Commercial Pilot achieved today!!

[mooneygirl]

Hip Hip Horray. I am NOW a Commercial pilot. What can I say; my parents would be so proud, I am proud and my kids are too! It was a lot of work, but so worth it. Big thank you to my flight instructors [Christopher, Mike ] and my awesome DPE David Koebel. A big thank you to King Schools for the awesome prep. My examiner complimented me on my ground/oral which was fun to plan.  He also loves how stable and fast the Mooney is.  I had to teach him how to close the door six times, but other than that!

I went back to my old stomping grounds in the Pacific Northwest, Hood River Oregon. I learned to fly there many moons ago.  Paired the check ride with a family vacation. On to my multi-engine commercial.

PS: Does my flight track look like a T-Rex dinosaur or what???

#MooneyZoom #ProPilot

[carusoam]

Yaaaaaay!

Way to go Jolie!

Best regards,

-a-

[Yooper Rocketman]

Congratulations Jolie!!

Tom

[aviatoreb]

Fantastic!!!  Congratulations!

[jlunseth]

Congratulations! And its nice you would share it with us. I skipped the ME, don’t know when I would ever fly a twin, my Mooney is so smooth, fast and fuel efficient.  My thought is ATP-SE, no requirement of a CTP course or a college degree, just get in the 1500 hours, sign yourself off to take the written, and then do the practical test.  Very strong on instrument skills, which is what I want.

Best of luck whatever you do.

[mike_elliott]

Congrats! Once again I will encourage you to think CFI while your tuned up. You love to teach and would be good at it.

[RobertGary1]

32 minutes ago, jlunseth said:

Congratulations! And its nice you would share it with us. I skipped the ME, don’t know when I would ever fly a twin, my Mooney is so smooth, fast and fuel efficient.  My thought is ATP-SE, no requirement of a CTP course or a college degree, just get in the 1500 hours, sign yourself off to take the written, and then do the practical test.  Very strong on instrument skills, which is what I want.

Best of luck whatever you do.

Im torn between the mes and the se-atp.  Both are just for fun. Both contain bragging rights. 
 

-Robert 

[Seth]

Congrats!

[mooneygirl]

1 hour ago, jlunseth said:

Congratulations! And its nice you would share it with us. I skipped the ME, don’t know when I would ever fly a twin, my Mooney is so smooth, fast and fuel efficient.  My thought is ATP-SE, no requirement of a CTP course or a college degree, just get in the 1500 hours, sign yourself off to take the written, and then do the practical test.  Very strong on instrument skills, which is what I want.

Best of luck whatever you do.

Thank you. For me, I want to get the multi commercial first because I have some opportunities flying corporate.  I don't ever see myself in ATP. More the flexibility to be able to take assignments as they come and to give myself options.

[201er]

Congratulations, that's awesome!

10 hours ago, mooneygirl said:

I had to teach him how to close the door six times, but other than that!

I didn't even let my DPE touch my door, did it myself. The two times I've had a door pop were when someone "knew what they were doing."  Not gonna make that mistake again.

[mooneygirl]

1 hour ago, mike_elliott said:

Congrats! Once again I will encourage you to think CFI while your tuned up. You love to teach and would be good at it.

Hi Mike

Yes it is on the horizon for sure.  Just for now, I am staring the multi commercial in a few weeks [instead of going to Oshkosh]. I will be training out of Orange County KSNA so that will be sporty.  I do have a few corporate opportunities presently so I am weighing my options.  Thanks for the congrats. Long time coming on the instrument and commercial for me from this little airport kid.

[mooneygirl]

Just now, 201er said:

Congratulations, that's awesome!

I didn't even let my DPE touch my door, did it myself. The two times I've had a door pop were when someone "knew what they were doing."  Not gonna make that mistake again.

Yeah I did it several times. Gave him a lesson.  It was so hot 84 degrees that we sure needed it open. He finally got it.  There was no slamming thank goodness.  It is an acquired skill, like the Johnson bar.

[RobertGary1]

9 minutes ago, 201er said:

Congratulations, that's awesome!

I didn't even let my DPE touch my door, did it myself. The two times I've had a door pop were when someone "knew what they were doing."  Not gonna make that mistake again.

My private examiner complained about not being able to close the door on the Cessna 140. I told him I’d never tried to close it because it was too hot. Just push the door out with your elbow to get some more air. 
 

-Robert 

[Hank]

15 minutes ago, mooneygirl said:

It was so hot 84 degrees that we sure needed it open.

Hot? That's a fine spring afternoon!

But put in the "let me close the door for you" camp. I always run the handle, and sometimes ask right seaters to pull the door closed once I have the handle up. Otherwise it gets slammed as I'm asking them not to . . . .

[mooneygirl]

46 minutes ago, Hank said:

Hot? That's a fine spring afternoon!

But put in the "let me close the door for you" camp. I always run the handle, and sometimes ask right seaters to pull the door closed once I have the handle up. Otherwise it gets slammed as I'm asking them not to . . . .

For sure if it is a passenger I always close it for them.  My kids and CFIs all got it.  I think for the DPE it was a challenge he wanted to tackle. LOL.  Otherwise I am pretty picky about who closes it.

[hammdo]

Congrats! That is a HUGE accomplishment! 

-Don

[DonMuncy]

Congratulations Jolie. I told you you would not need luck.

[midlifeflyer]

That's great! Congratulations!

[gsxrpilot]

A huge congrats Mooney Girl! Well done and easily completed I'm sure..

[mooneygirl]

6 hours ago, DonMuncy said:

Congratulations Jolie. I told you you would not need luck.

Thanks Don. It was a challenging day due to some high winds. In the end I just told myself that I had come this far, I just needed to seal the deal. 

[donkaye]

I'll add my congratulations, too.  But it's only the beginning.  You seem to be on a roll.  The Single Engine ATP is really pretty easy.  It's just an Advanced Instrument rating.  Not that many people go for it, but it was fun.  I just grabbed the Gleim Book and hid out for a month studying.  Breezed through the test and then the Practical.  That set up for the CFI and then the CFII.  You would enjoy doing that.  There is nothing like teaching in actual conditions, especially basic attitude flying.  You've got to be on your toes.

And then there is the Multi.  I never thought I'd do it, but when an opportunity presents itself, you go for it.  In my case that came when a student bought a King Air and asked me if I wanted to train with him.  I said, "absolutely", and found an MEI with access to a C310, just a great airplane for the Multi for anyone with aspirations to fly bigger iron.  So my first multi rating was the Multi ATP add on.  Then it was on to the MEI.  Nothing like teaching the Multi rating to really learn about multiengine airplanes---and how to be careful with them.  I think I did about 15 of those in a short period of time.  And now you're ready for the big time---Jets.

Again, as luck would have it, the same student who bought the King Air bought a brand new CJ1 and invited me to train with him.  So that was how I transitioned to Jets.

So, Jolie, your turn now.  Keep us advised of your adventures.

[Matt Ward]

Congrats!  Not to hijack, but curious: all things being equal, does the Commercial do much to lower insurance beyond the Instrument Rating?

[Hank]

1 hour ago, Matt Ward said:

Congrats!  Not to hijack, but curious: all things being equal, does the Commercial do much to lower insurance beyond the Instrument Rating?

@Parker_Woodruff is our friendly local insurance agent . . . .

[Parker_Woodruff]

2 hours ago, Matt Ward said:

Congrats!  Not to hijack, but curious: all things being equal, does the Commercial do much to lower insurance beyond the Instrument Rating?

Pretty much does nothing until you get to flying turbine aircraft.  And even then, "it depends."

[RobertGary1]

10 hours ago, donkaye said:

And then there is the Multi.  I never thought I'd do it, but when an opportunity presents itself, you go for it.  In my case that came when a student bought a King Air and asked me if I wanted to train with him.  I said, "absolutely", and found an MEI with access to a C310, just a great airplane for the Multi for anyone with aspirations to fly bigger iron.  So my first multi rating was the Multi ATP add on.  Then it was on to the MEI.  Nothing like teaching the Multi rating to really learn about multiengine airplanes---and how to be careful with them.  I think I did about 15 of those in a short period of time.  And now you're ready for the big time---Jets.

Funny the order of things. Flying a piston twin is in many ways a lot harder than jets. My first simulated engine failure in the citation was at 35 feet and nothing happens but the VSI goes down to Mooney climb rates. In a piston twin you'd be a really busy puppy.

-Robert