Commercial maneuvers are driving me CRAZY

I haven't look at the PTS but I have a strong feeling that I am busting. On the lazy 8's I usually end it with either a 30-40degree course change and/or 200-400ft difference from starting altitude. If it's not my course heading, then it's my altitude, and vice versa. My airspeed tends to finish within limits.
 
c172captain said:
I haven't look at the PTS but I have a strong feeling that I am busting. On the lazy 8's I usually end it with either a 30-40degree course change and/or 200-400ft difference from starting altitude. If it's not my course heading, then it's my altitude, and vice versa. My airspeed tends to finish within limits.
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That is problem #1 right there. Your instructor should be talked to for that as well.

Your second problem(and I don't know how to quote multiple posts) is that you said I AM GOING TO FAIL

If that is the case, then why are you taking the ride in the first place?

You mentioned that another, more experianced instructor "ignorantly told me that I was overthinking it and that I'd do fine." What makes that ignorant? The fact that you are questioning someone that you ASKED for advice?

I'll give you the same advice that someone else on here gave. Go up by yourself, AFTER STUDYING THE PTS, and go try a few of them. If that doesn't work, then go back up with an instructor and have him actively talk you through it.

And don't be so certain that you are going to fail.
 
"My commercial checkride is this friday and the only maneuver I have perfectly mastered is my steep turns."

Your CFI signed you off didn't he?

If you have such a defeatest attitude, I kinda wonder if you're in the right business? The CFI process is much more difficult. The 121 world is also sink or swim.

Like someone said, most of the comm mans are highly open to interpretation. If you understand the concept and can talk a good talk, I'd say you have a good shot. If you screw it up, say so, and say how it could be done better. You'll probably get another shot. Or maybe the examiner will blow it off. Or maybe you'll get an old skool guy and he'll just show you his way. Wouldn't be the first time.

Best thing you could do is be able to quote the PTS.
 
Yeah, sorry for my extreme pessimism. It's hereditary :p I guess I overexaggerated on my poor flying skills because I went up with a second instructor and he said that by the way I was telling him how bad my maneuvers were, he didn't even think I'd be able to make the first step in the lazy 8. He said that I was doing fine, to my amazement, and that I should have no problem passing. *knocks on wood* I will let you guys know how everything goes friday night.

In the meantime, in the eights-on-pylons, I understand that you are not allowed to use rudder to maintain the reference line with the pylon, but are you allowed to use rudder to maintain a coordinated turn?


P.S. After posting my previous response, I realized how ill-prepared I was and I read the PTS off the PDF file at the FAA website. I'm still learning :D
 
to this day i think the commercial maneuvers are the biggest waste of my flight training dollars ever. i learned more about how and why an airplane flies on my first aerobatic ride than i did in the whole commercial course at my school.

give someone a quick whirl at the controls in an aerobatic plane and the level of understanding what the airplane can/cant do just goes through the roof.

yes, i dont know it all, but in my opinion the commercial maneuvers didnt teach me much.

but yes, youll still need to be able to demonstrate them, so just play with them till you get your head around them (this is what i do with aerobatic maneuvers, practice, experiment, see how the beast works)....

also having a full "book knowledge" understanding of whats going on and being able to TALK through the how and why of the maneuver while youre doing it will go a long way to showing the examiner that while heck, maybe you cant fly it PERFECTLY, you have good knowledge of the mechanics of what should be happening... and thats worth something too.

good luck!

ps - you wanna make someone learn about the cool footrests (ie - rudder!)... teach them to do a beautiful slow roll.
 
c172captain said:
Yeah, sorry for my extreme pessimism. It's hereditary :p I guess I overexaggerated on my poor flying skills because I went up with a second instructor and he said that by the way I was telling him how bad my maneuvers were, he didn't even think I'd be able to make the first step in the lazy 8. He said that I was doing fine, to my amazement, and that I should have no problem passing. *knocks on wood* I will let you guys know how everything goes friday night.

In the meantime, in the eights-on-pylons, I understand that you are not allowed to use rudder to maintain the reference line with the pylon, but are you allowed to use rudder to maintain a coordinated turn?


P.S. After posting my previous response, I realized how ill-prepared I was and I read the PTS off the PDF file at the FAA website. I'm still learning :D
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Good luck to you and let us know how it went...I'm just beginning to learn those commercial maneuvers myself and look forward to any feedback.
 
Isn't this process great? You bared your soul, everyone got to look inside and offer opinions on the condition...then you reexamined yourself and made some improvements. It's a gut check. And it works.
 
Congrats on passing. It is natural on probably every checkride you take to completely second guess yourself. No worries there.....obviously you did well enough to pass.

I am assuming you will go for your fllight instructor and hopefully get the one that matters most. The single engine initial CFI. If and when you do, tryout the following.

Lazy 8's: Cover up the damn instruments and get the feel for the maneuver. I generally get my students to feel the manuever rather than worry about staring at the instruments. I like to have them start out doing more of a Crazy 8 maneuver. After they start getting the feel of it all, I then refer back to the PTS and mellow it out a bit for them.. You know what? works every time. Too many pilots get caught up in the PTS. If you do the maneuvers well, the PTS will not matter one lick.

8's-on-pylons: There is no limit as to the bank angle. Hell, in a strong enough wind you will need about 45-60 degrees to get it done. The down wind side will suck, but that is just the way it is.

I agree on getting aerobatics training. If I had my way, every pilot would have to get a tailwheel endorcement and aerobatic training. But that is just me.

Again congrats and good luck to you.
 
juskl said:
Congrats on passing. It is natural on probably every checkride you take to completely second guess yourself. No worries there.....obviously you did well enough to pass.

I am assuming you will go for your fllight instructor and hopefully get the one that matters most. The single engine initial CFI. If and when you do, tryout the following.
Click to expand...


Thanks, my next goal is my Multi-Engine rating with the comm/IR addon, which I start on Wednesday. After that I'm going for my CFI/II and that class starts july 10
 
Speaking of aerobatics, I was doing comm. manuevers and taking an aerobatics course the same semester so my instructor who was also the D.E. and head of the aviation dept. demonstrated and taught me how to do lazy 8's using 90 degree bank angles (knife edge). Pretty cool thing to do in a Decathalon.
 
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