Re: OK, I'm off...

[Simon Robbins]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
>
> Thanks for following along with me as I train..

Kevin, don't forget to factor in about 5,000 Lbs of extra weight into your
pre-flight calculations, because we're all there along with you! Good luck
man!

Si

[Steve R.]

"Simon Robbins" > wrote in message
...
> "The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
> message ...
>>
>> Thanks for following along with me as I train..
>
> Kevin, don't forget to factor in about 5,000 Lbs of extra weight into your
> pre-flight calculations, because we're all there along with you! Good
> luck
> man!
>
> Si
>

5000 lbs? Si, you're being pessimistic! ;-)

Crash and burn, Kevin! **

Steve R.


** I don't mean that literally, I was always taught that it was bad luck to
say "good luck" under these circumstances. :-D

[Rod]

Good on you Kevin have enjoyed all your posts re getting your licence what a
relief for you we have all enjoyed your posts
congratulations and happy flying
Rod
"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
>
> If I may quote from South Park.
>
> "I sure am glad that's over with."
>
> Man what a day.. Hell, what a couple of days.. Hit the road about 2
> minutes after posting to let you all know I was of to do my check ride
> and fond out 2 minutes after that I didn't have any gas in the truck.
> Hit the gas station but filling this beast's 40 gallon tank takes a
> while and by the time I hit the road, it was 11:30. Flight was at
> 1:05 and it's a 40 mile drive to the airport. To say several basic
> speed laws were mortally wounded would be a fairly accurate
> representation of my velocity on the way down. :)
>
> Got to the off-site parking lot - not the one I usually go to, but the
> truck doesn't fit in their garage - and was met with a laughing
> attendant. Evidently he thought it humorous I wanted to park an 8
> foot tall, 22 foot long truck in his lot. Well, I showed him a thing
> or two about parking a big-ass truck and soon I was at the terminal
> with 45 minutes to go.
>
> Security was ridiculous.. Basically strip down to your tingly parts
> and tip-toe through the metal detector. Effin' ridiculous.. Go back
> to how it was. Let's see some rag-head douche bag try any **** on an
> airplane these days and see how fast he gets his ass kicked.. Oh,
> sorry.. Went off on a tangent there.. heheh
>
> After getting redressed and repacking my crap, I hit the gate. Flying
> Southwest, the cattle roundup of airlines, I'm holding the coveted "A"
> boarding pass and I'm 4th in line to board. Once on the plane, I grab
> a seat over the wing (Smoothest flight there ya know) near the window
> and break out my flash cards, my can of cashews and my bag of M&Ms.
> I'm all set for an hour of study.. Yeah right.. I'm asleep even
> before we push back from the gate.
>
> Hit Vegas about 2:30pm and the place is a friggin' zoo.. I think
> Southwest lands all their planes at once just to further solidity the
> "stampede" mentality of their business model. Baggage is being
> retrieved on the carousel furthest from civilization and then it's a
> 40 minute wait before anything starts puking out of the carousel.
>
> Of course, my bag is one of the last ones to be deposited on the
> conveyor and once retrieved, we're on our way to the Hertz bus to
> gather up whatever cheap piece of crap rental car they've got me
> booked in.. It's a silver Ford Taurus but there's a bonus.. Siruis
> Satellite radio. Cool.. I get my luggage packed in (ONE change of
> clothes, a hairbrush, toothbrush, deodorant and some toothpaste - oh,
> and about 60 lbs of books and about a thousand flashcards..)
> and sped the next 15 minutes finding a good "station" on the
> satellite. Channel 23 is all hairbands from the 80s.. 27 is hard
> core metal.. sweet..
>
> I leave the parking lot cranking some Mastodon and am off to find my
> hotel.. 20 minutes later, I'm at the hotel and get checked in. I
> dump the bags in the room and head out to find the FBO where I'm to
> meet the DPE in the morning. It's 5:30pm and I get to the place and
> the only people left are one tour pilot and the office manager. Ok,
> no big deal. I find out what ship I'm flying and get the W&B info for
> it and find out how much the DPE weighs... Not much more than Q.
>
> I take all this info back to the hotel dump it on the bed in my room
> and head back downstairs to get something to eat. I hit up the
> Mexican place - I've got a hankering for a margarita - and get seated.
> A young Mexican kid brings me chips and salsa and asks if I'd like
> something to drink. I tell him "Cadillac margarita on the rocks, with
> salt." He says something that may have been English, but I'm not
> getting it. I ask him to repeat what he said and I swear I heard "I
> don't know alcohol, take a number." WTF???
>
> A few minutes later the server comes up and asks if I'm ready to
> order. I give him my order and explain some kid took my drink order
> but evidently only speaks Portuguese or some other unintelligible
> language and could I please get a margarita. The salsa has a nice
> kick to it and soon my margarita is on the table. It's probably a
> mistake to have one since I need to study, but I quickly down it and
> order another.
>
> My food shows up and I wolf it down and slam the rest of the 2nd marg.
> I realize the 2nd one was a mistake as I stand up I've definitely got
> a buzz. Great, I'm gonna fall asleep before I finish up my book work.
> On the way out, I pass the nightclub and see the marquis.. "Metal
> Gods - Judas Priest Tribute Band - Doors Open 9pm, $5 cover no
> minimum."
> Ok, I'm a HUGE Priest fan and this isn't good.. I quickly head to my
> room, grabbing a couple Cokes out of the machine on the way to get
> some caffeine in me and hit the books..
>
> It's about 7:00pm and I run through my flash cards and am amazed at
> how much I still remember from ground school.. I re-read all my notes
> and brush up on some airspace and weather stuff from my text books.
> I've got old Priest tunes bouncing round my head now and I've got the
> TV on for some background noise. I look up - Austin Powers is on..
> Oooh! Heather Graham!! (Is she just smokin' hot or WHAT??)
>
> I lose all interest in studying and get lost in Heather's form... and
> then look at the clock.. Hey, if I head downstairs now, I can catch
> the "Priest" show - so I do.. Yeah, I should have studied, but I
> figured I either knew it or didn't and if I didn't, Q would have never
> signed me off to be there so WTF, right?? Once in the club, I
> shoulder my way up front and spend the next 90 minutes or so bangin'
> my head to a pretty decent cover band and drinking a couple beers..
> (Yes, only a couple.)
>
> Back at the room around 11:30 or so, I slam about a half gallon of ice
> water, check DUATS for weather and then set the alarm for 6 before
> crawling in to bed. I didn't sleep for ****. I swear I watched the
> clock tick off from midnight to 4:30am when I think I finally dozed
> off.. A few minutes before 6:00 I woke up, turned off the alarm clock
> and pulled on my clothes. Another check of DUATS for weather and I
> finished up my X-country flight plan and I was outta there.
>
> The FBO wasn't even a mile from the hotel and I arrived about 7:45.
> Met my classmate who was also there for his check and we chatted for a
> couple minutes before the DPE showed up and introduced himself.
>
> We headed to his office to do the paperwork shuffle and he explained
> how the day would progress. I found out I was up 1st in the
> helicopter and instantly my butterflies went away. It was weird.
> Almost like I was relieved I was going to fly 1st.. The ship was in
> the hanger so we headed down and the DPE assigned us each a side of
> the helo for the pre-flight. I told the other applicant I wasn't
> comfortable with trusting anyone else to do part of my preflight and
> suggested we walk it down together.
>
> Preflight went ok except for the 1st couple minutes. After flicking
> on the Master switch, I noticed the main tank gauge showed empty but
> the Aux showed about 1/2 full. A couple taps on the main gauge freed
> up the needle and fuel was looking pretty. The rest of the preflight
> went smoothly and soon we were answering questions regarding the ship.
> Satisfied, the DPE hooked up the tow bar and soon we were trundling
> across the airport, a shiny gray and blue R22 Beta II in tow.
>
> Once at the ramp, the DPE removed the tow bar from the helo and I gave
> him my passenger briefing. He had a few questions for me and I must
> have answered correctly because he instructed me to hop in and see if
> I could fly this thing.
>
> I hopped in, busted out my pre-start and pre-takeoff checklist and
> starting verbalizing the checks. Soon the ship was warmed up and we
> were ready to go, GPS and radios all set up. The DPE was to handle
> all the radio calls so he called up ground told 'em what he wanted and
> was told to talk to the tower. Tower was called and we were cleared
> direct from the ramp to enter the pattern.
>
> Traffic was light, but winds were approaching 18 knots so I was in ETL
> as soon as I picked up into a hover. I did my pre- takeoff checks and
> then fed in the forward cyclic and began my takeoff run. I hit 60
> knots and began the climb.. "Nice takeoff profile" I hear from the
> left seat. Cool. I'm off to a good start.
>
> 1st time around the pattern is a normal approach to the thousand foot
> markers. Lots of power lines around the field and the wind is making
> me crab quite a bit on the crosswind to maintain ground track and the
> ground speed on the downwind is over 90 knots. The turn to base
> requires a pretty shallow angle and it's difficult to keep the rate of
> descent in as I turn final.. I get the 1st approach going and ask the
> DPE if he'd like it to the ground or to a hover. He wants a hover so
> that's what he gets.
>
> Next time around he wants a straight in auto. If I'm going to bust
> this ride, this will be it. I'm aiming for the thousand footers and
> I'm to enter when I'm ready. I pick my entry spot and count down from
> 3 and then enter. The entry is good but airspeed gets a little low
> but I get it all sorted and then recover - well short of my intended
> spot. I thought I was done right there but the DPE says "Let's go do
> another one. That wind will stop you dead in your tracks up here."
>
> Next one is almost right on the money.. I see the spot I entered the
> last one and wait an agonizing 5 seconds from there to enter. Entry
> is good, airspeed is good and I catch a rotor over speed in the flare
> and recover within about 20 feet of my spot. Sweet! The one concern
> I have about the flying portion is over.
>
> DPE asks me to hover to a taxiway intersection and do a hover auto.
> No problems. A little sideways movement to the left, but acceptable.
>
> "See those taxiway lights either side of the runway? That's a line of
> 20' tall trees. Get us out of here."
> Max performance takeoff time! I go through the mags checks, carb
> heat down and locked. DA is about 3000', temp is 20 so I'm looking at
> about 23" MAP.. Get the ship light on the skids, stop all movement
> and pull right to 23".
>
> The wind adds it's ETL lift and I break the 20 foot "barrier" in mere
> seconds and then accelerate into forward flight and reduce power to
> 21" for the climb out and head one more time around the pattern. On
> downwind he rolls off the throttle until the low rotor warning come on
> and then tells me to recover. No problem. Q and I worked on that a
> few days ago. Time for a steep approach.. No worries as the wind
> helps me out again.
>
> Next time around is a shallow approach with a run on landing with
> power limited to 17" MAP. Again, no worries. DPE calls tower and
> tells them we want to depart to the West. I call Reno FSS and open my
> flight plan and then I'm off on the X-country portion of the check.
> Heading is 311, airspeed 80 knots and leg time is 11 minutes. I make
> note of the time and get the speeds and altitudes dialed in.
>
> Every minute or so I verify my position with the chart and what I'm
> seeing down below. The DPE is drilling me on emergency procedures and
> performance questions for the 1st 6 minutes. I see my 1st checkpoint
> up ahead and the DPE asks me to show him where we are. I point right
> to the power lines we're crossing over on the chart and then indicate
> the 350' tower in the distance and say "We're right here and we're
> headed for that tower. Once there, we'll turn left to 305 for 9
> minutes and check in with Indian Springs."
>
> "Engine failure" comes from the left seat as he chops the throttle on
> me. I enter ok but get a little slow and end up playing chase the
> needle for a while until I get it all settled down. DPE asks "Where
> you going" so I say "That flat brown patch just ahead." and recover
> pretty close to it. Not pretty, but we'd probably walk away from the
> carnage.
>
> I thought I'd effed up somehow because he takes the controls and turns
> to the south. My concerns are unwarranted - he's just expediting the
> trip to the practice area. He takes me to the slope area and gets the
> nose into the wind. It's really swirling and I'm kept very busy on
> the controls as I perform a slope landing with the left skid uphill.
> Landing was ok, but the pickup was a little messy due to the winds.
> Still within standards, but I wasn't very pleased with it and I know I
> can do them better.
>
> DPE tells me to go ahead and take off and climb out. Once level at
> about 1000' AGL, he throttle chops me with a brief "Engine failure"
> warning.a half second before hand. Entry was ok but man to the RPMs
> climb with this density altitude. Got into an over speed condition,
> but quickly recognized it and corrected for it and then started aiming
> for my landing spot. Recovery was at altitude and once recovered, I
> climbed out and was instructed to head back to the field.
>
> I made a steep approach to the ramp and once again, the wind I was so
> concerned about at pick up helped me out on the set down. It's hard
> to get the wobbles when you're in ETL a foot off the ground. Once the
> cool down is started, I ask the DPE how I did He tells me "You're
> within standards, good job." Cool. Step one completed.
>
> The DPE stepped out about 2 mins in to the cool down and tells me he's
> headed to the bathroom, do a normal shutdown and secure the ship.
> I can see my fellow check ride "victim" standing on the ramp waiting
> for his flight. I get the ship shut down and he comes walking over to
> see how it went. "Not too bad." I tell him. It really wasn't that
> bad - a lot like flying with Q on a day to day basis.
>
> The DPE gets back and tells me I'll be catching a ride back to the
> hangar with another couple guys who just landed. Perfect. I need to
> run back to my hotel and check out so while victim number 2 hits the
> friendly skies, I haul ass to the hotel, toss all my crap into my
> suitcase and head back to the FBO.
>
> Once there I do a little more studying as I'm waiting. Pretty soon
> they're back and I ask how it all went. My classmate says it went
> well and we spend a few minutes chatting about the oral that's coming.
>
> He's an add-on rating so he's up 1st and maybe a half hour goes by
> when he comes back to the lobby and says simply, "Got it." Nice.
> He's got to get back to his wife so he wishes me good luck and hits
> the road. Ok, my turn now.
>
> I hit the DPE's office and toss my FAR/AIM on the desk. It's covered
> in a rainbow of labeled tabs all ready to help me out when I falter.
> The questions are pretty straightforward and I find myself answering
> like I know what the hell I'm talking about. A small falter when it
> comes to some Class Echo airspace questions, but I've got that paged
> tabbed so I quickly look it up and get my answer squared away.
>
> DPE asks for a sectional and drills me for about 30 minutes of
> differing "What -if" scenarios and lots of "How would you..?"
> questions. I get through that part and he says "OK, you're doing good
> so far. You certainly know your regs." I'm thinking it's just about
> over when he busts out the weather questions.. Crap. I hate weather
> more than I hate airspace questions...
>
> Mercifully, the questions aren't too difficult and then the office
> goes quiet as the DPE checks over his list of items to touch on. "Ok,
> got that... got those.. did that..." He looks at me and I think
> another question is coming and then he sticks out his hand and says
> "Congratulations!" Huh?? It's over? I passed!!?? It doesn't really
> sink in until I see the temporary certificate getting rolled up into
> the typewriter.
>
> The stress of the past week disappeared in a couple of heartbeats and
> I gave my self a silent "HELL YEAH! as I put all my stuff away.
> before he began typing the cert up, the DPE asked "Do you mind if I
> critique you?"
>
> "Not at all" I said "I'd love to hear what you think I didn't quite
> nail."
>
> He told me that while my autos were within the standards, I need to
> relax with them and continue to practice them. he said "I'm confident
> that should you have to do a real auto, you'd walk away from
> helicopter. I'm not sure how the helicopter would fare though." I
> kind of laughed and said if it came down to it, I'm going to consider
> the helicopter my own personal crumple zone and save my ass."
>
> His only other issue was my run on landing. He said the profile was
> great but he would have liked to have seen a slower touchdown speed
> with a shorter slide. He had no comments about the knowledge portion
> of the test so I guess I did ok with the oral.
>
> He typed up the certificate, had be go over the info to make sure it
> was correct and then had me sign it. It was official.. I could now
> call myself a licensed helicopter pilot. I couldn't help but keep
> looking at my temporary certificate the whole way to the airport. I
> called everyone I knew to let them know I'd passed. I think the best
> reaction was from my father who spent 22 years flying with the US
> Navy. I could hear the emotion in his voice as he told me how proud
> he was of me. I'd be willing to bet money he cried a bit when he got
> off the phone..
>
> My wife and kids called me about 4 times on the 30 minute drive to the
> airport to yell "Congratulations" and when I met them for dinner back
> here in San Diego a couple hours ago, the kids all wanted to see my
> "license".. I'm pretty sure I had one too many Long Islands with
> dinner and will be paying for it tomorrow, but I had good reason to
> celebrate..
>
> I'm a helicopter pilot,damnit!!!
>
>
>

[Beav]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
>
> If I may quote from South Park.
>
> "I sure am glad that's over with."
>
> I'm a helicopter pilot,damnit!!!

Well **** you!!!.

I bet no-one said THAT to you when you were phoning around:-)))

Well done Kev, VERY well done. The posts were excellent and the outcome more
so. I envy you your ticket, but that doesn't stop me congratulating you.

Beav (another Kev as it happens)

[Vaughn Simon]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
>
> I'm a helicopter pilot,damnit!!!

Congratulations! Now get back to work on the next rating! You are
certainly brave; I pretty much keep the news of impending checkrides to
myself, "just in case". Nobody ever knows until I have passed.

Seriously, I would not want to take a checkride in a strange machine at
an unfamiliar airport in an unfamilar area. I have sweated my way through 4
of them and they have all been on home ground.

I have enjoyed your writing and hope it continues.


Vaughn

>
>
>

[B4RT]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
>
> I'm a helicopter pilot,damnit!!!
>

To quoue South Park again: "Sweet!"

Congrats and welcome to one of the best little clubs in aviation.

Bart

[Steve R.]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
>
>I'm a helicopter pilot,damnit!!!
>
>

Way to go Kevin! It's been a genuine pleasure to read about your
adventures. Brought me back to the days when I got my ticket. :-D

> Possibly. The goal was to post my experiences in getting to the PPH
> rating.. Not sure I'll have the time to write up the instrument
> stuff. Guess I'll have to see how it goes..

Well, maybe not as detailed as you've been with your private training but an
occasional post to fill in the highlights every now and then would be
greatly appreciated by all of us! :-)

Best of luck in your flying career, and Fly Safe!
Steve R.

[Simon Robbins]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
> I'm a helicopter pilot,damnit!!!

Fantastic!!! Well done.

Si

[Simon Robbins]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
> Possibly. The goal was to post my experiences in getting to the PPH
> rating.. Not sure I'll have the time to write up the instrument
> stuff. Guess I'll have to see how it goes..

I guess you've kept copies of your main journal posts? If so, could you
stick 'em in a Word document an demail them too me? It'll make great
reading as I progress the PPL course myself. To also quote South Park, I
can have a "What would Brian Boitano do?" moment every time I begin to
struggle and think "What would Kevin do?!"

Si

[[email protected]]

Hey The Other Kevin,

I haven't followed your missives in any great detail, but -
congratu-F'ing-lations on the ticket 8^). It's a great feeling, ain't
it?


Dave Blevins
San Jose, CA

On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 23:06:46 -0800, The OTHER Kevin in San Diego <skiddz
"AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote:

>
>If I may quote from South Park.
>
>"I sure am glad that's over with."

[Simon Robbins]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
> Man, I thought the PPL material was dry reading... (Well, the
aerodynamics
> was pretty damned interesting to me) The Instrument stuff is B O R I
> N G!! Almost fell asleep in class tonight... :)

I've been studying for the past few weeks, just light reading since I wont
start training until September, but I want to take some of the pressure off
as it's going to be an intensive integrated course. I'm finding the
aerodynamics and RT is sticking, but studying meteorology I just find I
switch off and read pages without realising I'm not paying attention. I
bought some training CD's from Oxford Aviation Training, who're just down
the road from me, and they're helping a lot.

I've also started playing FS2004 on VatSim (www.vatsim.net) so I'm getting
exposure to "real" voice RT comms. (Many of the controllers are pro's or
pilots themselves.)

Hopefully I should be in good shape study-wise when I actually start the
flying!..

Si

[Beav]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
> On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 13:14:27 -0000, "Beav"
> > wrote:
>
>>
>>"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
>>message ...
>>>
>>> If I may quote from South Park.
>>>
>>> "I sure am glad that's over with."
>>>
>>> I'm a helicopter pilot,damnit!!!
>>
>>Well **** you!!!.
>>
>>I bet no-one said THAT to you when you were phoning around:-)))
>
> You mean after the check ride or in general??

Ho yessss.

My little sister says
> that to me all the time when I call her.

It's their job:-)

I can't recall anyone
> telling me that with the "Hey, I passed the checkride" calls.. Then
> again I wiped out several Long Island iced teas at dinner and kinda
> had to be poured into bed last night. eheheh

I can imagine how getting ****ed would be a natural progression of the day.
Well for anyone who takes the demon drink that is, but I don't coz I'm a
good boy and always listened to my mother:-)

>
>>Well done Kev, VERY well done. The posts were excellent and the outcome
>>more
>>so. I envy you your ticket, but that doesn't stop me congratulating you.
>
> Thanks.
>
>>Beav (another Kev as it happens)
>
> Oh **** - ANOTHER ONE??

Yeah, but I couldn't write ANOTHER another another, now could I? :-)

Beav

[Marc Whisman]

Good job and great writing! I really enjoyed it! Like someone else
mention, I sure wouldn't want to go to a strange airport and fly a strange
ship for a checkride.... Well done.

regards

-Marc

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
>
> If I may quote from South Park.
>
> "I sure am glad that's over with."
>
> Man what a day.. Hell, what a couple of days.. Hit the road about 2
> minutes after posting to let you all know I was of to do my check ride
> and fond out 2 minutes after that I didn't have any gas in the truck.
> Hit the gas station but filling this beast's 40 gallon tank takes a
> while and by the time I hit the road, it was 11:30. Flight was at
> 1:05 and it's a 40 mile drive to the airport. To say several basic
> speed laws were mortally wounded would be a fairly accurate
> representation of my velocity on the way down. :)
>
> Got to the off-site parking lot - not the one I usually go to, but the
> truck doesn't fit in their garage - and was met with a laughing
> attendant. Evidently he thought it humorous I wanted to park an 8
> foot tall, 22 foot long truck in his lot. Well, I showed him a thing
> or two about parking a big-ass truck and soon I was at the terminal
> with 45 minutes to go.
>
> Security was ridiculous.. Basically strip down to your tingly parts
> and tip-toe through the metal detector. Effin' ridiculous.. Go back
> to how it was. Let's see some rag-head douche bag try any **** on an
> airplane these days and see how fast he gets his ass kicked.. Oh,
> sorry.. Went off on a tangent there.. heheh
>
> After getting redressed and repacking my crap, I hit the gate. Flying
> Southwest, the cattle roundup of airlines, I'm holding the coveted "A"
> boarding pass and I'm 4th in line to board. Once on the plane, I grab
> a seat over the wing (Smoothest flight there ya know) near the window
> and break out my flash cards, my can of cashews and my bag of M&Ms.
> I'm all set for an hour of study.. Yeah right.. I'm asleep even
> before we push back from the gate.
>
> Hit Vegas about 2:30pm and the place is a friggin' zoo.. I think
> Southwest lands all their planes at once just to further solidity the
> "stampede" mentality of their business model. Baggage is being
> retrieved on the carousel furthest from civilization and then it's a
> 40 minute wait before anything starts puking out of the carousel.
>
> Of course, my bag is one of the last ones to be deposited on the
> conveyor and once retrieved, we're on our way to the Hertz bus to
> gather up whatever cheap piece of crap rental car they've got me
> booked in.. It's a silver Ford Taurus but there's a bonus.. Siruis
> Satellite radio. Cool.. I get my luggage packed in (ONE change of
> clothes, a hairbrush, toothbrush, deodorant and some toothpaste - oh,
> and about 60 lbs of books and about a thousand flashcards..)
> and sped the next 15 minutes finding a good "station" on the
> satellite. Channel 23 is all hairbands from the 80s.. 27 is hard
> core metal.. sweet..
>
> I leave the parking lot cranking some Mastodon and am off to find my
> hotel.. 20 minutes later, I'm at the hotel and get checked in. I
> dump the bags in the room and head out to find the FBO where I'm to
> meet the DPE in the morning. It's 5:30pm and I get to the place and
> the only people left are one tour pilot and the office manager. Ok,
> no big deal. I find out what ship I'm flying and get the W&B info for
> it and find out how much the DPE weighs... Not much more than Q.
>
> I take all this info back to the hotel dump it on the bed in my room
> and head back downstairs to get something to eat. I hit up the
> Mexican place - I've got a hankering for a margarita - and get seated.
> A young Mexican kid brings me chips and salsa and asks if I'd like
> something to drink. I tell him "Cadillac margarita on the rocks, with
> salt." He says something that may have been English, but I'm not
> getting it. I ask him to repeat what he said and I swear I heard "I
> don't know alcohol, take a number." WTF???
>
> A few minutes later the server comes up and asks if I'm ready to
> order. I give him my order and explain some kid took my drink order
> but evidently only speaks Portuguese or some other unintelligible
> language and could I please get a margarita. The salsa has a nice
> kick to it and soon my margarita is on the table. It's probably a
> mistake to have one since I need to study, but I quickly down it and
> order another.
>
> My food shows up and I wolf it down and slam the rest of the 2nd marg.
> I realize the 2nd one was a mistake as I stand up I've definitely got
> a buzz. Great, I'm gonna fall asleep before I finish up my book work.
> On the way out, I pass the nightclub and see the marquis.. "Metal
> Gods - Judas Priest Tribute Band - Doors Open 9pm, $5 cover no
> minimum."
> Ok, I'm a HUGE Priest fan and this isn't good.. I quickly head to my
> room, grabbing a couple Cokes out of the machine on the way to get
> some caffeine in me and hit the books..
>
> It's about 7:00pm and I run through my flash cards and am amazed at
> how much I still remember from ground school.. I re-read all my notes
> and brush up on some airspace and weather stuff from my text books.
> I've got old Priest tunes bouncing round my head now and I've got the
> TV on for some background noise. I look up - Austin Powers is on..
> Oooh! Heather Graham!! (Is she just smokin' hot or WHAT??)
>
> I lose all interest in studying and get lost in Heather's form... and
> then look at the clock.. Hey, if I head downstairs now, I can catch
> the "Priest" show - so I do.. Yeah, I should have studied, but I
> figured I either knew it or didn't and if I didn't, Q would have never
> signed me off to be there so WTF, right?? Once in the club, I
> shoulder my way up front and spend the next 90 minutes or so bangin'
> my head to a pretty decent cover band and drinking a couple beers..
> (Yes, only a couple.)
>
> Back at the room around 11:30 or so, I slam about a half gallon of ice
> water, check DUATS for weather and then set the alarm for 6 before
> crawling in to bed. I didn't sleep for ****. I swear I watched the
> clock tick off from midnight to 4:30am when I think I finally dozed
> off.. A few minutes before 6:00 I woke up, turned off the alarm clock
> and pulled on my clothes. Another check of DUATS for weather and I
> finished up my X-country flight plan and I was outta there.
>
> The FBO wasn't even a mile from the hotel and I arrived about 7:45.
> Met my classmate who was also there for his check and we chatted for a
> couple minutes before the DPE showed up and introduced himself.
>
> We headed to his office to do the paperwork shuffle and he explained
> how the day would progress. I found out I was up 1st in the
> helicopter and instantly my butterflies went away. It was weird.
> Almost like I was relieved I was going to fly 1st.. The ship was in
> the hanger so we headed down and the DPE assigned us each a side of
> the helo for the pre-flight. I told the other applicant I wasn't
> comfortable with trusting anyone else to do part of my preflight and
> suggested we walk it down together.
>
> Preflight went ok except for the 1st couple minutes. After flicking
> on the Master switch, I noticed the main tank gauge showed empty but
> the Aux showed about 1/2 full. A couple taps on the main gauge freed
> up the needle and fuel was looking pretty. The rest of the preflight
> went smoothly and soon we were answering questions regarding the ship.
> Satisfied, the DPE hooked up the tow bar and soon we were trundling
> across the airport, a shiny gray and blue R22 Beta II in tow.
>
> Once at the ramp, the DPE removed the tow bar from the helo and I gave
> him my passenger briefing. He had a few questions for me and I must
> have answered correctly because he instructed me to hop in and see if
> I could fly this thing.
>
> I hopped in, busted out my pre-start and pre-takeoff checklist and
> starting verbalizing the checks. Soon the ship was warmed up and we
> were ready to go, GPS and radios all set up. The DPE was to handle
> all the radio calls so he called up ground told 'em what he wanted and
> was told to talk to the tower. Tower was called and we were cleared
> direct from the ramp to enter the pattern.
>
> Traffic was light, but winds were approaching 18 knots so I was in ETL
> as soon as I picked up into a hover. I did my pre- takeoff checks and
> then fed in the forward cyclic and began my takeoff run. I hit 60
> knots and began the climb.. "Nice takeoff profile" I hear from the
> left seat. Cool. I'm off to a good start.
>
> 1st time around the pattern is a normal approach to the thousand foot
> markers. Lots of power lines around the field and the wind is making
> me crab quite a bit on the crosswind to maintain ground track and the
> ground speed on the downwind is over 90 knots. The turn to base
> requires a pretty shallow angle and it's difficult to keep the rate of
> descent in as I turn final.. I get the 1st approach going and ask the
> DPE if he'd like it to the ground or to a hover. He wants a hover so
> that's what he gets.
>
> Next time around he wants a straight in auto. If I'm going to bust
> this ride, this will be it. I'm aiming for the thousand footers and
> I'm to enter when I'm ready. I pick my entry spot and count down from
> 3 and then enter. The entry is good but airspeed gets a little low
> but I get it all sorted and then recover - well short of my intended
> spot. I thought I was done right there but the DPE says "Let's go do
> another one. That wind will stop you dead in your tracks up here."
>
> Next one is almost right on the money.. I see the spot I entered the
> last one and wait an agonizing 5 seconds from there to enter. Entry
> is good, airspeed is good and I catch a rotor over speed in the flare
> and recover within about 20 feet of my spot. Sweet! The one concern
> I have about the flying portion is over.
>
> DPE asks me to hover to a taxiway intersection and do a hover auto.
> No problems. A little sideways movement to the left, but acceptable.
>
> "See those taxiway lights either side of the runway? That's a line of
> 20' tall trees. Get us out of here."
> Max performance takeoff time! I go through the mags checks, carb
> heat down and locked. DA is about 3000', temp is 20 so I'm looking at
> about 23" MAP.. Get the ship light on the skids, stop all movement
> and pull right to 23".
>
> The wind adds it's ETL lift and I break the 20 foot "barrier" in mere
> seconds and then accelerate into forward flight and reduce power to
> 21" for the climb out and head one more time around the pattern. On
> downwind he rolls off the throttle until the low rotor warning come on
> and then tells me to recover. No problem. Q and I worked on that a
> few days ago. Time for a steep approach.. No worries as the wind
> helps me out again.
>
> Next time around is a shallow approach with a run on landing with
> power limited to 17" MAP. Again, no worries. DPE calls tower and
> tells them we want to depart to the West. I call Reno FSS and open my
> flight plan and then I'm off on the X-country portion of the check.
> Heading is 311, airspeed 80 knots and leg time is 11 minutes. I make
> note of the time and get the speeds and altitudes dialed in.
>
> Every minute or so I verify my position with the chart and what I'm
> seeing down below. The DPE is drilling me on emergency procedures and
> performance questions for the 1st 6 minutes. I see my 1st checkpoint
> up ahead and the DPE asks me to show him where we are. I point right
> to the power lines we're crossing over on the chart and then indicate
> the 350' tower in the distance and say "We're right here and we're
> headed for that tower. Once there, we'll turn left to 305 for 9
> minutes and check in with Indian Springs."
>
> "Engine failure" comes from the left seat as he chops the throttle on
> me. I enter ok but get a little slow and end up playing chase the
> needle for a while until I get it all settled down. DPE asks "Where
> you going" so I say "That flat brown patch just ahead." and recover
> pretty close to it. Not pretty, but we'd probably walk away from the
> carnage.
>
> I thought I'd effed up somehow because he takes the controls and turns
> to the south. My concerns are unwarranted - he's just expediting the
> trip to the practice area. He takes me to the slope area and gets the
> nose into the wind. It's really swirling and I'm kept very busy on
> the controls as I perform a slope landing with the left skid uphill.
> Landing was ok, but the pickup was a little messy due to the winds.
> Still within standards, but I wasn't very pleased with it and I know I
> can do them better.
>
> DPE tells me to go ahead and take off and climb out. Once level at
> about 1000' AGL, he throttle chops me with a brief "Engine failure"
> warning.a half second before hand. Entry was ok but man to the RPMs
> climb with this density altitude. Got into an over speed condition,
> but quickly recognized it and corrected for it and then started aiming
> for my landing spot. Recovery was at altitude and once recovered, I
> climbed out and was instructed to head back to the field.
>
> I made a steep approach to the ramp and once again, the wind I was so
> concerned about at pick up helped me out on the set down. It's hard
> to get the wobbles when you're in ETL a foot off the ground. Once the
> cool down is started, I ask the DPE how I did He tells me "You're
> within standards, good job." Cool. Step one completed.
>
> The DPE stepped out about 2 mins in to the cool down and tells me he's
> headed to the bathroom, do a normal shutdown and secure the ship.
> I can see my fellow check ride "victim" standing on the ramp waiting
> for his flight. I get the ship shut down and he comes walking over to
> see how it went. "Not too bad." I tell him. It really wasn't that
> bad - a lot like flying with Q on a day to day basis.
>
> The DPE gets back and tells me I'll be catching a ride back to the
> hangar with another couple guys who just landed. Perfect. I need to
> run back to my hotel and check out so while victim number 2 hits the
> friendly skies, I haul ass to the hotel, toss all my crap into my
> suitcase and head back to the FBO.
>
> Once there I do a little more studying as I'm waiting. Pretty soon
> they're back and I ask how it all went. My classmate says it went
> well and we spend a few minutes chatting about the oral that's coming.
>
> He's an add-on rating so he's up 1st and maybe a half hour goes by
> when he comes back to the lobby and says simply, "Got it." Nice.
> He's got to get back to his wife so he wishes me good luck and hits
> the road. Ok, my turn now.
>
> I hit the DPE's office and toss my FAR/AIM on the desk. It's covered
> in a rainbow of labeled tabs all ready to help me out when I falter.
> The questions are pretty straightforward and I find myself answering
> like I know what the hell I'm talking about. A small falter when it
> comes to some Class Echo airspace questions, but I've got that paged
> tabbed so I quickly look it up and get my answer squared away.
>
> DPE asks for a sectional and drills me for about 30 minutes of
> differing "What -if" scenarios and lots of "How would you..?"
> questions. I get through that part and he says "OK, you're doing good
> so far. You certainly know your regs." I'm thinking it's just about
> over when he busts out the weather questions.. Crap. I hate weather
> more than I hate airspace questions...
>
> Mercifully, the questions aren't too difficult and then the office
> goes quiet as the DPE checks over his list of items to touch on. "Ok,
> got that... got those.. did that..." He looks at me and I think
> another question is coming and then he sticks out his hand and says
> "Congratulations!" Huh?? It's over? I passed!!?? It doesn't really
> sink in until I see the temporary certificate getting rolled up into
> the typewriter.
>
> The stress of the past week disappeared in a couple of heartbeats and
> I gave my self a silent "HELL YEAH! as I put all my stuff away.
> before he began typing the cert up, the DPE asked "Do you mind if I
> critique you?"
>
> "Not at all" I said "I'd love to hear what you think I didn't quite
> nail."
>
> He told me that while my autos were within the standards, I need to
> relax with them and continue to practice them. he said "I'm confident
> that should you have to do a real auto, you'd walk away from
> helicopter. I'm not sure how the helicopter would fare though." I
> kind of laughed and said if it came down to it, I'm going to consider
> the helicopter my own personal crumple zone and save my ass."
>
> His only other issue was my run on landing. He said the profile was
> great but he would have liked to have seen a slower touchdown speed
> with a shorter slide. He had no comments about the knowledge portion
> of the test so I guess I did ok with the oral.
>
> He typed up the certificate, had be go over the info to make sure it
> was correct and then had me sign it. It was official.. I could now
> call myself a licensed helicopter pilot. I couldn't help but keep
> looking at my temporary certificate the whole way to the airport. I
> called everyone I knew to let them know I'd passed. I think the best
> reaction was from my father who spent 22 years flying with the US
> Navy. I could hear the emotion in his voice as he told me how proud
> he was of me. I'd be willing to bet money he cried a bit when he got
> off the phone..
>
> My wife and kids called me about 4 times on the 30 minute drive to the
> airport to yell "Congratulations" and when I met them for dinner back
> here in San Diego a couple hours ago, the kids all wanted to see my
> "license".. I'm pretty sure I had one too many Long Islands with
> dinner and will be paying for it tomorrow, but I had good reason to
> celebrate..
>
> I'm a helicopter pilot,damnit!!!
>
>
>

[Simon Robbins]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
> I'll have to check that out.. I wonder if we can hook up the sim here
> at work to the net and try that out. I know I'll be practicing
> instrument procedures in there pretty much every day once we start
> flying under the hood..

It's definitely worth taking a look at. You might have to jump through a
few extra setup hoops if you're running behind an overly aggressive firewall
though. The number of pilots flying, ATC's open, etc largely depends on the
time of day, but you've got the whole world there, so there's always traffic
and towers open somewhere. You also get the live weather fed into it to.

I'm surprised that flying schools haven't got wise to it. Granted, it is
primarily supposed to be entertaining and there's no guarantee of the
quality of tower you'll get (most are very professional, but I swear
Stanstead Tower was drunk last night!) , but with the ATC client software
they could always get someone knowledgable to man their own local tower
within the game and have students fly from that as RT and procedure
training. It's certainly helping to build my confidence at RT. One cool
feature is with the use of a USB headset, you can have the aircraft noise
coming out of the regular PC speakers, and the voice only coming out of the
earphones. When voice isn't available you have a text window, which is kind
of difficult to use when you're trying to hover taxi or concentrate on an
approach!

Si

[Beav]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
> On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 12:01:20 -0000, "Beav"
> > wrote:
>
>
>>I can imagine how getting ****ed would be a natural progression of the
>>day.
>>Well for anyone who takes the demon drink that is, but I don't coz I'm a
>>good boy and always listened to my mother:-)
>
> You are SO full of bovine excrement....

Bovine insulin yeah, but excrement? Never :-))
>
>
>>> Oh **** - ANOTHER ONE??
>>
>>Yeah, but I couldn't write ANOTHER another another, now could I? :-)
>
> I'm pretty sure you just did.

Bugger!!!!

Beav

[Beav]

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
message ...
> On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 16:39:14 -0000, "Beav"
> > wrote:
>
>>
>>"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in
>>message ...
>>> On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 12:01:20 -0000, "Beav"
>>> > wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>I can imagine how getting ****ed would be a natural progression of the
>>>>day.
>>>>Well for anyone who takes the demon drink that is, but I don't coz I'm a
>>>>good boy and always listened to my mother:-)
>>>
>>> You are SO full of bovine excrement....
>>
>>Bovine insulin yeah, but excrement? Never :-))
>
> I think you're hefting a pint right now as a matter of fact, deceiver!
> probably a Tadcasters, ya bloody *******!! It's only 9:30am here and
> I'd like a Tadcasters...

No bugger EVER believes me when I tell them I don't drink, but nevertheless,
it's true. I've had one or two drinks over the past 50 odd years but I
didn't find it anything but sickening, so I don't bother trying anymore.

Tadcasters has probably gone out of business now too, although I could be
wrong. Boddingtons (local to me) and world famous for making decent beer
closed it's doors a week or two back for the last time:-(

Beav