Checkride bust (long)

July 11, 2004 7:30 1.8 hours
Instrument flight test (oral passed 6/25/04, no flight test per WX)

Today was the 4th rescheduled test date, with yesterday afternoon being
weathered out yet again by thunderstorms and low ceilings over the N.C.
mountains. We felt that today would be a better day if we got an early
start, so we rescheduled for 7:30 am. That meant I'd have to get up at 5 am
in order to fly to Andrews-Murphy (KRHP) by 7:30. At 6:30, a call to the FSS
showed RHP with 300 scattered, 600 scattered and an Airmet for the entire
area VFR not recommended. Knoxville (TYS) was clear as a bell, just like it
was at 47A. So I waited. Every half hour, the RHP AWOS showed 300 & 600 or
worse. Then at 10 am, Mr. Jones called and said it was clear, come on up.
Randall got in the plane with me since there was still quite a few clouds
between us and he wanted to make sure that I'd be able to get home if
conditions changed. Sure enough, puffy clouds all over the mountains, but
the valley that RHP was sitting in was clear below 12,000.

We landed and walked up to Mr. Jones office to finalize the paperwork, then
it was out to the plane. All my plates were in place on my kneeboard, in the
order that they'd be required per his briefing. After lifting off, I put the
hood down and he vectored me around in a giant circle to get us out of the
valley and headed to Knoxville. We had to dodge a few clouds that were
building already, but they were no real problem yet. I dialed in the TYS
ATIS, loaded the ILS/DME arc approach, and contacted TYS for vectors. (I had
slight reservations in my mind about the DME approach and the partial panel
VOR. The arc was a concern because I hadn't done very many in real life, and
the partial panel was iffy for me because I was afraid I might foul up the
math determining my timed turns.)

Back to the DME arc. We were vectored to intercept the 102 Volunteer VOR
radial and cleared for the approach. In my mind, I was going to hit the
radial, turn outbound to 7 miles and the follow the radial. But Mr. Jones
wanted me to head directly for the IAF at OTAKY using the GPS display. I
told him that that wasn't my clearance and he tried to explain, but then
stopped and said OK. By this time, I was so close to the 7 mile arc anyway,
I just started flying it, which turned out to be the point he was trying to
make. A few more turns of the OBS than usual, but I held it to 6.9/7.0 all
the way around to the ILS intercept. Smooth as hell from there with the
needles painting a bullseye when the glideslope came in. My 5T's and GUMPS
check (and wonder of wonders, radio calls!) were all done correctly and
without much fanfare. At DH he let me lift the hood and do a smooth T&G, if
I say so myself. Then back down with the hood and back around as he pasted
the stickies on my AI and DG for the VOR partial panel. My vectors from
approach were fairly easy to figure thank God, with only one taking a bit
longer than I would have liked. I saw him start timing how long it took to
me settle into the vector, but it came in right after that. Then they
vectored me onto final approach. With everything dialed in and my timed
turns working fairly well, things seemed to be going fairly smoothly. But
then... a bit left of my course, almost over the VOR, there's the zone of
confusion and the needle pegs right, the TO flag shuddered and flopped over
and is now showing FROM... and the...needle...stays...pegged. Now I'm
turning left, only making it worse, and by now it's too late with a full
deflection, I realize what I've done, so I called my missed and shoved
everything forward.

Sigh.

We quietly climbed to our assigned altitude and requested clearance back to
RHP. Approach gave us a vector and we headed back. I now had 30 miles to
think, with one hold and one GPS approach still to fly. I knew I was coming
back, but I was resolved to only have to retest the partial panel. The hold
was part of the GPS approach, so I loaded that and after we crossed the IAF,
a teardrop entry and another full lap that went well. Then we shot the
remainder of the approach. I went all the way to minimums without busting,
and then he let me lift the hood and land.

Mr. Jones is now on vacation and will be out of state for two weeks. He
offered to set me up with another examiner to get the retest done sooner,
but I said no. I'm not in a hurry for this rating, I'll just get a few more
practice flights in and do it right the next time.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino
Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
www.wizardofdraws.com
www.cartoonclipart.com