Re: LLoyd\'s check ride
Thank you all for your support!!!
Got up to BWG today at about 11:30 for a quick last flight with my instructor. we flew, did a complete mock checkride, and then I just kinda hung out and shot the breeze with Sean and my Skymaster-chick (BTW, the Skymaster was delivered today. . .SWEET!!!).
The examiner came in from his other checkride, and then we dove right into the oral. We caught up on gossip, talked about other people that we knew and he showed me his new IPOD mini . . .
After about an hour of BS, he talked to me very seriously about being an MEI, and all of the hazards that come with the job. We talked about the Twin Comanche, and about how much fun he'd had in it, and we talked in great detail about the performance quirks of that aircraft (although the ride was in a Seminole, he knows that I'll be doing some training in a Twin Comanche, and being a friend, he's coaching me along in that area).
We hit a few systems questions on the Seminole, talked alot about VMC and then we headed out for the plane!!
After complete preflight in the rain, we jumped in and started up. Taxied over to Runway 12, and I "taught" him how we do the run-up, explained the feathering and governor checks, and ran through a good pre-takeoff briefing.
Started with a short-field takeoff, and landing. Did well on those ( I'm pretty snazzy at Short-field landings....
), then did a normal landing. After that, we heading off into the murk!! It was a cloudy, rainy afternoon, scattered at about 1100, overcast at about 5000, and lots of rain and "muck" in between! We did steep turns with no horizon (always a good time), and headed directly into a power-off stall. He didn't like that I added power, raised the gear (since my hand was already there) and then got the flaps. He wanted me to add power, raise the flaps, and then get the gear. Hmmmm . . .ok. It's his show!! I'm not completely sure how I feel about that, but I'm still new to this game and completely open to learning!!
Anyhoo, we did a drag demo, VMC demo, power-on stall, simulated engine failure on takeoff, emergency decent, then back into the pattern! Did a couple more landings, including a single-engine landing. He then showed me some smoother ways to fly the twin in the pattern (gave me the speech about not being in a single anymore, etc).
Did a full stop, and that was the end of the ride! He even taxied the plane in so that we could resume the gossip about other folks!!