Alchemy
Well-Known Member
Took the double eye checkride today....by far the easiest checkride I've ever taken.
We sat down, went over the paperwork (well, digital work in this case since I applied through IACRA, first time doing this and it worked great) and basically BS'ed about instructing for 45 minutes. We talked about common errors for instrument students and instrument rated pilots. Fixation, omission, scan deterioration, autopilot dependence, etc. We also talked about how an instrument rating course should be broken down into segments, and how instrument training paralells training for the private. Then I had to teach a lesson on NDB holds. I used my lesson plan, a handout I had about hold entries, an approach plate, and a dry erase board for my presentation, which went well. I described the 3 hold entries and mentioned the steps involved in entering and executing a hold.
The examiner asked me a few questions, such as "why are holds necessary?". Then he instructed me to begin the preflight and that we were going to shoot 2 approaches, a VOR and an NDB, with the VOR being partial panel. He also let me know that we were going to fly the published missed after the NDB approach and hold over the NDB. I did the preflight and we got in the plane.
The approaches and hold were straightforward and everything went fine. Oddly, he didn't require me to wear the hood so I never wore it, although I was making a conscious effort to stay focused on the instruments. First we shot the NDB, went missed, and did one circuit in the hold. I nailed my 1 minute inbound time on the first try, so we broke off and did the VOR-A partial panel, circling to land with no problems. I walked inside and the DPE handed me my temporary. I guess that's that. The fact that this was my 4th checkride with this examiner (instrument, commercial, and multi-inst-com) combined with the stream of students I've been sending to him undoubtedly worked in my favor and helped to expedite the whole process. A good relationship with the local DPE's is an incredibly valuable asset for any instructor IMO.
All in all, the checkride seemed almost like a formality. I was prepared for a much more arduous checkride, but I was lucky and things went more smoothly than I imagined they would. On to the MEI.....
We sat down, went over the paperwork (well, digital work in this case since I applied through IACRA, first time doing this and it worked great) and basically BS'ed about instructing for 45 minutes. We talked about common errors for instrument students and instrument rated pilots. Fixation, omission, scan deterioration, autopilot dependence, etc. We also talked about how an instrument rating course should be broken down into segments, and how instrument training paralells training for the private. Then I had to teach a lesson on NDB holds. I used my lesson plan, a handout I had about hold entries, an approach plate, and a dry erase board for my presentation, which went well. I described the 3 hold entries and mentioned the steps involved in entering and executing a hold.
The examiner asked me a few questions, such as "why are holds necessary?". Then he instructed me to begin the preflight and that we were going to shoot 2 approaches, a VOR and an NDB, with the VOR being partial panel. He also let me know that we were going to fly the published missed after the NDB approach and hold over the NDB. I did the preflight and we got in the plane.
The approaches and hold were straightforward and everything went fine. Oddly, he didn't require me to wear the hood so I never wore it, although I was making a conscious effort to stay focused on the instruments. First we shot the NDB, went missed, and did one circuit in the hold. I nailed my 1 minute inbound time on the first try, so we broke off and did the VOR-A partial panel, circling to land with no problems. I walked inside and the DPE handed me my temporary. I guess that's that. The fact that this was my 4th checkride with this examiner (instrument, commercial, and multi-inst-com) combined with the stream of students I've been sending to him undoubtedly worked in my favor and helped to expedite the whole process. A good relationship with the local DPE's is an incredibly valuable asset for any instructor IMO.
All in all, the checkride seemed almost like a formality. I was prepared for a much more arduous checkride, but I was lucky and things went more smoothly than I imagined they would. On to the MEI.....
