surreal1221
Well-Known Member
Yesterday I had both of these rides. Both were performed out of my home airport, KFFC - just south of Atlanta.
The examiner will remain nameless, but he is a very active and experience examiner in the Atlanta area. A day doesn't go by that we don't see him down at our school. He has over 40 years of flying experience, been a DPE for over 20 of those years, so he has seen a fair bit of different flying techniques, and etc.
Aircraft used were the Diamond Twinstar 42, and the Diamond DA20 Eclipse.
The ride began a little after 8am. The oral started right on down the PTS handbook. Commercial regulations, holding out, etc. I gave him the example that I would be an instructor holding out under the flight schools certificate, and that was it. Next we discussed medical certificate requirements for a commercial pilot, when a 1st and 2nd class lapse, what happens, when would I need a new medical (Currently have a 1st class), and instructing on no medical.
We also discussed Airworthiness, what makes an airplane airworthy (take a look at the airworthiness certificate), registration, when registration expires, when a temporary registration expires, as well as operating limitations of the DA42.
Moved onto Task B, which was essentially a continuation of the bottom half of Task A. Went through the maintenance records and showed him that our airplane is airworthy. What are the required inspections, when are they do, etc. Talked about ELTs at some length, and eventually found out that in a single certain instance an ELT is not required for flight.
Moved onto weather. Which, obviously, isn't a difficult area for me. He asked me a few icing type questions, and gave me some scenario based questions from my planned cross country flight. No big deal. Read off the TAF and METAR to him for our airports of planned use - as well as a few nearby airports just in case we needed to divert. Moving from Weather, we went straight into flight planning. Didn't spend much time on this, just looked over the sectional for our direction and route of flight, was asked why I picked such and such altitude, etc. What is an Alert Area? What type of Airspace is this? When is this Class D airspace active? What does the little star next to the Control tower frequency mean. . .that type of stuff. Which, as you can tell we have now moved into Task E.
Task F, Performance and Limitations was covered during the Cross Country planning. Just know how to make a weight and balance, and most importantly, have it organized. Maybe even typed out on excel. If you have to pick passengers up at your first stop, and they are bringing cargo, make sure you distribute the cargo properly as not to put yourself in a too forward or too aft CG position.
Moved onto the systems of the aircraft (Task G). The DA42 is an electrical heavy aircraft. Know your airplane, know it's primary electrical source (main battery, alternator / generator, etc). Obviously be familiar with your type of engine, the output, if turbo charged, how the turbo charger works, the fuel and oil system. How is all of it cooled (engine and fuel system), any environmental controls in your aircraft - Deicing / anti-icing. Know how they work.
Then we discussed some aeromedical factors. Hypoxia specifically, as well as decompression. Discussed oxygen systems, what the difference is between continuous flow, diluter demand, and pressure demand systems.
After about 4 hours, we finally made it out to the plane. I already had half of the pre-flight done by the time he walked out and he said he needed to come with me through it all over again. No biggy, did the pre-flight, made sure everything was in order. Know your required documents, and not just AROW. If your aircraft has significant avionics (G1000, Autopilot), you need to know if the type certificate specifies that a supplemental for these two items are required to be in the aircraft during flight.
Ended up getting started up, taxied out, and finally took off. Climbed up to 2500ft, I pointed out a "landmark" that wasn't my planned checkpoint, and he went ahead and diverted me. Told me I had weather from my 10 O clock, to 2 O clock. I told him that we needed to divert away from them, back to the W, since the mid level winds were driving the weather towards us from the E. Worked out fine, diverted to KCCO, figured out how long it would take, and that was essentially it. Pointed KCCO out, and then we went into maneuvers. We had a pretty SCT030 deck of fair weather cu that we had to climb over. Finally got to altitude.
First maneuver was slow flight clean. From slow flight clean, we went into a power on stall. After that, chopped the power, went into a power off stall with 15 degrees of bank. Climbed back up to 6500 feet, performed steep turns, after steep turns did a VMC demo, and after that we "had a drop in oil pressure in our left engine" so I shut down the left engine, we did some turns and what not with it shut down and feathered, and then I was able to restart it. But, as soon as a we restarted it, we "had smoke in the cockpit." I nosed the plane over, chopped the power, dropped the gear, and pitched over to get 120kts (or more. . .) to get us down. Had the VSI down at about -3700FPS.
After that, we maneuvered south of FFC for a 45 pattern entry, and a SE approach and landing. No problems there. I actually love them, it's a great challenge. Taxied back to the run up area, ran another ECU (Engine control unit) test, no problems. Taxi into position, apply full power. . .and both engines get to 100% output, but then drop down to 85%. Odd. We pull off, run another to Max power run ups, and the same thing happens. In the end, I make the call not to fly the plane, taxi it over to the hanger and write it up. Seems the plane has had the same issue before. So, it's now grounded. Fortunately another Twinstar was available. And with only one takeoff and landing left to do we took it out. It was a short field takeoff and landing. The big thing with this Examiner on short field landings is not to touch down on your touch down point, but rather to maintain your aim point where you want it. Say my touch down point is the 1000 ft markers, my aim point is 200 ft shy of them (two hash marks). So long as I come over my aim point, at a high angle of attack, slowest possible airspeed. . .I performed the maneuver satisfactory in his book. Thinking about it, I actually agree with his philosophy on it. In the end, I performed the takeoff and landing satisfactory, cleared the runway, and went down and parked the airplane.
Commercial Multi Engine practical test - Pass.
Now for the SEL add-on. We took a two hour break for lunch, then returned back to the airport to finish up. The oral for my SE addon was very prompt. Discussed the systems of the DA20 (electrical, fixed gear, fixed pitch prop, etc), and then we ended up heading on out to the airplane.
After a pre-flight, we took off and headed out to the S. Climbed up to 3500ft, performed a Chandelle to the right - one of, if not, the best chandelle I ever did, lol. From there, it was a steep spiral down to an emergency landing site. My point was a small pond off the left of the wing, rolled out high after the third rotations so I flew away from the landing site for a few seconds, then turned back in and performed S-turns on final to lose the rest of my altitude. If it were real, we would have been long and just into the trees at the other end of the runway. . .but nevertheless. . .performed a go around, cleaned the plane up, and headed back to the airport. Entered on the 45, did my Power off 180 approach (another good one. . .woot), taxied back, did a short field takeoff and landing, cleared the runway, taxied back and did a soft field takeoff and landing. After those were done, we taxied back to the ramp, and that was it.
The add-on took a total of about 2 hours, if that.
I hope I didn't leave anything out. Good luck.
The examiner will remain nameless, but he is a very active and experience examiner in the Atlanta area. A day doesn't go by that we don't see him down at our school. He has over 40 years of flying experience, been a DPE for over 20 of those years, so he has seen a fair bit of different flying techniques, and etc.
Aircraft used were the Diamond Twinstar 42, and the Diamond DA20 Eclipse.
The ride began a little after 8am. The oral started right on down the PTS handbook. Commercial regulations, holding out, etc. I gave him the example that I would be an instructor holding out under the flight schools certificate, and that was it. Next we discussed medical certificate requirements for a commercial pilot, when a 1st and 2nd class lapse, what happens, when would I need a new medical (Currently have a 1st class), and instructing on no medical.
We also discussed Airworthiness, what makes an airplane airworthy (take a look at the airworthiness certificate), registration, when registration expires, when a temporary registration expires, as well as operating limitations of the DA42.
Moved onto Task B, which was essentially a continuation of the bottom half of Task A. Went through the maintenance records and showed him that our airplane is airworthy. What are the required inspections, when are they do, etc. Talked about ELTs at some length, and eventually found out that in a single certain instance an ELT is not required for flight.
Moved onto weather. Which, obviously, isn't a difficult area for me. He asked me a few icing type questions, and gave me some scenario based questions from my planned cross country flight. No big deal. Read off the TAF and METAR to him for our airports of planned use - as well as a few nearby airports just in case we needed to divert. Moving from Weather, we went straight into flight planning. Didn't spend much time on this, just looked over the sectional for our direction and route of flight, was asked why I picked such and such altitude, etc. What is an Alert Area? What type of Airspace is this? When is this Class D airspace active? What does the little star next to the Control tower frequency mean. . .that type of stuff. Which, as you can tell we have now moved into Task E.
Task F, Performance and Limitations was covered during the Cross Country planning. Just know how to make a weight and balance, and most importantly, have it organized. Maybe even typed out on excel. If you have to pick passengers up at your first stop, and they are bringing cargo, make sure you distribute the cargo properly as not to put yourself in a too forward or too aft CG position.
Moved onto the systems of the aircraft (Task G). The DA42 is an electrical heavy aircraft. Know your airplane, know it's primary electrical source (main battery, alternator / generator, etc). Obviously be familiar with your type of engine, the output, if turbo charged, how the turbo charger works, the fuel and oil system. How is all of it cooled (engine and fuel system), any environmental controls in your aircraft - Deicing / anti-icing. Know how they work.
Then we discussed some aeromedical factors. Hypoxia specifically, as well as decompression. Discussed oxygen systems, what the difference is between continuous flow, diluter demand, and pressure demand systems.
After about 4 hours, we finally made it out to the plane. I already had half of the pre-flight done by the time he walked out and he said he needed to come with me through it all over again. No biggy, did the pre-flight, made sure everything was in order. Know your required documents, and not just AROW. If your aircraft has significant avionics (G1000, Autopilot), you need to know if the type certificate specifies that a supplemental for these two items are required to be in the aircraft during flight.
Ended up getting started up, taxied out, and finally took off. Climbed up to 2500ft, I pointed out a "landmark" that wasn't my planned checkpoint, and he went ahead and diverted me. Told me I had weather from my 10 O clock, to 2 O clock. I told him that we needed to divert away from them, back to the W, since the mid level winds were driving the weather towards us from the E. Worked out fine, diverted to KCCO, figured out how long it would take, and that was essentially it. Pointed KCCO out, and then we went into maneuvers. We had a pretty SCT030 deck of fair weather cu that we had to climb over. Finally got to altitude.
First maneuver was slow flight clean. From slow flight clean, we went into a power on stall. After that, chopped the power, went into a power off stall with 15 degrees of bank. Climbed back up to 6500 feet, performed steep turns, after steep turns did a VMC demo, and after that we "had a drop in oil pressure in our left engine" so I shut down the left engine, we did some turns and what not with it shut down and feathered, and then I was able to restart it. But, as soon as a we restarted it, we "had smoke in the cockpit." I nosed the plane over, chopped the power, dropped the gear, and pitched over to get 120kts (or more. . .) to get us down. Had the VSI down at about -3700FPS.
After that, we maneuvered south of FFC for a 45 pattern entry, and a SE approach and landing. No problems there. I actually love them, it's a great challenge. Taxied back to the run up area, ran another ECU (Engine control unit) test, no problems. Taxi into position, apply full power. . .and both engines get to 100% output, but then drop down to 85%. Odd. We pull off, run another to Max power run ups, and the same thing happens. In the end, I make the call not to fly the plane, taxi it over to the hanger and write it up. Seems the plane has had the same issue before. So, it's now grounded. Fortunately another Twinstar was available. And with only one takeoff and landing left to do we took it out. It was a short field takeoff and landing. The big thing with this Examiner on short field landings is not to touch down on your touch down point, but rather to maintain your aim point where you want it. Say my touch down point is the 1000 ft markers, my aim point is 200 ft shy of them (two hash marks). So long as I come over my aim point, at a high angle of attack, slowest possible airspeed. . .I performed the maneuver satisfactory in his book. Thinking about it, I actually agree with his philosophy on it. In the end, I performed the takeoff and landing satisfactory, cleared the runway, and went down and parked the airplane.
Commercial Multi Engine practical test - Pass.
Now for the SEL add-on. We took a two hour break for lunch, then returned back to the airport to finish up. The oral for my SE addon was very prompt. Discussed the systems of the DA20 (electrical, fixed gear, fixed pitch prop, etc), and then we ended up heading on out to the airplane.
After a pre-flight, we took off and headed out to the S. Climbed up to 3500ft, performed a Chandelle to the right - one of, if not, the best chandelle I ever did, lol. From there, it was a steep spiral down to an emergency landing site. My point was a small pond off the left of the wing, rolled out high after the third rotations so I flew away from the landing site for a few seconds, then turned back in and performed S-turns on final to lose the rest of my altitude. If it were real, we would have been long and just into the trees at the other end of the runway. . .but nevertheless. . .performed a go around, cleaned the plane up, and headed back to the airport. Entered on the 45, did my Power off 180 approach (another good one. . .woot), taxied back, did a short field takeoff and landing, cleared the runway, taxied back and did a soft field takeoff and landing. After those were done, we taxied back to the ramp, and that was it.
The add-on took a total of about 2 hours, if that.
I hope I didn't leave anything out. Good luck.
