ready2fly
Well-Known Member
R2F\'s IR Ride!! (long)
As if the ride itself wasn't going to bring enough stress, I found out the night before that the ONLY road leading into the airport was going to be shut down at 6:00 a.m. for a friggin' tri-athelon (TPF, being located on an island in Tampa Bay is a prime location for such an event and the staging area was to be directly across from the airport).
So, I arrived at 5:45 a.m. for my 8:00 a.m. instrument checkride... and sat around drinking coffee and basically twiddling my thumbs.
I tried to review my notes from my studying, but I knew the stuff inside and out and felt that any more studying would cram my brain and be more detrimental than helpful.... so, I went into the "weather room" and got all the pertinent wx briefings in both textual form and from a telephone call to the FSS.... then, I sat.
Luckily for me, the examiner lives on the island. Also - and something I wish I had known before that morning - the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority had trucks on the airport to escort anyone who needed access across the runway via a separate (usually closed) gate.
After his arrival and the initial chit chat, we went into one of the offices to start the oral exam. As he was checking my paperwork and what-not, I informed him that the wx briefing that I had obtained from FSS indicated that there was a very good chance of some nasty weather moving in around 10:00 a.m -11:00 a.m. which would most likely be problematic.
So, he suggested we go fly first THEN do the Oral Exam - which was PERFECT by me as it was the flying part that had me wound up the most.
We flew directly to the practice area and did the steep turns which I nailed and then unusual attitude recovery - also nailed. The key is to TALK YOUR WAY THROUGH EACH STEP (I did this out loud so that he could hear my train of thought and KNOW that I understood what I was doing and why).
Then, he told me to fly a heading of 080 and intercept the 230 radial off of the LAL VOTAC. No sweat. Dialed it in and was on course in less than a minute.
He asked if I was ready to copy the holding instructions and then instructed me to hold on the north on the 360 radial of the LAL VORTAC. He then asked me what entry we would make, to which I replied "Parallel"... and he said "VERY GOOD...now turn to 270 and let's set up for the ILS to RWY 5"... so, no holding. He merely wanted to see if I understood the concept - WHEW!!
He was taking me west so that we would have plenty of time to turn back towards the marker, however, a Bonanza was on approach several miles out and for whatever reason, ATC decided to turn us IN FRONT of the Bonanza. By doing so, he turned me directly on TOP of the marker., giving me NO time to get the localizer to come in.
My DE said "he didn't do you any favors, did he?"
Me: No sir, but let's see if I can do this thing.
It took some fancy adjustments with the power settings and we had to descend at a much higher vertical speed, but I kept the Localizer PEGGED and soon had the glideslope pegged as well.
Him: VERY nice. Now go missed.
We then did the NDB for the same runway. We had a really strong wind (15G23) that reeked havoc on my mental math…. he probably could have failed me on that one, but - again - I talked it through OUT LOUD the entire time and he knew that I knew that I knew.
Went missed again and requested the VOR for RWY 9 ... that's when he "failed" my vacuum system... that's right ... PARTIAL PANEL BABY!!
No sweat - did the mental math mojo tricks that my instructor had taught me and nailed EVERY heading change! Intercepted the VOR inbound and kept that baby CENTERED.
We did a circle to land on that one to RWY 23 and the wind kept blowing us a bit off, but I kept letting him know that I was on top of it.
Circled to land at 700 AGL and did a HORRIBLE x-wind landing - worst I've done since I learned how to land.... it was NASTY. Landed WAY right of centerline - yikes!
Off we went back to TPF. We basically shot the crap on the way back, then landed on RWY 21 - with yet another HORRIBLE x-wind landing....
(NOTE TO SELF: Work on x-wind landings!!)
...then it was time for the Oral Exam.
I can tell you that my DE is a crafty SOB. He did not ask the questions as you see them in the ASA Oral Exam Guide Book. No sir - his questions were phrased in such a manner that he had me stuttering and stammering all over the place... but, there wasn't one that I didn't know the answer to (in the end).
We then talked about the things that he thought were good and the things that he believed needed work (see x-wind landings)... and it was over!!
Started at 8:00 a.m., flew for 1.4, and walked out a newly-minted Instrument Rated Pilot just after 11:00 a.m., June 7, 2003.
If I could offer any advice to anyone who is about to take their ride - it's USE YOUR CHECKLISTS!! I was either constantly verbally or physically referring to either a hard-copy checklist or a mental one (i.e. - the aircraft checklist, GUMPS, "Five T's" or "Five A's"...or whatever checklist your instructor has you using) and TALK your way through it the ENTIRE time - from start-up to shut down.... TALK out loud. I cannot emphasize that enough.
Good luck to all of you and...
COMMERCIAL HERE I COME!!!
R2F
PPSEL/IA
As if the ride itself wasn't going to bring enough stress, I found out the night before that the ONLY road leading into the airport was going to be shut down at 6:00 a.m. for a friggin' tri-athelon (TPF, being located on an island in Tampa Bay is a prime location for such an event and the staging area was to be directly across from the airport).
So, I arrived at 5:45 a.m. for my 8:00 a.m. instrument checkride... and sat around drinking coffee and basically twiddling my thumbs.
I tried to review my notes from my studying, but I knew the stuff inside and out and felt that any more studying would cram my brain and be more detrimental than helpful.... so, I went into the "weather room" and got all the pertinent wx briefings in both textual form and from a telephone call to the FSS.... then, I sat.
Luckily for me, the examiner lives on the island. Also - and something I wish I had known before that morning - the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority had trucks on the airport to escort anyone who needed access across the runway via a separate (usually closed) gate.
After his arrival and the initial chit chat, we went into one of the offices to start the oral exam. As he was checking my paperwork and what-not, I informed him that the wx briefing that I had obtained from FSS indicated that there was a very good chance of some nasty weather moving in around 10:00 a.m -11:00 a.m. which would most likely be problematic.
So, he suggested we go fly first THEN do the Oral Exam - which was PERFECT by me as it was the flying part that had me wound up the most.
We flew directly to the practice area and did the steep turns which I nailed and then unusual attitude recovery - also nailed. The key is to TALK YOUR WAY THROUGH EACH STEP (I did this out loud so that he could hear my train of thought and KNOW that I understood what I was doing and why).
Then, he told me to fly a heading of 080 and intercept the 230 radial off of the LAL VOTAC. No sweat. Dialed it in and was on course in less than a minute.
He asked if I was ready to copy the holding instructions and then instructed me to hold on the north on the 360 radial of the LAL VORTAC. He then asked me what entry we would make, to which I replied "Parallel"... and he said "VERY GOOD...now turn to 270 and let's set up for the ILS to RWY 5"... so, no holding. He merely wanted to see if I understood the concept - WHEW!!
He was taking me west so that we would have plenty of time to turn back towards the marker, however, a Bonanza was on approach several miles out and for whatever reason, ATC decided to turn us IN FRONT of the Bonanza. By doing so, he turned me directly on TOP of the marker., giving me NO time to get the localizer to come in.
My DE said "he didn't do you any favors, did he?"
Me: No sir, but let's see if I can do this thing.
It took some fancy adjustments with the power settings and we had to descend at a much higher vertical speed, but I kept the Localizer PEGGED and soon had the glideslope pegged as well.
Him: VERY nice. Now go missed.
We then did the NDB for the same runway. We had a really strong wind (15G23) that reeked havoc on my mental math…. he probably could have failed me on that one, but - again - I talked it through OUT LOUD the entire time and he knew that I knew that I knew.
Went missed again and requested the VOR for RWY 9 ... that's when he "failed" my vacuum system... that's right ... PARTIAL PANEL BABY!!
No sweat - did the mental math mojo tricks that my instructor had taught me and nailed EVERY heading change! Intercepted the VOR inbound and kept that baby CENTERED.
We did a circle to land on that one to RWY 23 and the wind kept blowing us a bit off, but I kept letting him know that I was on top of it.
Circled to land at 700 AGL and did a HORRIBLE x-wind landing - worst I've done since I learned how to land.... it was NASTY. Landed WAY right of centerline - yikes!
Off we went back to TPF. We basically shot the crap on the way back, then landed on RWY 21 - with yet another HORRIBLE x-wind landing....
(NOTE TO SELF: Work on x-wind landings!!)
...then it was time for the Oral Exam.
I can tell you that my DE is a crafty SOB. He did not ask the questions as you see them in the ASA Oral Exam Guide Book. No sir - his questions were phrased in such a manner that he had me stuttering and stammering all over the place... but, there wasn't one that I didn't know the answer to (in the end).
We then talked about the things that he thought were good and the things that he believed needed work (see x-wind landings)... and it was over!!
Started at 8:00 a.m., flew for 1.4, and walked out a newly-minted Instrument Rated Pilot just after 11:00 a.m., June 7, 2003.
If I could offer any advice to anyone who is about to take their ride - it's USE YOUR CHECKLISTS!! I was either constantly verbally or physically referring to either a hard-copy checklist or a mental one (i.e. - the aircraft checklist, GUMPS, "Five T's" or "Five A's"...or whatever checklist your instructor has you using) and TALK your way through it the ENTIRE time - from start-up to shut down.... TALK out loud. I cannot emphasize that enough.
Good luck to all of you and...
COMMERCIAL HERE I COME!!!
R2F
PPSEL/IA
