RiddlePilot
New Member
First of all, I have to say that this is not my best showing at a checkride. In fact, I felt like I was going to bust on certain items throughout the ride (maybe this is common on a CFI ride...I dunno). Check-itis? Who knows.
We started out with all the paperwork (took 30-40 minutes alone), and moved right into a review of the Introduction section of the CFI PTS. We covered every one of the "special emphasis" items with a good amount of detail, which turned out fine.
After this, we moved into the required task of Flight Instructor Characteristics and Responsibilities. While I had prepared to discuss this in a very practical manner, the examiner took me by surprise by asking the details of each item in the task. I was definitely unprepared for this section, and it showed. After that, we moved into the Teaching Methods task to finish up the FOI portion. Again, I was weak on this (not a great start to a long checkride) due to the fact that I hadn't memorized the precise details of each one of the methods. We "danced" (his words) on FOI material for about an hour before making some headway into the rest of the exam.
Moving into Area of Operation II, we touched on Logbook Entries and Certificate Endorsements. I was asked to make a list of each endorsement needed for a student pilot, both in the logbook and pilot certificate. I was then given a scenario where a Commercial Helicopter pilot wanted to get a Commercial ASEL add-on. I started going into the details of 61.63 for category changes, and he was satisfied with a quick 2 minute discussion. What really got me on this section was the section on BFRs. I was under the impression that we'd discuss the applicable AC on the subject (as I was told in my gouge), but instead he wanted an answer off the top of my head. We danced around for a few minutes before I got things sorted out. And that section was going so well. Argh.
After that, we got into the FARs and Publications section, where I had to give info about Parts 1, 61, 91, and NTSB 830. Without much preparation here, this was still easy.
Area of Operation III was a bit rockier. I taught a lesson on W&B and calculation of performance data, and that went fine. We talked about the Arrow's systems, which is pretty tough with only a 1967 POH to work with. I'm quite proficient on systems normally, but teaching from this POH (pamphlet, really) was not easy. I then prepared a performance data sheet for him, and we continued to the maneuver lesson.
What can I say about this...well, it was rough. I'd prepared the proper lesson plan for the maneuver (Lazy Eight), but he kept giving me the "confused student" deal while I was teaching. He'd want clarification, I'd clarify, and he'd act more confused. I don't know if this was a ploy, or maybe my actual teaching method wasn't up to par, but it was frustrating. The things that nailed me here were the "common errors," which haunted me on a lot of maneuvers during the rest of the ride.
Before we left for the airplane, I had to prove to him that the aircraft was airworthy. North-Aire keeps excellent maintanence logs (including a nice cheat-sheet on the front of the binder), so this went fairly quickly and easily. I walked into the oral room at 7am, and I got the keys for the plane around noon. With a couple breaks during the oral, we covered about 4-1/2 hours worth of information.
We took about a 20 minute break, and I used this time to get some water (my throat was absolutely parched) and relax before the real fun began. I felt very confident about the flight portion, but little as I knew...I was about to have one of those "off" days. Just a little background: this airplane is my Gone in 60 Seconds style "Eleanor." Sometimes she wants to fly, sometimes she wants to fall. I swear, this airplane has its own personality. I gave her a pat on the nose (tradition for me) and gave her a few encouraging words during the preflight, but sometimes that doesn't cut it.
I was spared the fun of teaching a thorough preflight, so we hopped in. This is where I had the first glitch for this mission: usually the airplane (fuel injected) is fairly easy to start. Not today. I cranked her over, it caught, I moved the mixture full rich, and it died...no matter my attempts to save it. Hmm. Second try: I get it running this time, but the RPM doesn't want to stabilize. I work the throttle and mixture to get a nice stable 1000 RPM after a bit of work. The examiner is looking at me funny at this point.
Okay, engine started successfully...time to taxi. Of course being on my checkride, I get a very strange taxi instruction. "Arrow 3817T, taxi 21L via the approach end of Runway 12, taxiway F, and taxiway C." Hmm. Have to think about this one. To earn some brownie points from the examiner, I verified the taxi instructions with tower as I was about to cross Runway 12. I was asked to teach the run-up, and that went fine except for the series of questions (often vague) pouring from the guy next to me. I then got takeoff clearance, and proceeded to teach a soft-field takeoff. This went well...I thought. He faulted me on not being lower in ground-effect. I'd done it the exact same way throughout training, yet, this didn't seem good enough for him.
During the climb, I taught a constant-airspeed climb, which he turned into a discussion on rolling in and out of standard rate turns (don't ask me how this came up). I then taught an unusual attitude recovery, which I wasn't exactly prepared for, but I winged it and it worked out.
We climbed to 9000, and established 120mph for slow-flight dirty. I taught all the usual stuff... power 15", gear down, flaps, etc. and established at ~50-55mph in a dirty configuration. I was at full power at this point, but the airplane decided that it was going to descend. The examiner then asks "what are PTS standards for this maneuver?" I reply "+/- 50 feet," which he then gets on my case for being 200 feet low. I reply "I have full power in, coordinated in proper configuration at the appropriate airspeed...the conditions of the day aren't letting us maintain our altitude." His infuriating reply? "Maybe it's just the pilot." I repeat my previous statement and point out the various cockpit indications, inputs, and corrections that I'm making to do the maneuver to the best of my ability, but he again responds: "maybe it's just the pilot." He then gets on my case for using full flaps instead of partial flaps for the demonstration. Wait...I thought this was supposed to be dirty? Fine. I pull out two notches of flaps, and we barely maintain our altitude.
Next stop: cross-control stall demonstration. I set a dirty configuration, bank 20 degrees left, apply full left rudder and counter aileron, induce the stall. I recover within 200 feet. Not good enough...apparently it didn't "snap" like it should. I did another one...again, not good enough. At this point he says "I hate to have to disqualify you on this." I say in a very assertive voice, "so you're going to disqualify me?" He decides to give me another chance. Suffice to say, I almost put the airplane on its back. What really got me here was that he was about to bust me on something that I was doing properly according to the way we'd done it in training.
Next: steep turns. These are never easy on a bumpy day, and today was no exception. Already frustrated about the slow-flight ordeal, I ended up busting PTS pretty heavily. I analyzed my errors, and made another mention about the high DA at 9000 feet, but he told me that I was making excuses. He went ahead and tried one, which HE ended up busting PTS due to a thermal. Suffice to say, he passed me. Gee, thanks. Now I'm angry and frustrated.
We then did a lazy eight, which to my surprise, worked out fine. We did a simulated engine failure to a road, which also worked out. While we were down there, I taught turns around a point.
I was then asked to demonstrate Eights-On-Pylons, which quickly turned into "Eights-On-Cows" due to the herd of cows moving southward along the road I was using. This actually lightened the mood some.
We headed back to the field (I'm in a terrible mood at this point) and I taught a soft-field landing. This ended up in a go-around, but the approach was working out well. I then demonstrated one of the worst Power-Off 180s ever. Usually the plane performs like the space shuttle with the power at idle, which generally means that turning and then GUMPing is necessary. I did exactly this, and found myself very high. I widened my base and slipped, but she just didn't want to come down. I landed 400-500 feet past my point. D'oh! I explained my errors, and he was satisfied (dunno why!). I then performed a short-field landing to a full stop. We taxiied in at roughly 3pm, and we went to debrief. He gave me the riot act on some things, but he was writing my temp as he was doing it. I smiled and nodded, and walked out with a new certificate that says "Flight Instructor: Airplane Single Engine." Woo! The checkride took roughly 8 hours total.
Sorry for the length of this gouge, but I like to provide as much detail as possible in order to give folks a fuller understanding about what happens in these things.
We started out with all the paperwork (took 30-40 minutes alone), and moved right into a review of the Introduction section of the CFI PTS. We covered every one of the "special emphasis" items with a good amount of detail, which turned out fine.
After this, we moved into the required task of Flight Instructor Characteristics and Responsibilities. While I had prepared to discuss this in a very practical manner, the examiner took me by surprise by asking the details of each item in the task. I was definitely unprepared for this section, and it showed. After that, we moved into the Teaching Methods task to finish up the FOI portion. Again, I was weak on this (not a great start to a long checkride) due to the fact that I hadn't memorized the precise details of each one of the methods. We "danced" (his words) on FOI material for about an hour before making some headway into the rest of the exam.
Moving into Area of Operation II, we touched on Logbook Entries and Certificate Endorsements. I was asked to make a list of each endorsement needed for a student pilot, both in the logbook and pilot certificate. I was then given a scenario where a Commercial Helicopter pilot wanted to get a Commercial ASEL add-on. I started going into the details of 61.63 for category changes, and he was satisfied with a quick 2 minute discussion. What really got me on this section was the section on BFRs. I was under the impression that we'd discuss the applicable AC on the subject (as I was told in my gouge), but instead he wanted an answer off the top of my head. We danced around for a few minutes before I got things sorted out. And that section was going so well. Argh.
After that, we got into the FARs and Publications section, where I had to give info about Parts 1, 61, 91, and NTSB 830. Without much preparation here, this was still easy.
Area of Operation III was a bit rockier. I taught a lesson on W&B and calculation of performance data, and that went fine. We talked about the Arrow's systems, which is pretty tough with only a 1967 POH to work with. I'm quite proficient on systems normally, but teaching from this POH (pamphlet, really) was not easy. I then prepared a performance data sheet for him, and we continued to the maneuver lesson.
What can I say about this...well, it was rough. I'd prepared the proper lesson plan for the maneuver (Lazy Eight), but he kept giving me the "confused student" deal while I was teaching. He'd want clarification, I'd clarify, and he'd act more confused. I don't know if this was a ploy, or maybe my actual teaching method wasn't up to par, but it was frustrating. The things that nailed me here were the "common errors," which haunted me on a lot of maneuvers during the rest of the ride.
Before we left for the airplane, I had to prove to him that the aircraft was airworthy. North-Aire keeps excellent maintanence logs (including a nice cheat-sheet on the front of the binder), so this went fairly quickly and easily. I walked into the oral room at 7am, and I got the keys for the plane around noon. With a couple breaks during the oral, we covered about 4-1/2 hours worth of information.
We took about a 20 minute break, and I used this time to get some water (my throat was absolutely parched) and relax before the real fun began. I felt very confident about the flight portion, but little as I knew...I was about to have one of those "off" days. Just a little background: this airplane is my Gone in 60 Seconds style "Eleanor." Sometimes she wants to fly, sometimes she wants to fall. I swear, this airplane has its own personality. I gave her a pat on the nose (tradition for me) and gave her a few encouraging words during the preflight, but sometimes that doesn't cut it.
I was spared the fun of teaching a thorough preflight, so we hopped in. This is where I had the first glitch for this mission: usually the airplane (fuel injected) is fairly easy to start. Not today. I cranked her over, it caught, I moved the mixture full rich, and it died...no matter my attempts to save it. Hmm. Second try: I get it running this time, but the RPM doesn't want to stabilize. I work the throttle and mixture to get a nice stable 1000 RPM after a bit of work. The examiner is looking at me funny at this point.
Okay, engine started successfully...time to taxi. Of course being on my checkride, I get a very strange taxi instruction. "Arrow 3817T, taxi 21L via the approach end of Runway 12, taxiway F, and taxiway C." Hmm. Have to think about this one. To earn some brownie points from the examiner, I verified the taxi instructions with tower as I was about to cross Runway 12. I was asked to teach the run-up, and that went fine except for the series of questions (often vague) pouring from the guy next to me. I then got takeoff clearance, and proceeded to teach a soft-field takeoff. This went well...I thought. He faulted me on not being lower in ground-effect. I'd done it the exact same way throughout training, yet, this didn't seem good enough for him.
During the climb, I taught a constant-airspeed climb, which he turned into a discussion on rolling in and out of standard rate turns (don't ask me how this came up). I then taught an unusual attitude recovery, which I wasn't exactly prepared for, but I winged it and it worked out.
We climbed to 9000, and established 120mph for slow-flight dirty. I taught all the usual stuff... power 15", gear down, flaps, etc. and established at ~50-55mph in a dirty configuration. I was at full power at this point, but the airplane decided that it was going to descend. The examiner then asks "what are PTS standards for this maneuver?" I reply "+/- 50 feet," which he then gets on my case for being 200 feet low. I reply "I have full power in, coordinated in proper configuration at the appropriate airspeed...the conditions of the day aren't letting us maintain our altitude." His infuriating reply? "Maybe it's just the pilot." I repeat my previous statement and point out the various cockpit indications, inputs, and corrections that I'm making to do the maneuver to the best of my ability, but he again responds: "maybe it's just the pilot." He then gets on my case for using full flaps instead of partial flaps for the demonstration. Wait...I thought this was supposed to be dirty? Fine. I pull out two notches of flaps, and we barely maintain our altitude.
Next stop: cross-control stall demonstration. I set a dirty configuration, bank 20 degrees left, apply full left rudder and counter aileron, induce the stall. I recover within 200 feet. Not good enough...apparently it didn't "snap" like it should. I did another one...again, not good enough. At this point he says "I hate to have to disqualify you on this." I say in a very assertive voice, "so you're going to disqualify me?" He decides to give me another chance. Suffice to say, I almost put the airplane on its back. What really got me here was that he was about to bust me on something that I was doing properly according to the way we'd done it in training.
Next: steep turns. These are never easy on a bumpy day, and today was no exception. Already frustrated about the slow-flight ordeal, I ended up busting PTS pretty heavily. I analyzed my errors, and made another mention about the high DA at 9000 feet, but he told me that I was making excuses. He went ahead and tried one, which HE ended up busting PTS due to a thermal. Suffice to say, he passed me. Gee, thanks. Now I'm angry and frustrated.
We then did a lazy eight, which to my surprise, worked out fine. We did a simulated engine failure to a road, which also worked out. While we were down there, I taught turns around a point.
I was then asked to demonstrate Eights-On-Pylons, which quickly turned into "Eights-On-Cows" due to the herd of cows moving southward along the road I was using. This actually lightened the mood some.
We headed back to the field (I'm in a terrible mood at this point) and I taught a soft-field landing. This ended up in a go-around, but the approach was working out well. I then demonstrated one of the worst Power-Off 180s ever. Usually the plane performs like the space shuttle with the power at idle, which generally means that turning and then GUMPing is necessary. I did exactly this, and found myself very high. I widened my base and slipped, but she just didn't want to come down. I landed 400-500 feet past my point. D'oh! I explained my errors, and he was satisfied (dunno why!). I then performed a short-field landing to a full stop. We taxiied in at roughly 3pm, and we went to debrief. He gave me the riot act on some things, but he was writing my temp as he was doing it. I smiled and nodded, and walked out with a new certificate that says "Flight Instructor: Airplane Single Engine." Woo! The checkride took roughly 8 hours total.
Sorry for the length of this gouge, but I like to provide as much detail as possible in order to give folks a fuller understanding about what happens in these things.
