Failed CFI inital ride

R

Radu38J

Well-Known Member
Hmm, I'm pretty upset about this. Had my checkride yesterday, after studying for months and spending a lot on flying...

Oral goes fine, and after 4+ hours I'm left with a sore throat from talking. I was ready for the flying portion. I started with a short field, which I had perfect all the way to the touchdown which I bounced a bit. DPE doesn't say anything, so we continue: steep turns, slow flight, chandelles, power off stall, x-controls stall, then power on turning stall to the left. During recovery, I lower the nose then as the speed builds up, I take out some power (to about 20" MP) to relieve the pressure on the controls. She says: 'now do the same to the right'. I do it, and again take off some power after lowering the nose. She looks at me, says 'sorry, you're supposed to do the recovery full power, do you want to continue?'
I can't imagine why I took the power out so early. Tiredness, brain fart, stress and anxiety... I think she was right about this not being to PTS, but still, I'm frustrated. So I finish off with some ok eights on pylons, and a pretty lousy emergency engine failure, then another short field landing on +-0 ft.
I now have to go back, fly the stall, probably another emergency, and a soft field. But this left me quite shaky, I can fly very well most days, just do horrible on checkrides. This is my second failure, after originally failing the PPL.

My dilemma is whether to finish off in the 172RG that I trained in for the last few months, or go in a regular 172 I don't really know. It's not that different, just the avionics in this one are newer and I don't know them. Also, the feel of 150-160hp and 40 deg flaps is quite different than 180hp and 30 deg. It feels like getting this certificate is never over.
 
Radu38J said:
Hmm, I'm pretty upset about this. Had my checkride yesterday, after studying for months and spending a lot on flying...

Oral goes fine, and after 4+ hours I'm left with a sore throat from talking. I was ready for the flying portion. I started with a short field, which I had perfect all the way to the touchdown which I bounced a bit. DPE doesn't say anything, so we continue: steep turns, slow flight, chandelles, power off stall, x-controls stall, then power on turning stall to the left. During recovery, I lower the nose then as the speed builds up, I take out some power (to about 20" MP) to relieve the pressure on the controls. She says: 'now do the same to the right'. I do it, and again take off some power after lowering the nose. She looks at me, says 'sorry, you're supposed to do the recovery full power, do you want to continue?'
I can't imagine why I took the power out so early. Tiredness, brain fart, stress and anxiety... I think she was right about this not being to PTS, but still, I'm frustrated. So I finish off with some ok eights on pylons, and a pretty lousy emergency engine failure, then another short field landing on +-0 ft.
I now have to go back, fly the stall, probably another emergency, and a soft field. But this left me quite shaky, I can fly very well most days, just do horrible on checkrides. This is my second failure, after originally failing the PPL.

My dilemma is whether to finish off in the 172RG that I trained in for the last few months, or go in a regular 172 I don't really know. It's not that different, just the avionics in this one are newer and I don't know them. Also, the feel of 150-160hp and 40 deg flaps is quite different than 180hp and 30 deg. It feels like getting this certificate is never over.
Click to expand...

Persist. You will make it.
 
That's my CFI's suggestion. Simpler, less chances to screw up, not as nose heavy, cheaper. I'm not sure it's the best thing to do though.
 
I would stick with the airplane you are most comfortable with. If you have a doubt about the regular 172 then stick with the 172RG.
 
stick with the same airplane. And I am sure you already know this but ALWAYS RECOVER WITH FULL POWER.. When you are back straight and level where you started then you reduce it.
 
Sorry to hear about your troubles on this.

Frankly, this DPE sounds like a frickin' tool. All the damned maneuvers she made you do, you do them all well, and she nitpicks you for reducing power in a power on stall recovery? I call B.S. I wonder if the idiot knows that reducing AOA, not adding power, is what gets a wing flying again.

Yes, I know, you are supposed to recover with full power. yeah. yeah blah, blah.- but come on- a four hour oral, she seemed happy enough to go flying with and all these other maneuvers flown well? I would have just debriefed you on it and called it good.
an examiner needs to be able to look at the big picture- the whole body of work. They are NOT supposed to keep plugging along until they find something to bust your ass on.

I know none of this makes you feel any better and doesn't change anything. To answer your original question though, I would stick with the airplane you are most comfortable in. If that other airplane has avionics you are not COMPLETELY comfortable with, then don't fly it on a checkride with this ( I'll be nice) person. She will try to bust you on them.

Finally, if I was your instructor, I would call the FSDO where her DPE certificate resides and let them know how I feel about it.

Anyway, Keep your chin up.

K
 
Radu38J, just curious. I think I understand that you were still descending when you reduced power; am I correct?
 
azfsi60 said:
Sorry to hear about your troubles on this.

Frankly, this DPE sounds like a frickin' tool. All the damned maneuvers she made you do, you do them all well, and she nitpicks you for reducing power in a power on stall recovery? I call B.S. I wonder if the idiot knows that reducing AOA, not adding power, is what gets a wing flying again.

Yes, I know, you are supposed to recover with full power. yeah. yeah blah, blah.- but come on- a four hour oral, she seemed happy enough to go flying with and all these other maneuvers flown well? I would have just debriefed you on it and called it good.
an examiner needs to be able to look at the big picture- the whole body of work. They are NOT supposed to keep plugging along until they find something to bust your ass on.

I know none of this makes you feel any better and doesn't change anything. To answer your original question though, I would stick with the airplane you are most comfortable in. If that other airplane has avionics you are not COMPLETELY comfortable with, then don't fly it on a checkride with this ( I'll be nice) person. She will try to bust you on them.

Finally, if I was your instructor, I would call the FSDO where her DPE certificate resides and let them know how I feel about it.

Anyway, Keep your chin up.

K
Click to expand...


Recognizes and recovers promptly as the stall occurs by
simultaneously reducing the angle of attack, increasing power to
maximum allowable, and leveling the wings to return to a straightand-
level flight attitude, with a minimum loss of altitude
appropriate for the airplane.
Click to expand...
Straight from the PTS. I would say that if she was looking for something to fail him on she would have failed him the first time, but she gave him a second chance and he did the same thing, then their hands are kinda tied.

To the OP, it happens, keep your chin up. I would keep flying the same airplane with avionics you're familiar with. Sounds to me like you'll just have to go up and do a power on stall. Easy peasy :)
 
Radu38J said:
So I finish off with some ok eights on pylons, and a pretty lousy emergency engine failure, then another short field landing on +-0 ft.
QUOTE]

What is short field +-0 ft? How big is the spot you have to be +-0 on: the whole length of thousand foot markers or a much smaller area?
Click to expand...
 
Radu38J said:
What is short field +-0 ft? How big is the spot you have to be +-0 on: the whole length of thousand foot markers or a much smaller area?
Click to expand...

It's been awhile since I took any check-rides but I believe on the short-field you have a 200ft zone to hit.
 
Stomp16 said:
It's been awhile since I took any check-rides but I believe on the short-field you have a 200ft zone to hit.
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Yeah, it's within 200FT of a designated landing point
 
You have a little more to go, stay in the RG! What's done is done man, just brush it off! A year from now, this will just be another story/lesson. Going back to the easier plane won't help in the long run, in my opinion. I bet your examiner wouldn't think highly of your confidence/abilities if you ran back to the easier plane. If it really was that big of a difference between the 172RG and the 172 I would imagine that you would have flown in the 172 for your check-ride to begin with. The fact that each type of plane flies differently is what makes flying enjoyable, for myself at least; plus when you start instructing, you have to be the guy who can fly anything at any time, you won't have the luxury of choosing what you want to fly. As you very well know, recency is an important factor to performing well. If you have been flying the 172RG for a couple of months, why go back now? Best of luck!
 
A lot of people blow their CFI ride. While it really sucks, it is no career killer. Personally, I'd stick with the same plane you've been flying. When you switch up, there is a higher likelihood of something minor creating a problem. Also, most people fly far from their best during these checkrides, and little differences in planes could make the ride worse. Keep your chin up as everyone is saying. And look at it this way: I doubt you'll make this same mistake again. ;-) And the recheck should be a quick one if everything else was sat.
 
azfsi60 said:
Sorry to hear about your troubles on this.

Frankly, this DPE sounds like a frickin' tool. All the damned maneuvers she made you do, you do them all well, and she nitpicks you for reducing power in a power on stall recovery? I call B.S. I wonder if the idiot knows that reducing AOA, not adding power, is what gets a wing flying again.

Yes, I know, you are supposed to recover with full power. yeah. yeah blah, blah.- but come on- a four hour oral, she seemed happy enough to go flying with and all these other maneuvers flown well? I would have just debriefed you on it and called it good.
an examiner needs to be able to look at the big picture- the whole body of work. They are NOT supposed to keep plugging along until they find something to bust your ass on.

I know none of this makes you feel any better and doesn't change anything. To answer your original question though, I would stick with the airplane you are most comfortable in. If that other airplane has avionics you are not COMPLETELY comfortable with, then don't fly it on a checkride with this ( I'll be nice) person. She will try to bust you on them.

Finally, if I was your instructor, I would call the FSDO where her DPE certificate resides and let them know how I feel about it.

Anyway, Keep your chin up.

K
Click to expand...

I really dislike this poster's advice.

I get the feeling that this poster is not a CFI giving advice on what he or she thinks about how a CFI ride should go. So, I'm not going to lecture on the role of a CFI and teaching; most CFI's know this. The DPE actually sounds to me to be thorough, fair, and overall....average.

Radu - sorry you busted. Don't worry about it, get back on the horse, in the same plane and bang out what you need to do. With having a long day, we all make mistakes. You'll do great as a CFI after you pass and get that first student.
 
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