And the drumroll please... MY FAA CHECKRIDE (or Practical Test) [back to top]
By June, I got a renewed sense of determination as well as priorities: whatever time it took, I would dedicate it to my pilot's license. So, if it were a nice VFR day outside, then I'd take a half-a-day from work and go flying (I tried to do this at least twice a week).
If I were going somewhere, then I'd be carrying with me my "Guilt Pair." (My notebook along with one of the following: the FAA Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) book,
the Jeppesen Private Pilot Manual, or a Cessna 152 Pilot Operating Handbook (POH).
Because it had been years (college) since I had studied formally, I also opted to sit down with my flight instructor for a couple of sessions (5 hours worth) to force learn, review, and prepare for the oral examination portion of my FAA checkride.
ADVICE to student pilots who have slowed down:
If you have fallen off the horse and have slowly stopped flying and studying because of the heavy weight of studying
and orals preparation, spend some time back in ground school.
Pull an instructor over to go over the materials and possible questions that you'll get during your checkride.
Get as much ground school as you'll need to get you ready. You can do it on gloomy days or even nights (the two timeslots that
my instructor was readily available).
For me, it did two things. Made me really crack the books open regularly, because I knew that in a week or two,
I'd be sitting down with someone who was going to ask me questions and find out what I both knew and didn't know.
It also let my flight instructor know that I wanted to and was willing to get prepared for my checkride.
By the end of June, I got approval from my flight instructor to schedule a final flight school checkride sign-off.
(Someone, other than your instructor, usually signs you off as "ready" for the FAA checkride.) This consists of a "mock" checkride with an instructor-- ground examination, orals, and flight test.
J.F.K. Jr... In memoriam-- On Friday, July 16th, 1999, I took off from Essex County Airport, Caldwell, NJ in the afternoon.
Ceilings weren't too bad (about 4,000 feet) and it was that New York six-plus miles visibility summer haze that had been sitting around for several days.
I had spent some time flying locally and in the pattern, got my checkride sign-off, and had gotten down by 3:00PM. Several hours later John F. Kennedy Jr. took off headed for Cape
Cod-- his last flight. Unfortunately, in the weeks and months to come, the general public (my family included) was screaming for answers and dizzy with
questions. There was and has been a lot of misinformation. The general aviation community has been scrambling to "re-educate" the public about weather,
aviation, and piloting in general. A week later, I was scheduled to take my checkride.
My faith in the FAA process told me that, regardless of the JFK frenzy, I would be tested for my pilot capabilities. Although, the continual
presence of flower-bearers, mourners, and news media at Caldwell reminded me that *we* all were being watched.
Because of a answering machine screw up,
my FAA examiner had not received my scheduling confirmation. And although I had called back to ensure that all was well, we had to reschedule two days
later. So, Monday morning was the date.
Monday, July 26, 1999
My checkride was scheduled for 8:00AM; I arrived 20 minutes late! The examiner was mellow and very comforting. He said "relax, take a couple
of minutes to relax, get something to drink (if you want), and let me know when you're ready to begin."
When I was ready, I called him inside (he was hanging outside). He then sat down to orient me on the checkride process-- what each part was and
what I could expect. When I had paid him ($275.00 US), the exam began.
ORALS:
The oral examination lasted about an hour and change and consisted of him introducing a topic, me answering, and him responding in affirmation or asking
another related question.
A WORD TO THE APPLICANT:
Don't expand your answers into areas in which you are not strong. Answer your questions completely but do not
feel the need to embellish. For example, if the examiner asks you about the takeoff distance required for your aircraft, don't go into a dissertation on
air density as related to temperature (especially if you know very little about it).
It only opens holes in your oral examination performance-- holes that you might not be able to close!
King Schools has a checkride video tape that is informative and has pointers given by both the mock student as well as examiner.
Once the formal oral examination had concluded, the rest of the procedure continued-- a review of my cross-country flight plan, weights and balances,
my pre-flight, and the flying part of my checkride. Note, although the formal "orals" were completed, the examiner can ask anything of the
applicant during the entire checkride.
CROSS-COUNTRY:
My checkride cross-country flight was from KCDW (Essex County Airport, Caldwell, New Jersey) to KEPM (Eastport
Municipal Airport, Eastport, Maine).
I don't know if he planned it that way but the trip was the farthest northeastern airport on my sectional chart.
It also cut directly over Kennebunkport, New Hampshire (a restricted airspace due to the residency of George Bush,
a former U.S. President)... (hmmm, I wonder if Chappaqua, New York will become restricted if the Clinton's move
there... that'll add yet another diversion for flights from NJ to the greater Northeast!). So, I pointed the
restriction out and showed the course diversion. I also added a fuel stop so that I wouldn't have to worry about
pushing the fuel minimums.
MINIMUMS:
Always set your own personal minimums and metion them to your examiner. It will impress upon him/her
that you are exercising good judgements.
Don't change them in mid-flight. If FIVE miles visibility
is your personal minimum think about alternatives when visibility drops to SIX, and EXERCISE your alternatives
before you reach your minimums. Your minimums will change as you become more comfortable with your aircraft, flight
environment, and your flying skills. But they should lower because they conform to your ability and not your situation.
My personal student minimums were:
Plus SIX miles visibility (P6) with 5,000 foot ceilings
And ONE hour of extra fuel for any cross-country flight.
He asked me questions about the sectional: symbols, airspaces, and notations. (I actually learned some more
about airspaces, because he showed me his way of understanding airspaces.)
He continued the orals by asking me about Cessna 152 systems and included some questions about aerodynamics.
CHECKRIDE FLIGHT: Pre-flight
Once the oral examinations were finished, the flight inspector stated that I could take a break and then go out
to preflight the aircraft. He mentioned that he might come out to watch from afar and that I shouldn't be concerned.
I pre-flighted my aircraft, using the school's standard Cessna 152 checklist (the one I had used for my entire training).
USE A CHECKLIST!!! Follow it line-by-line with no distractions during your checkride.
I've often learned my lessons in two ways-- learning them the hard way (my faults) or by others faults.
The shortest Hobbs time for a checkride:
My instructor several weeks earlier told me of a
checkride. He said that "So-and-so" took his checkride and ask me if I could guess
the total time on the Hobbs (i.e., clock) that it took. I guessed 2.0 hours. He said "Nope,
.2 hours (12 minutes)!" He then went on to mention that the student had forgotten to secure the
door that allows you to check the oil so after run-up it opened and ... end of checkride!
So, I finished my pre-flight (secured the door!) and began organizing my stuff for the flight: maps,
cross-country flight plan, kneeboard, etc. The examiner came up to the plane and entered. My biggest
fear was in not being able to start the 152. For me, 152's were finnicky and sometimes were easy to
flood when starting. So, I didn't want that to happen-- I prayed and prayed before starting it. My
prayers were answered, the Cessna started! ... Post-startup checklist... setup radios... picked up
ATIS... and requested and received clearance to taxi...
MISTAKE #1: I forgot to set the altimeter. It was set to field elevation but, when set to
the reported value, showed a slightly higher altitude. He kindly made the .02 inch adjustment and
I died for fear of failing for an incredibly stupid oversight.
CHECKRIDE FLIGHT: The Cross-country
Continuing, I performed my taxi, run-up, and take-off: nothing unusual.
In flight, I was to perform as if I were flying my cross-country to Maine-- simulating all
radio communications (with the Flight Service Station [FSS] and Air Traffic Control [ATC])
with the examiner as the voice on the other side. I, as someone had told me to, vocalized
most of my thought processes. So, I could avoid any misunderstandings. I also, in transit,
pointed out parts of the trip demonstrating pilotage and dead reckoning-- saying when I passed
a notable landmark or upon approaching a timepoint on my flight plan. This was good because the
sooner he became confident with my cross-country pilotage, the sooner that portion was concluded.
He, then asked me to divert from my flight plan and take him to
Sussex Airport (KFWN). Again by pilotage and dead
reckoning I diverted to Sussex.
CHECKRIDE FLIGHT: The Basic Manuevers
At Sussex, he had me perform flight manuevers: turns to a specified heading, standard-rate
turns, constant-rate climbs and descents. No problems there.
CHECKRIDE FLIGHT: Emergency Landing
From Sussex, he directed me to fly to Greenwood Lake Airport (K4N1), in West Milford, NJ to
perform an emergency (power-off) landing. Being an uncontrolled airport, I had to
"self-announce" my intentions over the common traffic frequency (CTAF), which I did.
When I was in the traffic pattern, he had me perform three touch-and-go landings, then he cut
the power and had me perform an emergency landing. I turned from downwind to a shortened base
and to an even shorter final-- I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of altitude... which I
did. I used full flaps and performed a slip to lose altitude for the landing. Upon touchdown,
I hit the brakes. He said "Whoa! You don't need to brake that hard... just let her roll."
And showed me how the plane could roll to a full stop: no brakes needed. He also mentioned
that I slipped not into the wind but away from it and said that might be because of being a
left-hander I'm used to doing things from the left-- I accepted his explanation. He then took
the controls and showed me some take-offs and a special effect of the Greenwood Lake runway (it
has a nasty downdraft as the runway drops off to a downslope). He then put me back into the
pattern and asked me to do an emergency landing again... without the slip. This required me to
use better altitude control and judgement. I tried my best to plan and ahead and it paid off--
put her down just beyond the numbers. Once airborne, we continued to the next part of the
checkride.
CHECKRIDE FLIGHT: Unusual Attitudes
With unusual attitudes, the examiner puts you "under the hood" and tests your
ability to recover the aircraft. The hood is a vision restriction device that blocks your
outside view and only permits you to see the cockpit instruments. This is a key component to
INSTRUMENT FLYING. And, although the Private Pilot examination doesn't provide an INSTRUMENT
RATING, it does provide a rudimentary (I reiterate, rudimentary) ability for flying solely by
reference to instruments. Unusual attitudes simulates conditions in which the pilot has lost
visual references (for example, by flying into a cloud) and has allowed the aircraft to enter
into an unusual attitude (pitching upward/downward and/or rolling left/right).
Upon entering such an attitude, the pilot needs to demonstrate recovery: quickly and
effectively.
With the hood on, the examiner began what I call the disorientation part of the flight.
With my hands off of the controls and my head down, he pitched and rolled the plane around to
disorient my kinesthetic sense of where I was and what was happening to me (and, obviously,
the plane). When he had placed the plane in an unusual attitude, he then handed the controls
to me to perform the recovery procedure. The first was a climbing, left-handed turn. The
second was a dive. The third was interesting-- it was slow climb -- so I leveled out. Then the
plane started to dive. I, then, adjust the plane so that the climb rate was neuteralized. He asked
me if I knew what happened? I said "No." He then said, "All I did was misadjust the artificial horizon
on the attitude indicator." (Thus indicating a false climb.) It was an interesting trick but a good lesson:
Always cross-check your instruments.
Check PRIMARY instruments with SUPPORTING instruments... one could have easily
malfunctioned.
CHECKRIDE FLIGHT: Stalls, Steep Turns, and Slow Flight
The examiner then stated the flight was almost over. After good steep turns, he instructed me
that after the slow flight (i.e.: flying around in slowest flight configuration), he wanted me
to "clean the plane up" (that is, resume normal flight), enter a power-off stall (the same
attitude a plane takes before landing, then recover and immediately go into a power-on stall. I had
never combined these manuevers before and was very nervous about performing it to the required FAA tolerances.
I, nervously performed it well enough for his liking.
CHECKRIDE FLIGHT: The Finale- Touch-and-Go's
The last part of my checkride was to perform some touch-and-go's. A touch-and-go is a landing followed immmediately
by a take-off (without a complete or full start). These I did adequately, although the examiner's
style was to land higher than a typical power-on landing. His reasoning: "If I lost power right
now, would I make it?" A point well-taken. After the last landing, he instructed me to taxi back
to the school. I was so nervous that I was sitting in a pool of my own sweat! I saw my flight instructor by
the fuel trucks.
When we had shutdown I heard my instructor ask "How'd he do?"
The examiner said "Good, he passed."
Of course, a good pilot is always a learning pilot and a pilot's certificate is one's license to learn.
Now, with my Private Pilot's Certificate, I can travel, and... experience more of the wonderful world of flight!
As of June 27, 2000, I've logged over 200 hours total time, flown up and down the great Northeastern U.S.,
and have almost finished up my instrument rating (over 45 hours total hood time including over 10
hours in actual IMC!!!).