Andrew Horton
Well-Known Member
Hey guys. First off, I'm pretty new to the forum. I have always been intrigued by this website, but I haven't participated in any discussions yet. My grandmother always taught me " you have one mouth and two ears. Learn before you speak." In this case, it's two eyes and one mouth. Nevertheless, this is an awesome forum.
I wanted to post my CFII report. For someone coming from a little Utah airport, communicating with the tower and approach was initially the hardest part. All in all though, this was one of the funniest checkrides.
Oral Exam:
Thursday, December 3rd, 2015—
I set the paperwork up before Kelli Peay, the designated pilot examiner, arrived. The test being conducted is known as the CFII. I shook her hand as she walked in. I was very nervous a couple years back when my initial flight instructor test was being initiated. However, I thought something was wrong. I didn't even feel my adrenaline spike or anything. I was extremely equanimous. We spent about twenty minutes establishing the paperwork. We then checked the aircraft's logbook. Despite a minor discrepancy, everything checked out. It was great. She then said, "Teach me a lesson on the pitot-static system."
I used my sister's laptop she kindly allowed me to borrow. I pulled it out and found my corollary pictures I had saved on Google Drive. I then presented a lesson on the altimeter. I had so much detail to go over, I realized that I was taking a substantial amount of time. I the explained the VSI, and then the airspeed indicator. I asked questions to her (e.g. "What errors are associated with the airspeed indicator?"). When this lesson was completed, she didn't evaluate me like she normally does. She had me go right to teaching gyros. I showed a small clip explaining gyroscopic precession—something that has to be explained three dimensionally. I then explained the inner workings of the attitude indicator, heading indicator, vacuum system, and the turn coordinator. She had me go on to teach a lesson on the ILS. I explained the ground components, airborne components, and more. She had me close the instrument segment with a lesson on the RNAV GPS. I explained the different segments with the GPS (i.e. user, space, and control). I then discussed RAIM, RNP, WAAS, LAAS, and GPS terminology. She finally had to stop me. She was rushing my lessons. The whole time, I had backed up all of my statements with applicable FAR/AIM references (e.g. 91.175, 91.185, AIM 5-1-16(f)). She had me show her my hypothetical instrument cross country I had planned. I went over the weather with her I had printed off with Nick last night. I explained the route which was from Provo to Delta. I used the GPS 17 Approach. She stopped me after she saw that the elements were all there for a safe flight. She explained a couple of aviation misnomers out of the blue. I was impressed by her knowledge. I don't think I know of any other CFIs with her expertise. She has my respect on that front! Anyway, I explained icing to her and the hazards thereof. I explained the conditions favoring rime and clear ice. That then concluded the oral portion of the CFII check ride. She loved everything I had taught. She said I was an excellent teacher and didn't have anything to add to the lessons. She only got me on one small component—I misconstrued a small element of the area forecast. I read "scattered ceiling" when it was really "scattered cirrus". Other than that, she loved it. I was very grateful for such a fun exam. It was honestly fun. There was no moment I questioned if I would pass or not. She and I went out to the trusty Cessna 152—N25255, better known as '255. My dad was there to watch me go off. This is it! I thought. I was confident and ready to go. I started the plane up after our preflight. I reviewed the instrumentation with her. I simulated filing a clearance, and then I programmed the GPS data. Right before I was about to go, I reviewed the flight instruments. To my shock, the vacuum pump had failed. The attitude indicator and heading indicator lay limp. The plane was not fit for this operation. I swung the plane around and we parked it where we had left. My dad stood there thinking I had failed the test. I told him about the problem. He and I took off the cowl and tried to see if there was a loose hose. We realized that the problem lay in the pump.
She discontinued my check ride (i.e. paused the ride).
Flight Exam:
Wednesday, December 9th, 2015—
Kelli Peay was waiting in TacAir's pilot lounge for me. When we arrived, we got right to business. We left off where we had begun. We hopped in the plane and started ol' 255 up. This time the vacuum pump worked. I still think its failure was a blessing in disguise—somehow.
I joked about the plane's performance every now and then to loosen things up. I really wasn't nervous. Something was wrong I thought. I was very confident, but I knew from experience not to let my guard down.
We departed runway 13. I put on my view limiting device almost immediately after taking off. I followed out the Provo 4 departure and flew to Caleb intersection. She had me explain constant airspeed climbs and treat her as if she was a student. It was slightly awkward, but I explained the correct scanning procedure. I remained on track as we climbed up to 8,500 feet. She put on her foggles (view limiting device). I banked the plane and put her in an unusual attitude. She recovered incorrectly to see if I would correct her order. "How was that?" She asked.
"Well, we lived!" I lightly remarked. She chuckled and I explained the correct recovery order. I then explained the correct holding procedure. A hold is a 360° turn for pilots. I didn't do very well on mine. The wind was almost thirty knots; however, I didn't apply proper wind correction measures. It was so easy too! No matter, my hold was doable, but certainly far from perfect. The rest however would smoothly flow.
I flew the ILS 13 approach. The workload was intense. I had to dial in the PVU DME while flying the arc, while receiving orders from SLC airspace, while dialing in the ILS frequency, while explaining to Kelli what I was doing. The ILS approach was great however. I had managed the workload well, and even managed to explain the approach. We went missed. I then flew a partial panel GPS approach. It went much better than I had expected. My compass flying was at its best. However, the GPS did not arm itself like it should have. We flew the approach anyway since she allowed it. As we were descending, relief already hit me. I'll be glad when this is over I thought. No news is good news. They have to tell you right away if you failed. When we landed, we went right to TacAir. All was well. Kelli said "you did well!" She liked how well I had flown the approaches. She gave me some advice to hold better in high wind conditions. The flight was just about an hour and a half. We went inside and printed off my new flight instructor certificate. I had Tryston snap a photo of the occasion. Kelli was in somewhat of a hurry and left. She shook my hand and departed. Repose permeated my bubble—this respite couldn't have felt any better.
That's it folks! I know it's really long, so thank you if you made it to here. I fancy myself as a writer. These entries were taken from my personal journal. It was a six month fight to get the little 152 all patched up. We had to fix the GPS, VOR, and then the vacuum pump. All in all though, it was worth it. Comments very welcome.
I wanted to post my CFII report. For someone coming from a little Utah airport, communicating with the tower and approach was initially the hardest part. All in all though, this was one of the funniest checkrides.
Oral Exam:
Thursday, December 3rd, 2015—
I set the paperwork up before Kelli Peay, the designated pilot examiner, arrived. The test being conducted is known as the CFII. I shook her hand as she walked in. I was very nervous a couple years back when my initial flight instructor test was being initiated. However, I thought something was wrong. I didn't even feel my adrenaline spike or anything. I was extremely equanimous. We spent about twenty minutes establishing the paperwork. We then checked the aircraft's logbook. Despite a minor discrepancy, everything checked out. It was great. She then said, "Teach me a lesson on the pitot-static system."
I used my sister's laptop she kindly allowed me to borrow. I pulled it out and found my corollary pictures I had saved on Google Drive. I then presented a lesson on the altimeter. I had so much detail to go over, I realized that I was taking a substantial amount of time. I the explained the VSI, and then the airspeed indicator. I asked questions to her (e.g. "What errors are associated with the airspeed indicator?"). When this lesson was completed, she didn't evaluate me like she normally does. She had me go right to teaching gyros. I showed a small clip explaining gyroscopic precession—something that has to be explained three dimensionally. I then explained the inner workings of the attitude indicator, heading indicator, vacuum system, and the turn coordinator. She had me go on to teach a lesson on the ILS. I explained the ground components, airborne components, and more. She had me close the instrument segment with a lesson on the RNAV GPS. I explained the different segments with the GPS (i.e. user, space, and control). I then discussed RAIM, RNP, WAAS, LAAS, and GPS terminology. She finally had to stop me. She was rushing my lessons. The whole time, I had backed up all of my statements with applicable FAR/AIM references (e.g. 91.175, 91.185, AIM 5-1-16(f)). She had me show her my hypothetical instrument cross country I had planned. I went over the weather with her I had printed off with Nick last night. I explained the route which was from Provo to Delta. I used the GPS 17 Approach. She stopped me after she saw that the elements were all there for a safe flight. She explained a couple of aviation misnomers out of the blue. I was impressed by her knowledge. I don't think I know of any other CFIs with her expertise. She has my respect on that front! Anyway, I explained icing to her and the hazards thereof. I explained the conditions favoring rime and clear ice. That then concluded the oral portion of the CFII check ride. She loved everything I had taught. She said I was an excellent teacher and didn't have anything to add to the lessons. She only got me on one small component—I misconstrued a small element of the area forecast. I read "scattered ceiling" when it was really "scattered cirrus". Other than that, she loved it. I was very grateful for such a fun exam. It was honestly fun. There was no moment I questioned if I would pass or not. She and I went out to the trusty Cessna 152—N25255, better known as '255. My dad was there to watch me go off. This is it! I thought. I was confident and ready to go. I started the plane up after our preflight. I reviewed the instrumentation with her. I simulated filing a clearance, and then I programmed the GPS data. Right before I was about to go, I reviewed the flight instruments. To my shock, the vacuum pump had failed. The attitude indicator and heading indicator lay limp. The plane was not fit for this operation. I swung the plane around and we parked it where we had left. My dad stood there thinking I had failed the test. I told him about the problem. He and I took off the cowl and tried to see if there was a loose hose. We realized that the problem lay in the pump.
She discontinued my check ride (i.e. paused the ride).
Flight Exam:
Wednesday, December 9th, 2015—
Kelli Peay was waiting in TacAir's pilot lounge for me. When we arrived, we got right to business. We left off where we had begun. We hopped in the plane and started ol' 255 up. This time the vacuum pump worked. I still think its failure was a blessing in disguise—somehow.
I joked about the plane's performance every now and then to loosen things up. I really wasn't nervous. Something was wrong I thought. I was very confident, but I knew from experience not to let my guard down.
We departed runway 13. I put on my view limiting device almost immediately after taking off. I followed out the Provo 4 departure and flew to Caleb intersection. She had me explain constant airspeed climbs and treat her as if she was a student. It was slightly awkward, but I explained the correct scanning procedure. I remained on track as we climbed up to 8,500 feet. She put on her foggles (view limiting device). I banked the plane and put her in an unusual attitude. She recovered incorrectly to see if I would correct her order. "How was that?" She asked.
"Well, we lived!" I lightly remarked. She chuckled and I explained the correct recovery order. I then explained the correct holding procedure. A hold is a 360° turn for pilots. I didn't do very well on mine. The wind was almost thirty knots; however, I didn't apply proper wind correction measures. It was so easy too! No matter, my hold was doable, but certainly far from perfect. The rest however would smoothly flow.
I flew the ILS 13 approach. The workload was intense. I had to dial in the PVU DME while flying the arc, while receiving orders from SLC airspace, while dialing in the ILS frequency, while explaining to Kelli what I was doing. The ILS approach was great however. I had managed the workload well, and even managed to explain the approach. We went missed. I then flew a partial panel GPS approach. It went much better than I had expected. My compass flying was at its best. However, the GPS did not arm itself like it should have. We flew the approach anyway since she allowed it. As we were descending, relief already hit me. I'll be glad when this is over I thought. No news is good news. They have to tell you right away if you failed. When we landed, we went right to TacAir. All was well. Kelli said "you did well!" She liked how well I had flown the approaches. She gave me some advice to hold better in high wind conditions. The flight was just about an hour and a half. We went inside and printed off my new flight instructor certificate. I had Tryston snap a photo of the occasion. Kelli was in somewhat of a hurry and left. She shook my hand and departed. Repose permeated my bubble—this respite couldn't have felt any better.
That's it folks! I know it's really long, so thank you if you made it to here. I fancy myself as a writer. These entries were taken from my personal journal. It was a six month fight to get the little 152 all patched up. We had to fix the GPS, VOR, and then the vacuum pump. All in all though, it was worth it. Comments very welcome.
