Checkride

Last night, the FAA examiner called me and asked me to plan a flight to Nogales, AZ (right on the US-Mexico border). He and I were to meet at the FBO at 07:00 to begin the examination. I slept fairly well - my head was filled with thoughts of adiabatic lapse rate, density altitude, LAHSO, pilotage, mountain obscuration, gyroscopic procession, emergency procedures... No sheep...

Today in about 4 hours, I'm either going to get in my car as a Private Pilot (Airplane Single Engine Land) or I was going to get in my car really pissed off as a Student Pilot about to enter retirement... I had worked very hard to get to this point - managing a career and a family of 5. Financially and from a time perspective, I was running out of ways to continue the process. At 6:30, I was at the FBO getting the weather so that I could finish my flight plan. I ran into one of the instructors and he said that there was a temporary flight restriction (TFR) down by Nogales - probably wouldn't affect my flight but the examiner might be impressed if I made mention of it... Thanks!

The examiner showed up right at 07:00. The first thing we did was go over my log book. He was checking for all of the appropriate entries, making sure I had logged all of the required flight time, and that I had all of the appropriate endorsements. It all looked good.

Next we logged into IACRA. This is a pretty cool system developed by the FAA to eliminate the paper 8710 forms. I had filled out all of the information on the electronic form and signed it electronically. My instructor had also signed the form electronically. It automagically checks my written test score to see that I passed and it even validates my medical certificate. It is actually very cool!

After the paperwork was out of the way, we spent 5 minutes talking about why I wanted to be a pilot and we exchanged information about each other. He is a retired FBI agent. Outstanding. He disclosed that he likes to do these things "by the book." Speaking of books, he had a 3 inch binder with the test standards plus oral exam questions. My palms were a little sweaty at this point.

Thus began the oral portion of the exam. Talked about the airplane (Piper Archer) and it's systems and instruments. This probably consumed 45 minutes. Then we were on to density altitude and weight and balance. 15 minutes. Flashcards on airport markings and signage. 10 minutes. Brief discussion of physiological aspects of flying such as, hypoxia, hyperventilation, carbon monoxide, spatial disorientation, night vision, etc... 20 minutes. Terminal area chart and sectional chart review including identification and definition of different airspace classes. 20 minutes. Review of my flight plan and a quick pit-stop and then we were off to the plane. It's 09:00.

While I did the pre-flight, he was watching planes takeoff and land. Didn't ask me what I was doing or any questions about my pre-flight. When I was finished, he said, "Why don't you clean the bugs off of the windscreen?" Bugs on the windscreen? Hey, it’s a rental! I ran into the FBO and bought a can of window cleaner and spit-shined the windscreen...

Once on board, we admired the clear view that we had through the windscreen, I performed the engine start checklist and we were about underway. I asked him if he would like a passenger briefing and he said that he didn't need one. I also proclaimed that I was the (Student) Pilot In Command and asked if he would like to check his brakes. He said that he didn't need to check the brakes. We talked about sterile cockpit and that unless he was instructing me to perform a maneuver, I shouldn't expect to hear much from him. Fine by me. Furthermore, unless I had a question about a maneuver or something on the checkride, I should limit my conversation to the tower. Alrighty then.

Taxied to the run-up area and performed a run-up. Everything looked good. Performed my takeoff briefing and requested takeoff clearance from the tower. Basically the checkride is half over and I know I’m capable of flying the plane and performing the maneuvers. What was I forgetting? Flaps 10, landing light on… Archer 4 1 8 2 Lima, Falcon Tower. Cleared for takeoff on runway 4 right. Right turn approved. This is it!

Once airborne, I was turning crosswind to begin my flight plan and there was a huge structure fire in my planned route. There were tons of black smoke billowing up in my route of flight. I mentioned that I needed to divert a little to avoid flying into the smoke. This would probably add a couple of seconds to the time en rout to the first checkpoint. He simply nodded his head.

My first checkpoint was Williams Gateway airport (IWA). I obtained permission to transition their class delta airspace and overflew the airport. Next checkpoint was the north edge of the town of Coolidge (we were flying southbound). At Coolidge, I was told to divert to Phoenix Regional Airport (A39). I started my turn, set the timer, got out the chart and estimated the distance, estimated a heading, and calculated the time en route. Hit it right on the money. He asked me to perform a slip to a landing and do a touch and go.

Back in the air, he told me to fly out over the test tracks and when I was ready perform a steep turn to the left. I said that I would do a clearing turn and he simply told me that the area was clear and to perform the maneuver. When I was about ready to roll out of the steep turn, he said that I was clear on the right and roll right into that steep turn. Now on this one, I picked up about 20kts of extra airspeed and lost about 150 feet during my turn. I don't think he looked at the instruments once during this turn. Either he sensed that I immediately corrected during the turn by reducing power and adding back pressure or he was oblivious. I’m guessing the prior.

I know that I exceeded the tolerances on that turn but I think he is supposed to stop the flight if I am not going to pass. Or is he? Anyhow he then pointed to a clump of trees and asked me to do turns around a point. This is a relatively easy maneuver - even when it is a little bumpy. At one point he simply said, "Please center the ball." I had become a little uncoordinated in all of the turbulence.

"Climb to 4,500 and configure the plane for slow flight." So I configured for slow flight at 4,500 feet and was cruising along at 60kts when he said that he wanted me to give him 50kts and not lose any altitude. 50kts? We always practice slow flight between 55 & 60 kts. I wonder if he knows what he’s doing? 50kts. OK. With all of the data I have crammed into my head right now, I’m frantically trying to remember Vso (stall speed in a landing configuration) for this plane. We’re still airborne. At least I have that going for me. To add to the chaos that has erupted between my ears, the stall warning horn is screaming and we were getting kicked around pretty good.

Next he asked for a power-off stall. I lost about 150 feet and he told me to clean it up for a power-on stall. Done. Then he handed me the hood. Once we were situated, he told me to look straight down while he took the controls. He did a series of climbs, banks, turns, descents and told me to take the controls and fly straight and level. Done. Then we did a couple of climbs, descents, and turns. Slow flight and recovery.

"Now, locate the Stanfield VOR and fly me there." Tuned the frequency to the Stanfield VOR, centered the needle and began to fly. He asked me if I was sure that I was tracking the Stanfield VOR. I checked the chart and compared it to the frequency on the NAV radio and concluded that I was sure this was the Stanfield VOR. He asked, "How can you be totally certain?" "I could listen to the Morse code identifier." "OK let's do that." So we listened and heard dashes and dots – honestly I don’t really know if they matched the dots and dashes for the identifier for the Stanfield VOR. It was a WAG. "OK you can take off the hood."

I had just pulled the hood off of my head and simultaneously he pulled the power out of my engine and said, “Your engine just quit.” Great. Establish best glide, locate a suitable landing point, and attempt engine restart – switch fuel tanks, fuel pump on, cycle the magnetos, attempt restart. “Restart successful! Full power.” No dice. Apparently, no sense of humor either. OK, finish the checklist. Mayday, mayday, mayday… Now we are in the middle of the desert and I found a nice deserted, straight, and flat gravel road with no electrical lines for the landing point. We are descending to the point that I can identify various bugs on the ground (no, they’re not on the windscreen) and I’m starting to get a little nervous. When we practice this maneuver, we never went down this low. I would say we were about 100 feet AGL when he said, “OK, full power.” At least we didn’t actually cross the line between simulated and actual emergency…

“Let's head back to Falcon Field.” We were flying back and he said that he wanted me to do a short field landing, a soft field landing, a power off 180 to a landing, and a normal landing. At Falcon Field, there were 4 or 5 other planes in the pattern so the tower was busy (There are 2 parallel runways at Falcon Field and they use the longer and wider one, 4R/22L, for full stops and the shorter and narrower 4L/22R for practice and helicopter traffic. The controllers at Falcon are some of the best! There is a lot of training activity at the airport and they do a great job keeping everything running smooth. Kudos to Falcon Tower.). So my first short field landing was a little on the firm side but passable - I stopped before the first exit within a couple hundred feet of my touchdown point. Next we went back up for a soft field landing. This was the worst one that I ever performed - I think I may have even landed with the nose wheel first! When we were airborne, he had me request a short approach. That request was turned down because there were multiple aircraft in the pattern. He said OK lets see another soft field landing. This one was perfect. Though he kept saying, “Keep the nose wheel up!” I was a little irritated. I finally blurted out that it was up and it had not touched the ground. I’m not too sure where that outburst came from – it was probably not appropriate considering what I had riding on this flight. I’ll blame it on global warming – it certainly wasn’t stress related… He said, "Fine, tell the tower that we want to terminate."

I taxied back and parked. He simply said, "You tie it down and I'll get started on the paperwork." About 10 minutes later, after having successfully removed my foot from my mouth, I walked into the FBO and he handed me a piece of paper and said that I needed to sign it. The top of the paper read "Temporary Airman Certificate!"

I was probably more relieved than excited. 4 months, countless hours of reading, listening, flying, and round trip travel to and from the airport, which is a 50 mile round trip commute for me, finally paid off.

Paid my $400.00 and said thank you. Did I mention that I am a PILOT?!

Flight time: 1.8
Total time: 75.9 Hours

Flights: 57
Dual Received: 56.5 Hours
Solo: 19.2 Hours
Pilot In Command: 21.0 Hours
Cross Country: 16.3 Hours
Simulated Instrument: 3.1 Hours
Takeoff & Landings (day): 270
Takeoff & Landings (night): 11
Flown 5 different planes and 3 different types of aircraft.

Stage Check!

Today I did a stage check. This is a simulated checkride with a different flight instructor. Even though this was "just practice," I was still a little nervous. I had planned a cross country flight to Payson. At our first checkpoint, he diverted me to Sky Ranch.

Then it was on to steep turns. Good. S-Turns. Good. Turns around a point. Good. Slow Flight. Good. Power off Stall. Good. Power on Stall. Good. Emergency engine out. Good.

Simulated instrument work. Straight and level flight - good. Climbs and descents - Good. Turns to a heading - good. Slow flight - good. Unusual attitudes - good.

Back to the airport for a soft field landing. Not good. Short field landing - good. Power off 180 (short approach with a slip) - not good. Missed the runway. Normal landing to a full stop - OK.

Feedback from the CFI was that my emergency procedures needed a little more memorization - it was good that I used the checklist; however, he felt like I should have memorized all of the emergency procedures. Also recommended work on my power off 180 and soft field landings.

It was a good flight with a fresh perspective from somebody that I hadn't flown with before.

Flight time: 1.6

Total time: 67.1

$99.00 and a Dream

Today was the day! I'm scheduled for a "demo flight" in a Piper Archer III with a CFI named "RC". I arrived at the FBO, at Mesa Falcon Field (KFFZ), 30 minutes early (nobody else was there). After waiting nervously for 15 minutes, a young kid (25 ish) shows up and asked if I was P-Flyer. When I said that, indeed, I was. He handed me a headset and said let's go fly.

I began to wonder, is it really this easy? How cool is it to get out of your car and simply say, "Let's go fly!" How exciting! We walked about 40 yards (on the "other side of the fence") to N287HP - a 2004 Piper Archer III. It almost seemed eager for our arrival.

RC pulled out a checklist and thus began my first pre-flight. Well, actually I held the checklist while he performed the pre-flight. Loosely explaining things as we walked around the plane. Since I had been around flying all of my life, I mostly understood the terms he was using. Aileron, elevator, stabilator, empennage, cowling, flaps, etc. After a satisfactory pre-flight he said, "Let's hop in!"

We both stood there kind of awkwardly for a moment until RC said, "You get in first," (the Archer only has one passenger door located on the right side of the airplane and I assumed that he would be doing the actual flying so that meant that he would need to board first). With some confidence and a lot of trepidation, I climbed into the left seat. Since it was a little cold, (yes, it actually gets cold in Arizona) we went through the engine start checklist and before I knew it, I had my right hand on the throttle lever and my left hand on the starter button.

The engine roared to life and donned our headsets. While we waited for the engine to warm up, RC explained the various instruments to me. He also showed me the basics of operating the two Garmin GNS430s. We then listened to the ATIS (Automated Terminal Information Service) recording to get the current weather conditions for our imminent flight.

RC then contacted Falcon Ground and said, "Falcon Ground, Archer 2 8 7 Hotel Papa at Tango One with Sierra, Taxi to the Active." Huh? Ground replied with, "Archer 7 Hotel Papa, taxi to runway 4 right." RC replied, "Taxi to runway 4 right, 7 hotel papa." He looked at me and said, "Well, were ready to go. You have the controls." "I have the controls?" "You have the controls."

RC coolly talked me through taxiing and we ended up at the "run-up area" by runway 4 right. We performed a run-up and everything looked good. Then we taxied over to the hold short line for runway 4 right and radioed tower, "Falcon Tower, Archer 2 8 7 Hotel Papa is holding short of runway 4 right for a northeast departure." "Archer 7 Hotel Papa, cleared for takeoff runway 4 right, fly runway heading until 2,500 feet, left turn approved." RC repeated back the takeoff clearance. Put in one notch of flaps, turned on landing lights, fuel pump on, mixture full rich, transponder to ALT and said to taxi on to the runway and line up with the center line.

I'm now lined up. RC said to add full power and be ready to use the right rudder because the plane will want to veer to the left. I followed his instructions. Airspeed is alive! We're moving. Oh shit. Vr rotate? Pull back on the yoke. Oh that... Suddenly there is a warning horn blaring. Too much back pressure push it forward a little. Now give me a 500 foot per minute clime on this heading. OK? Sure! I can do that since I'm the one flying the plane. I'M THE ONE FLYING THE PLANE! UNBELIEVABLE!

We flew up over Canyon Lake, Bartlett Lake, Horseshoe Reservoir, carefully avoiding Phoenix Class B airspace. Did I mention that I was flying the plane? I have never felt anything like it! Adrenaline was pumping and my cheeks were sore from grinning from ear to ear. RC demonstrated some steep turns and a power off stall. Which were fun and exciting. Then he said, "My controls." At this point we flew back to the airport and landed.

I have to admit that it was a little depressing. We went into the office and he handed me a book with the words, "Professional Pilot Log Book" written on it. I opened it up to the first page and there were 1.6 hours of flight time logged. What a rush!

RC inquired if I would be interesting in taking additional lessons. How about tomorrow? Tomorrow is good...



Flight time: 1.6 hours

Total time 1.6 hours