The Turkey flies instruments

Well, I didn't get to do the flight portion of my checkride today because the examiner was a couple of hours behind schedule doing checkrides over at Aviator, so I have to wait until Monday morning, 10AM.

The Turk.
 
Sorry I haven't written sooner, I had computer trouble and had to format my hard drive, repartition it and reinstall Windows XP.

Well, I screwed up my checkride. I did everything pretty well, but on the last approach, partial panel, I dropped below MDA by 40 feet. That was it... I was done for. Failed. In my defense I immediately corrected it and maintained 50 feet above MDA for the rest of the approach. But I still failed.
So I went back in the Frasca for 1 hour with my instructor, and did a couple of non-precision approaches.

Today I was scheduled for my re-take. The examiner suggested we do it in the Frasca, all I needed to do was one, non-precision approach. So I did the Localizer approach to runway 9 at FPR in the Frasca, and that was it, done, I passed. I had less than 30 minutes in the Frasca.

So it sucks bad to have failed a checkride. I was embarassed, and felt defeated. I had worked so hard to get to that point, and I didn't make it. I pulled myself together, and got it done though, so I am happy about that.

Now on to private-multi. I have my first flight in the Seminole tomorrow, and I am looking forward to it. Ground school started today, and is only 5 days long. I will keep you all posted as to my multi progress...

The Turk.
 
Congradulations Dude !!! ..... Your moving right along !!
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wow... Soon you'll be telling us about your CFII training and Checkride !!!
 
For IFR checkrides remember that the PTS for nonprecision approaches gives a tolerance of +100 feet and -0 feet. I always leveled out on IFR checkrides 50 feet above MDA and split the difference. If you go under it's an immeadiate bust. I'm sure you know this now, good luck in twin!
 
Good policy. I did the same thing.

However, there's a teeny weenie caveat in there that if you go slightly below but you make an assertive effort to correct, you may not fail.

But of course this is coming from a guy who hasn't done a non-precision approach in about a year.
 
i almost busted my multi single engine approach by going under mins. i should have started to level out a bit earlier than i did but luckily i managed to keep it above the min. just remember that the seminoles like to drop, so level out about 100 feet above mins, and them slowly creep down from there nice and controlled.
 
Well, I have had 2 flights in the Seminole and wow What a difference an extra engine makes! What a great plane to fly. We did all the standard maneuvers, steep turns, stalls, slow flight, and my favorite... emergency descents! After 2 trys my landings were great, then my instructor say's "OK, no more normal landings, from now on, all of them will be short field." Great. We will go over the maneuvers again tomorrow, then start work on doing approaches. Ground school is going by quickly, one more class, then the final on Wednesday.

The Turk.
 
Well, I haven't posted in a while due to the Christmas break, so I will start where I left off.
I took the final exam, and passed no problem. This was the first test that was not right out of the Gleim book, and had many essay answers. I actually scored pretty high. Before the Christmas break, which started on Dec.23, I finished stage 1 of 2 for the private-multi rating. The stage check consisted of a 1 hour oral (Seminole systems) and a flight that consisted of steep turns, slow flight, stalls, emergency descent, and 2 instrument approaches, and a short field landing. Then I had 1 flight after the stage check, to introduce single engine operations in the Seminole. I was surprised at how well the Seminole flies on one engine.

Then came the much needed Christmas break! It was very nice to have almost 2 weeks off where I didnt have to worry about some test coming up. But back to it tomorrow, 5 more lessons in the Seminole, then stage 2.

The Turk.
 
I passed the stage 2 check on Friday.
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Most of the stage check was Vmc factors and what a critical engine is. The flight consisted of Vmc demonstration, single engine instrument approaches, feathering and securing of dead engine, and air-restart. With that done I was all set for the FAA checkride.....

Which I had today, and passed!
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The oral was not what I studied for. The examiner gave me some hypothetical situations and I really had to think about it. But I got through it and the flight was pretty normal. The examiner even showed me a few different ways to perform some of the maneuvers.

Well, I have finished Private single engine, Private multi-engine and Instrument. Next we start CRM ground school, and 20 hours in the HAWK simulator. Once that is done we go into the route flying program... the really fun part! I will keep you posted!

The Turk.
 
Turk,
What do you use for CRM at FPR? At DVT we use a FR142 that's set up to be a Seminole. The 141 students have it set up as, I think, a Bonanza. It's not exactly like the Seminole, but it's nice to do some line training in a sim that performs similar to the plane we're flying.

You'll like route, that was a lot of fun. I wish I could afford to fly some more route flights!
 
Lucky,
At DVT you take CRM and Multi Private simultaneously. Sort of splitting the attention a bit. Though I guess they can be somewhat complimentary because you practice instrument procedures in the sim. I wonder why there are so many differances between DVT and FPR.
 
at fpr we use the hawk sim, are you familiar. Its basically an enclosed box with 4 screens and dual controls/instruments. The graphics leave little to be desired, but oh well. They must be doing it different now, because I to did the crm and priv me at the same time.
 
Well, CRM is done. Here is how it went: We had 3 days of CRM ground school, which was basically a study of a couple of airline accidents, and how CRM helped make the accident survivable, or broke the chain of events preventing an accident. We also saw how the lack of CRM, lead to an accident. Then we learn call outs, and flows for the Seminole. Then on the 4th day we had a final exam. After ground school ended, we started 6 sessions in the AST300 Hawk simulator, 2 students at a time. 1 student is captain, the other is First Officer. After 1 flight, you switch off, and fly another mission. Then after 6 missions, you have a stage check. So CRM is done, and now we go on to the LOFT(line oriented flight training) route program. Today we have a ground brief about the route program, and then tonight we get our night currency in the Seminole, if we dont already have it. Route starts tomorrow, should be fun!
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The Turk.
 
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