desertdog71
Girthy Member
Here is the low-down from my CMEL ride today.
Arrived at 9:00am at KTOP and got started right away. Did the usual paperwork and pretest rundown.
Out came the PTS and he pretty much followed the PTS to the letter for the oral. Started with the FAA points of emphasis listed towards the front of the PTS and then right into Airworthiness documents etc.
Talked about Aircraft Performance and worked out some TO and Landing distances for my airplane. We also went into Accelerate Stop and Accelerate Go Distances, Weights and Balance, and Pre-take off briefings.
Moved on to Airspace and we talked about the VFR flight I planned for him. Just some basic Airspace and Sectional questions nothing too terrible.
He had me diagram the fuel system and explain how the crossfeed works. Landing gear diagram and how it works, what to do if the gear fails to extend etc. Talked about the electrical system a little just the basic 12V 35 amp hour blah blah. We also talked about the powerplant and props. Just a description of the constant speed prop setup, how does is work, what are the elements of the feathering system, etc.
We had an in depth discussion about Engine out aerodynamics and procedures. Pretty much everything involved with that and he had me pretty much teach him about it.
Finished up the Oral with Aeromedical Factors. The Oral took about 2 hours.
Went out and pretripped the plane, and did a runup and taxiied into position at about 11:15. He covered up the mixtures with a sectional and I got into position for takeoff, started rolling and he cut the right engine, no problem. Coasted a bit and added power again, he cut the left engine. Again no problem. Added power again and took off normally and he asked me to follow my VFR flight plan by use of pilotage. Climbed to 5500 and got on course and pointed out some features on the ground and referenced them to the sectional.
He was satisfied with that and he asked me to climb to 6000 and we would do some maneuvers. First he asked for a Power On stall (Clean) in a right handed climbing turn. Did that no problem and he then he asked for a power off stall (landing config) in a left turning descent I established my configuration at 500 fpm descent and performed the stall. No problem there. I then did a Vmc Demo again no problem. Finished up the manuevers with Steep Turns, I was not happy with the steep turns I did but he seemed satisfied and they were within PTS standards.
He gave me the foggles and asked me to fly to some headings and do some climbs and descents. He failed the right engine at one point and I went through the steps and he seemed good with that. Gave me both engines again and had me take off the foggles.
We then did a full feather and secure with air-restart. The starter gave me some problems and it did not want to engage for some reason. It finally engaged and kicked over enough to get the engine windmilling and restarted. He then had me put the foggles on again and started giving me vectors and altitudes to fly. He says" Topeka is busy with a bunch of students doing approaches right now, so we are going to go to Lawrence instead" I dug out the approach plates for Lawrence and he said "lets do the ILS 33 into Lawrence to a full stop."
I studied the approach for a moment and clipped it to the yoke. Set the VOR and ADF (ADF Required for that approach). He failed the left engine and gave me vectors onto the localizer. I called Lawrence Traffic and called the ILS inbound full stop 33. It wasn't the prettiest ILS approach but I was on glideslope and called MAP and removed the foggles at 1060 feet about approx 200AGL. Gear is down, flaps down, 105 mph on the approach. I got focused for a second and WHOA!!! theres a big Red X on the runway...WTF!!!. I say "We can't land here the runway is closed" and I grab both throttles to execute a go around. He says "No you only have one engine, and you better do something"
I threw the operating engine full forward, gear up and flaps up. "N8088Y is missed approach" and started climbing back out gingerly. Although single engine go arounds are not advised I wasn't going to land on a tore up and closed runway. I was aware that I had good climb performance from earlier in the flight so I went ahead and did the go around. I told the DE had I not known that I had good climb performance and it was an actual emergency I was landing on the taxiway or whatever I needed to do.
He seemed ok with that and he allowed me to go with both engines again. We flew back to Topeka and he asked for a Short Field landing on 31. I did that but he thought I was fast on the approach. we then taxiied to runway 36 and he asked for a Short Field takeoff. I did that fine and no sooner than I got the gear up and established Vy he pulled the left engine on me at 200 ft AGL. I went through the procedures, asked for zero thrust as I simulated feathering and asked the tower for right traffic and landing on 31. Tower approved that and I circled around to a right base for 31. I was able to climb to pattern altitude so the landing was no trouble at all.
Overall in hindsight it was a decent performance on my part. I was not happy at the time, but I am my own worse critic sometimes. He pointed to some areas that I could improve upon for my MEI ride. Mainly talking through the procedures better and using an actual paper checklist in lieu of the GUMPFS checks for landing.
Got my CMELI and its good to have it out of the way. Total for the Oral, Flight and Post Flight briefing was 4.5 hours.
After the flight my instructor and I got in the plane to go back to Chanute and the starter just plain would not engage. After several attempts, pulling the prop through and evrything, we started the other side and got the voltage boosted up then the other side engaged. Flew back to Chanute and it is getting a new starter put in as I type this. I am glad it started that one more time to get me through my checkride.
Arrived at 9:00am at KTOP and got started right away. Did the usual paperwork and pretest rundown.
Out came the PTS and he pretty much followed the PTS to the letter for the oral. Started with the FAA points of emphasis listed towards the front of the PTS and then right into Airworthiness documents etc.
Talked about Aircraft Performance and worked out some TO and Landing distances for my airplane. We also went into Accelerate Stop and Accelerate Go Distances, Weights and Balance, and Pre-take off briefings.
Moved on to Airspace and we talked about the VFR flight I planned for him. Just some basic Airspace and Sectional questions nothing too terrible.
He had me diagram the fuel system and explain how the crossfeed works. Landing gear diagram and how it works, what to do if the gear fails to extend etc. Talked about the electrical system a little just the basic 12V 35 amp hour blah blah. We also talked about the powerplant and props. Just a description of the constant speed prop setup, how does is work, what are the elements of the feathering system, etc.
We had an in depth discussion about Engine out aerodynamics and procedures. Pretty much everything involved with that and he had me pretty much teach him about it.
Finished up the Oral with Aeromedical Factors. The Oral took about 2 hours.
Went out and pretripped the plane, and did a runup and taxiied into position at about 11:15. He covered up the mixtures with a sectional and I got into position for takeoff, started rolling and he cut the right engine, no problem. Coasted a bit and added power again, he cut the left engine. Again no problem. Added power again and took off normally and he asked me to follow my VFR flight plan by use of pilotage. Climbed to 5500 and got on course and pointed out some features on the ground and referenced them to the sectional.
He was satisfied with that and he asked me to climb to 6000 and we would do some maneuvers. First he asked for a Power On stall (Clean) in a right handed climbing turn. Did that no problem and he then he asked for a power off stall (landing config) in a left turning descent I established my configuration at 500 fpm descent and performed the stall. No problem there. I then did a Vmc Demo again no problem. Finished up the manuevers with Steep Turns, I was not happy with the steep turns I did but he seemed satisfied and they were within PTS standards.
He gave me the foggles and asked me to fly to some headings and do some climbs and descents. He failed the right engine at one point and I went through the steps and he seemed good with that. Gave me both engines again and had me take off the foggles.
We then did a full feather and secure with air-restart. The starter gave me some problems and it did not want to engage for some reason. It finally engaged and kicked over enough to get the engine windmilling and restarted. He then had me put the foggles on again and started giving me vectors and altitudes to fly. He says" Topeka is busy with a bunch of students doing approaches right now, so we are going to go to Lawrence instead" I dug out the approach plates for Lawrence and he said "lets do the ILS 33 into Lawrence to a full stop."
I studied the approach for a moment and clipped it to the yoke. Set the VOR and ADF (ADF Required for that approach). He failed the left engine and gave me vectors onto the localizer. I called Lawrence Traffic and called the ILS inbound full stop 33. It wasn't the prettiest ILS approach but I was on glideslope and called MAP and removed the foggles at 1060 feet about approx 200AGL. Gear is down, flaps down, 105 mph on the approach. I got focused for a second and WHOA!!! theres a big Red X on the runway...WTF!!!. I say "We can't land here the runway is closed" and I grab both throttles to execute a go around. He says "No you only have one engine, and you better do something"
I threw the operating engine full forward, gear up and flaps up. "N8088Y is missed approach" and started climbing back out gingerly. Although single engine go arounds are not advised I wasn't going to land on a tore up and closed runway. I was aware that I had good climb performance from earlier in the flight so I went ahead and did the go around. I told the DE had I not known that I had good climb performance and it was an actual emergency I was landing on the taxiway or whatever I needed to do.
He seemed ok with that and he allowed me to go with both engines again. We flew back to Topeka and he asked for a Short Field landing on 31. I did that but he thought I was fast on the approach. we then taxiied to runway 36 and he asked for a Short Field takeoff. I did that fine and no sooner than I got the gear up and established Vy he pulled the left engine on me at 200 ft AGL. I went through the procedures, asked for zero thrust as I simulated feathering and asked the tower for right traffic and landing on 31. Tower approved that and I circled around to a right base for 31. I was able to climb to pattern altitude so the landing was no trouble at all.
Overall in hindsight it was a decent performance on my part. I was not happy at the time, but I am my own worse critic sometimes. He pointed to some areas that I could improve upon for my MEI ride. Mainly talking through the procedures better and using an actual paper checklist in lieu of the GUMPFS checks for landing.
Got my CMELI and its good to have it out of the way. Total for the Oral, Flight and Post Flight briefing was 4.5 hours.
After the flight my instructor and I got in the plane to go back to Chanute and the starter just plain would not engage. After several attempts, pulling the prop through and evrything, we started the other side and got the voltage boosted up then the other side engaged. Flew back to Chanute and it is getting a new starter put in as I type this. I am glad it started that one more time to get me through my checkride.
