John Huthmaker
December 20th 05, 04:05 AM
I made a posting in rec.aviation.student, but I should definitley copy it
here. Thank you everyone.
Subject: I lost my student pilot cert today-I couldnt be any happier!!!
FAA law is that upon issuance of a new certificate, your old one becomes
invalid. Well, I passed my PPL checkride today, so my student certificate
is no longer valid. What a shame.
It was a good day today. The weather cooperated with my plans. I met with
the examiner right 10:30 am. He looked over the airplane books. Everything
was fine. As we got in the plane, he told me to grab my flight plan to
Brown Field. "As far as your concerned, we are going to Brown Field" he
said. I got VFR flight following to Brown from Long Beach clearance. A
short while later, we were up in the air. So far so good. We saw the first
checkpoint (about 3 minutes into the flight), and he cancelled flight
following. He said "Using Pilotage, take me to Hawethorne". That was no
problem since I knew where I was at, and where to go. I got ATIS, contacted
tower, and followed their directions. The only thing that was unexpected
about the whole checkride happened next. Usually they have you turn a right
base from the 110 freeway before the 105 (LA Bravo). This I had planned
for. What I hadnt was the plane coming in from an 8 mile final that was
faster than me. The tower told me to turn toward the numbers right then. I
hadnt ever heard this request before, so I wasnt sure how to proceed. Soon
the examiner looks at me and says, he asked you to turn toward the numbers,
you better get going. So I did, and ended up very high for my final. I
asked the examiner if I could go around. He said it was my flight, and I
may do as I wish. So I did a go around. That was good because it showed
good judgment, and we were going to have to do one anyways. No problem, I
followed the pattern, and he asked me to do a short field landing. When I
was abeam the number, he killed the throttle. I coasted it in, and landed
pretty close to the numbers. Not bad at all in my opinion.
I did after landing checklist, then got permission to taxi, and headed back
to the active runway. He requested a soft field takeoff. I got prepped,
and got permission. As I was rolling up to about 40 knots, he says "Abort
takeoff". I killed the throttle, added in the brakes, and then taxied back
off the runway. I was sure that that was the end of my checkride. As I
pulled off, I was waiting for him to tell me why I had just failed. He
looks at me and says, I just needed to have you do an aborted takeoff. Well
that was interesting. So I taxit back, and prepare for my short field
takeoff. Takeoff is good, and I do another short field takeoff. This time
I taxi back, and perform a soft field takeoff. Since we were done with
Hawthorne, we requested left crosswind depature, and proceed back to the
practice area.
On the way, he has me put on the hood. Asks me to do some climbs, turns to
a heading, etc. That all goes real well. All the while he is trying to
distract me about this or that. As we arrive at the practice area (still
under the hood), he has me do unusual attitude recoverys. One from a climb,
and another from a dive. Those go perfect. Then he does some other
manipulation and has me remove my hood. He tells me that he just cleared
the area, and to perform steep turns. I turn on the fuel pump, pick my
landing spot, and peform the maneuver. All is well. Next is stalls. My
stalls could have used a little help. The first one I pulled back the yoke
to soon during recovery. The rest of them go fine, power off, then power
on, both with turns as well.
Next he asks me to find my position using VOR's. First thing I did was tune
my VOR's and check their ID's. I triangulate my position, and call out that
we should be right over Long Beach Airport. I glanced around and didnt see
it, but he said nothing. I think we were indeed right over it. Next he
tunes to a VOR, and says "It doesnt matter which VOR this is, just take me
to it". I got him loud and clear, dont bother id'ing, just go. I quickly
pick up the TO on the VOR, and turn towards the numbers. As Im flying the
needle, he gets Long Beach's ATIS, and requests landing on 25R. He then
says, go ahead and make your landing on 25R. I turn back, but am at 4500
feet. A little high to land. He tells me to nose down, into the yellow
arc. This is something I had only done once with my instructor, so I was
apprehensive, but did as requested. This got us down to 1000 feet just as
we came upon the pattern. Last he asks for a soft field landing on 25 R. I
was close to the airfield during this pattern (I was close on the ones at
Hawthorne too, but this was very close). I ended up overshooting final and
having to make it back up. I make my soft field landing, and he requests
taxi over runway 30 to taxiway Bravo. As we are taxiing he mentions that he
was not exactly pleased with my pattern. I actually thought that this truly
was the end. Not that I had failed the whole test, but I was going to have
to take part of it again and rework the pattern a little. As we are rolling
he switches over to ground. He tells me "The only reason I havent passed
yet is because we still need to park the plane". Now that I could handle.
We taxi back, and he tells me that "Overall I did well. I fly smoothly, and
handle the plane well. He says I should go with my friends though, and
visit as many airports as possible. This should give me the chance to work
out the problems with my pattern". As I taxi back I tell him that I cant
let him out until the engine is stopped. What can I say, I had been warned.
Also did I mention that I asked him if he needed me to explain the
seatbelts, what can I say, I was warned.
It was a good day. Today I become an official airman, and I wont forget the
advice he gave me.
--
John Huthmaker
http://www.cogentnetworking.com
here. Thank you everyone.
Subject: I lost my student pilot cert today-I couldnt be any happier!!!
FAA law is that upon issuance of a new certificate, your old one becomes
invalid. Well, I passed my PPL checkride today, so my student certificate
is no longer valid. What a shame.
It was a good day today. The weather cooperated with my plans. I met with
the examiner right 10:30 am. He looked over the airplane books. Everything
was fine. As we got in the plane, he told me to grab my flight plan to
Brown Field. "As far as your concerned, we are going to Brown Field" he
said. I got VFR flight following to Brown from Long Beach clearance. A
short while later, we were up in the air. So far so good. We saw the first
checkpoint (about 3 minutes into the flight), and he cancelled flight
following. He said "Using Pilotage, take me to Hawethorne". That was no
problem since I knew where I was at, and where to go. I got ATIS, contacted
tower, and followed their directions. The only thing that was unexpected
about the whole checkride happened next. Usually they have you turn a right
base from the 110 freeway before the 105 (LA Bravo). This I had planned
for. What I hadnt was the plane coming in from an 8 mile final that was
faster than me. The tower told me to turn toward the numbers right then. I
hadnt ever heard this request before, so I wasnt sure how to proceed. Soon
the examiner looks at me and says, he asked you to turn toward the numbers,
you better get going. So I did, and ended up very high for my final. I
asked the examiner if I could go around. He said it was my flight, and I
may do as I wish. So I did a go around. That was good because it showed
good judgment, and we were going to have to do one anyways. No problem, I
followed the pattern, and he asked me to do a short field landing. When I
was abeam the number, he killed the throttle. I coasted it in, and landed
pretty close to the numbers. Not bad at all in my opinion.
I did after landing checklist, then got permission to taxi, and headed back
to the active runway. He requested a soft field takeoff. I got prepped,
and got permission. As I was rolling up to about 40 knots, he says "Abort
takeoff". I killed the throttle, added in the brakes, and then taxied back
off the runway. I was sure that that was the end of my checkride. As I
pulled off, I was waiting for him to tell me why I had just failed. He
looks at me and says, I just needed to have you do an aborted takeoff. Well
that was interesting. So I taxit back, and prepare for my short field
takeoff. Takeoff is good, and I do another short field takeoff. This time
I taxi back, and perform a soft field takeoff. Since we were done with
Hawthorne, we requested left crosswind depature, and proceed back to the
practice area.
On the way, he has me put on the hood. Asks me to do some climbs, turns to
a heading, etc. That all goes real well. All the while he is trying to
distract me about this or that. As we arrive at the practice area (still
under the hood), he has me do unusual attitude recoverys. One from a climb,
and another from a dive. Those go perfect. Then he does some other
manipulation and has me remove my hood. He tells me that he just cleared
the area, and to perform steep turns. I turn on the fuel pump, pick my
landing spot, and peform the maneuver. All is well. Next is stalls. My
stalls could have used a little help. The first one I pulled back the yoke
to soon during recovery. The rest of them go fine, power off, then power
on, both with turns as well.
Next he asks me to find my position using VOR's. First thing I did was tune
my VOR's and check their ID's. I triangulate my position, and call out that
we should be right over Long Beach Airport. I glanced around and didnt see
it, but he said nothing. I think we were indeed right over it. Next he
tunes to a VOR, and says "It doesnt matter which VOR this is, just take me
to it". I got him loud and clear, dont bother id'ing, just go. I quickly
pick up the TO on the VOR, and turn towards the numbers. As Im flying the
needle, he gets Long Beach's ATIS, and requests landing on 25R. He then
says, go ahead and make your landing on 25R. I turn back, but am at 4500
feet. A little high to land. He tells me to nose down, into the yellow
arc. This is something I had only done once with my instructor, so I was
apprehensive, but did as requested. This got us down to 1000 feet just as
we came upon the pattern. Last he asks for a soft field landing on 25 R. I
was close to the airfield during this pattern (I was close on the ones at
Hawthorne too, but this was very close). I ended up overshooting final and
having to make it back up. I make my soft field landing, and he requests
taxi over runway 30 to taxiway Bravo. As we are taxiing he mentions that he
was not exactly pleased with my pattern. I actually thought that this truly
was the end. Not that I had failed the whole test, but I was going to have
to take part of it again and rework the pattern a little. As we are rolling
he switches over to ground. He tells me "The only reason I havent passed
yet is because we still need to park the plane". Now that I could handle.
We taxi back, and he tells me that "Overall I did well. I fly smoothly, and
handle the plane well. He says I should go with my friends though, and
visit as many airports as possible. This should give me the chance to work
out the problems with my pattern". As I taxi back I tell him that I cant
let him out until the engine is stopped. What can I say, I had been warned.
Also did I mention that I asked him if he needed me to explain the
seatbelts, what can I say, I was warned.
It was a good day. Today I become an official airman, and I wont forget the
advice he gave me.
--
John Huthmaker
http://www.cogentnetworking.com