through my check-ride) and as we reached rotation speed I added in full power and pulled back on the yoke. The stall light came on almost immediately and I continued to hold back on the yoke. As the speed bled off and the plane started to shake the right wing began to drop on me. I added in left rudder and then the left wing really dropped. I quickly gave it full right rudder and pushed the yoke forward at the same time to recover from the stall.

CFI: "I think you got the stall on that one..."
Me: "Are you sure?" (Sarcasm)
CFI: "Yep, you just need to get to the point that you feel the buffeting."

After the power on stall I performed a power off stall with a nice clean recovery.

CFI: "Okay, pull your engine."

I pulled the throttle all the way out.

CFI: "Huh, looks like you just lost your engine. Now what are you going to do?"
Me: "Well, first I'm going to angle for best glide speed, 83mph," as I push the yoke forward and start scanning around for a place to put the plane down. We were still about 3,000' AGL (Above Ground Level) so there was plenty of time. "The quarry in front of us won't work," I began a left turn back towards the fields surrounding the lake. "And we can't reach the fields on the other side of the lake so I'm going to put us down right there in that field on the other side of those power lines" and I pointed to a field back behind my left wing.
CFI: "You're going to land back there?"
Me: "Yep, but first I'll try to restart the plane. I'll switch tanks, make sure my fuel pump is on, full throttle, mixture full rich, cycle the mags," simulating each step "but what do you know, it's not going to restart, looks like we're going down."
CFI: "Now what."
Me: "I'll squawk 7700 and we aren't on flight following so I'll broadcast on 121.5 'mayday, mayday, mayday, Cherokee 5800Uniform, engine out, we're going down, landing in a field to the southwest of Lake Matthews.' Before we land I need you to unlatch the door and open it, I'll turn off the fuel selector, the pump, and pull the throttle and mixture."
CFI: "Sounds good, we're still landing in that field back there?" As we are flying away from it.
Me: "Yeah."
CFI: "Which direction is the wind coming from?"
Me: "Behind us, I'm going to take us up to that point up there and then make a turn back into the wind."
CFI: "Okay."

I brought us a little further downwind to where I thought I could make my turn and bring it down where I wanted to. I put us in a shallow left bank, keeping my airspeed right about 83mph, and then lined us up for the landing.

CFI: "Where are you going to touch down?"
Me: "See those two bushes up in front of us?" There were two big bushes about 100' apart.
CFI: "Yeah."
Me: "We're going to touch down right between them like they were the sides of the runway." I continued a nice descent until were were about 20' off the ground.
CFI: "Okay, take us back up."

I put in full power and we began a slow climb up to 2,200' to begin ground reference maneuvers. I flew turns around a point using the island in the middle of the lake and then s-turns over the road that runs parallel to the dam. My first s-turn was nice, tight like I normally fly them with about a 35-40° maximum bank. Then I thought I would try to fly it a little wider like the other CFI had suggested but I misjudged and didn't shallow out my bank enough coming back into the wind and rolled wings level before reaching the road. My third turn was much better, but I did get a question from my CFI about what happened on the second one. I explained that I was trying to make a wider turn and just banked too much.

We climbed back up to 3,500' and did a simulated cabin fire, running through the procedure before heading back to Chino for some landings. First was a short field landing. My target was the numbers and I floated a little past them before putting it down.

CFI: "That was close, you got that in about 20' before the 200' mark." (For a short field landing the standard for Private Pilots is within 200' of your touchdown point.) "On your check-ride if you are going to miss your mark just go around and try again. Go around as much as you need until you know you will hit it so you don't bust, but try not to go around too many times."

We went around the pattern again and I did another short field landing, this time with about 50' to spare. Still not as good as I want, but I'll work on that this Saturday. Next up was a soft field landing and he wanted me to use the 1000' mark as my aim point so that we could roll out and exit at taxiway Lima.

On your check-ride you are supposed to have a diagram of the airport, which I did have on my kneeboard but never use because it is almost always the same taxiways. My CFI told me that for the check-ride I don't have to take the diagram out except to show the examiner that I have it and if I need it I will use it. He wanted to not tell the tower we were going to make a full stop because then they would move us over to 26R. Instead he wanted to land on 26L and exit at Lima because it's a weird intersection of taxiways and runways and would likely require me to use the map and pay close attention to the signs.

We came around the pattern and I got lined up on final. However, habits die hard and I was focused on the numbers, not the 1000' mark. As we got closer and it was obvious I wasn't aiming at the 1000' he asked what I was doing. I confessed I forgot he wanted me to land further down the runway. I finished the landing, put the flaps up, full power, and we were off for one more trip around the pattern. He made sure to remind me as I rolled onto final approach that I was aiming for the 1000' markers, and it's a good thing because I was already thinking of landing on the numbers...

I touched down just past the 1000' markers and as we slowly rolled past the turnout to taxiway Papa (which I could have easily made) he said "Darn, looks like we missed Papa, you better turn right up here at Lima." I exited at Lima, went through my after landing checklist, pulled out the airport diagram because I had no idea where I was sitting in the middle of three runways, and contacted Ground.

Me: "Chino Ground, Cherokee 5800Uniform, clear 26L at Lima, requesting taxi back to DuBois."
Ground: "Cherokee 5800Uniform, taxi via Lima, Delta, Mike, cross 21, hold short 26R."
Me: "Taxi via Lima, Delta, Mike, cross 21, hold short 26R, 00Uniform." As I marked a couple notes on the diagram.

Normally I exit 26R at Delta which is an easy taxi back, but you can see from the diagram where we started that there was an odd 3 way intersection ahead as well as the need to cross two runways, one which was active. Before I reached 26R Ground had given me clearance to cross.

CFI: "You know why he initially told you to hold short 26R?"
Me: "He was making sure there wasn't traffic taking off or landing?"
CFI: "Sort of, Ground controls the taxiways and Tower controls the runways, so before he could clear you to cross an active runway he had to check with the Tower to get the clearance for you to cross."

I love the little extra info that he throws into the conversations throughout the flights. We taxied all the way back and I got out my checklist and shut the plane down. We went inside and he told me that all my maneuvers looked great. He said that since I would be flying pattern work on my own Saturday and working on my landings that we would just spend my lesson Sunday doing ground school prep for the check-ride and going over all my paperwork to make sure everything is in order. It looks like this was the last time that I would fly with my CFI before my check-ride. That's an odd feeling. I looked at my log book and I have 45.3 hours, after Saturday I will be somewhere between 46-47 hours. Minimum is 40 and I wanted to take my check-ride before 50 hours. I will have met that goal, now I just need to pass...

[carusoam]

Richard,

Did you look up the the lag?  There are some guidelines for when to start rolling out of a turn using the heading indicator.  Bank angle, turn rate and lead....

And a whole bunch to know about lead and lag when it comes to rolling out using a compass.

Some of the lag is just slowly rolling into and out of the bank required to turn or stop turning.

keep up the good prep work.

Best regards,

-a-

[Skates97]

10 hours ago, carusoam said:

Richard,

Did you look up the the lag?  There are some guidelines for when to start rolling out of a turn using the heading indicator.  Bank angle, turn rate and lead....

And a whole bunch to know about lead and lag when it comes to rolling out using a compass.

Some of the lag is just slowly rolling into and out of the bank required to turn or stop turning.

keep up the good prep work.

Best regards,

-a-

I haven't. It hasn't been an issue when I am flying visual, I can always roll out right where I want. Even flying simulated IMC I do fairly well turning to a heading, the problem was coming out of a steep turn and stopping on a heading using only instruments. I will have to study up on that, but for the check-ride it won't be an issue.

[donkaye]

On 7/13/2016 at 5:58 AM, cnoe said:

Yep, CFIs are sneaky. Examiners too. When instructed to close your eyes while being set up for "unusual attitudes" don't be surprised if your trim ends up out of whack!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That's unrealistic.  I don't do that.  I just have the student close their eyes for about a minute and fly the plane, then I take the airplane and put it into a more unusual attitude.

[Robert C.]

On 9/25/2016 at 5:19 PM, Hyett6420 said:

Hi yes it is my home airport.  Sweet little,place, VERY political, bumpy runway as well as you can see from the pics you posted.  However its location is perfect, 20 mins to the centre of town.  Yes that tree line is the 50 foot obstacle and in those playing fields they have some lovely high goal posts for Rugby.  The trees make a nice wobble on final approach , expecially on windy days.  It Is a "challenging" airport in many respects, but lovely.  

If,you zoom in above the taxiway, you can just about make out a blue mooney AL.   

If you ever get to London ill take you there and take you flying in the busiest airspace in the world!  

Andrew

 

Cool, I came sooo close to starting lessons there (lived in London and the Harpenden for 10 years). Just when I was ready to pull the trigger we moved back to the US so I started training here.

fun to see the aerial shots.

[Samurai Husky]

On 10/8/2016 at 11:51 AM, donkaye said:

That's unrealistic.  I don't do that.  I just have the student close their eyes for about a minute and fly the plane, then I take the airplane and put it into a more unusual attitude.

I dont know, my CFI would mess with my trim; 

Also my DPE made me feel like we were inverted. First time i felt like i was going to lose my lunch since day 1. So i think its ok to be prepared for the worst. In the end it doesnt madder what they do to you, the process is always the same. If trim is messed up, just over come it with force until level then retrim. If you feel like you are going to puke... dont.... Just follow the same procedures and you will be fine!

 

[Skates97]

2 hours ago, Samurai Husky said:

I dont know, my CFI would mess with my trim; 

Also my DPE made me feel like we were inverted. First time i felt like i was going to lose my lunch since day 1. So i think its ok to be prepared for the worst. In the end it doesnt madder what they do to you, the process is always the same. If trim is messed up, just over come it with force until level then retrim. If you feel like you are going to puke... dont.... Just follow the same procedures and you will be fine!

 

I'm not too worried about it. Even if he did mess with the trim that is still the last step of the process to relieve the pressure on the yoke.

[Skates97]

My check ride is tomorrow. I thought I should post up the end of my training before I take my check ride. So, here you go...

Final Check-Ride Preparation

My final preparations at the school have taken place prior to my check-ride. (It would be inaccurate to say it was my final preparation as there will be ongoing studying throughout the week).

Saturday I went out to the school to get in some pattern work and brush up my short field landings as well as soft field take offs. I was a little nervous about practicing soft field take offs on my own because it involves pushing the yoke forward to level off just after lifting off to stay in ground effect. I don't know why my brain still doesn't completely trust that the plane will stay in the air just above the ground and won't drop back down, but with more time and practice my brain will come around to it.

Here is the "Reader's Digest" (short version for those not old enough to remember the Reader's Digest) version of my flying. The winds were constantly changing. In just over an hour of flying I think I heard the tower give updated winds 5 times over the radio. The winds were everything from calm, to 240° at 4 knots, to 270° at 10 knots (almost right down runway 26L), 290° at 7 knots, and then back the other direction again.

I made 11 trips around the pattern performing touch-n-go's with the exception of one full stop and taxi back on the fifth landing to get a quick drink out of a water bottle and a short few minute break. Four of the take-offs were soft field and they were all good. I was able to level it off still in ground effect and accelerate before climbing out and removing flaps. I was trying to do all short field landings and aiming for the numbers each time. Of the 11, two of them floated about 100' further than the 200' limit that the standards called for, six of them were within the 200' limit, and three of them were right on the numbers. The best landing of the day was my last landing, I think because I was more focused on it than the others. I told myself as I was turning base "This is it, your last chance, make it perfect." I had all my numbers right, speed, descent rate, and set it down right on the numbers nice and soft, it was a great landing to finish on.

Sunday I was back at the airport but there wouldn't be any flying. We spent three hours going through the ACS (Airman Certifications Standards) making sure I knew everything in there for the oral portion of the check-ride. There are a few things to brush up on and I'll have some 3x5 cards with notes on them in my pocket during the week to review, but I feel pretty good about it.

My CFI said that he wished we had more time to fly again before the check ride. I asked him if there was anything wrong with my maneuvers when we flew last and he said no, he just always likes to have a 1-2 days before the check ride. I told him that I went over two months between flying maneuvers and was fine when we flew them again, and that flight came after not flying at all for two weeks. I think my maneuvers are going to be just fine. I also thought my landings were good the day before so I'm not really worried about those either.

Me: "You really are nervous?"
CFI: "I'm just always nervous for my students, I've had a 100% success rate."
Me: "Oh, well no pressure on me then, I don't want to ruin your perfect record..."
CFI: "You won't, you're ready."

I have two CFI's that think I'm ready, I think I'm ready, we'll find out on the 15th if all of us are right, or all of us are wrong.

[bonal]

Good luck tomorrow and remember what was said about SH check ride make it a fun and learning experience.  My money is on the number 2 horse "skates"

[TWinter]

I haven't commented much on your journey, but certainly have enjoyed the reading and following along. I think you are more than prepared. You will do great!

Best of luck  

 

-Tom

[DonMuncy]

You guys are a lot more knowledgeable than I was. I wasn't young, but I was ignorant. I flew with my CFI until he said I should go take the check ride. He scheduled it and I went. I didn't really consider what he might have me do. My (unconscious) attitude was "if my CFI says I am ready, I must be ready." Maybe in the 90s, examiners were a lot more lax than now.

[BradB]

Don,

 

My experience was like yours.   I got my ppl in 1992.  No phase checks or flying with another instructor.   The check ride was given by the head of the flight school.  Once my CFI was confident that I would not make him look bad to his boss, he sent me for the check ride. 

At the end of my check ride, the examiner told me that he knew I would pass based on how I handled the plane and the controls on the first take off.  

I was thinking about adding my commercial for fun, but I'm not sure that I want to torture myself after reading all these stories.  

Brad. 

[DonMuncy]

53 minutes ago, BradB said:

I was thinking about adding my commercial for fun, but I'm not sure that I want to torture myself after reading all these stories.  

Brad. 

You ought to go ahead and get your commercial. It is a bit of a PITA to fly maneuvers that you will never fly again, but it will improve your handling the plane. And you will not (I think) have to go through the mental process of wondering if you can accept someone paying for the fuel for your taking them somewhere.

[Samurai Husky]

The suspense is killing me!!!..... Dont type out a 3 page review just give us the thumbs up or down! then write the 3 page review.

[Blackroc]

Hopefully it went well and he is celebrating a bit.

[Samurai Husky]

Weather in chino is clr, 7sm and only 9kt winds; so i dont think he would of had a discontinuance for weather.... \

[Skates97]

Patience...

PASSED!!!!!! 

Just got back and filling out paper. Had to wait for the haze to clear before flying so didn't take off until about 2pm CA time. Write up to follow, probably tomorrow. 

[Samurai Husky]

yeaaaaaa! non-alcoholic Champlain all around!

[Blackroc]

Just now, Skates97 said:

Patience...

PASSED!!!!!! 

Just got back and filling out paper. Had to wait for the haze to clear before flying so didn't take off until about 2pm CA time. Write up to follow, probably tomorrow. 

Congrats Richard,  job well done.

[RLCarter]

Awesome, WTG!!!!!!

[Hank]

Woo-hooo!!! Looking forward to the write up. Don't stop the blog just because you finished training,your writing is pretty good and reminds me of when I was doing these things in much less complicated airspace.