Checkride Checklist Question

I would do the preflight from paper.

I would announce my checklist completion for each point in the flight.

If you can memorize all that is needed then that should be acceptable.

As you progress to more complex aircraft and procedures you need to
establish a flow that works for you every time.

The big three flows for me a

(Whats Next...) Especially IFR, set up the radios, radials, listen to ATIS for
for whats next as soon as you have a spare moment.

Brief the approach (again IFR) I do it from the approach plate in exactly the same manner every time.

The really big one is GUMPS, do GUMPS on entering the pattern and again on Short final.

I belong to a club and routinely switch from a retractable to fixed gear airplanes.

I always do a "Gear down" when on final, in the fixed gear planes I add "and Bolted" ;-)

If it's high wing I actually visually LOOK at the gear leg.

"Gig 601XL Builder" wr.giacona@coxDOTnet wrote in message
news:VQuKe.15$7f5.1@okepread01...
You guys are lucky...

The DE on my check ride pulled the power about 2 minutes after he had told
me to get established on a radial from the VOR. when he pulled the power I
pitched for best glide and looked for a place to land.... There wasn't
one. All I could see was trees not a spot wider than the road that I had
passed over a minute or two before. So I think that must be where he
expects me to land so I 3000 ft of altitude and put the plane into a nice
shallow bank and I noticed the one clearing in all of this forest was
behind me and within range.

Looking back after the check ride was over I realized he knew exactly
where we were and wanted to see if I would look for a spot that we had
passed over. He knew I probably hadn't seen it because I was getting set
up on the VOR.


On my checkride, the DE "failed" the engine over the middle of a dry, sandy
wash area. I think he wanted to see if I'd make the decision to us it early
enough (I feel I did) to work my way down to one end and set up to use as
much of it as possible as there was nothing else available.

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Chandler, AZ

Chris - you said you prefer S turns to a slip ... my personal
preference would be to slip rather than turn , thereby continuing to
track my intended approach path. I have never felt that the aircraft to
be less in control in a slip...in fact , the descent is rather more
stabile.
Otoh , if I'm really high , I would first do S-turns to lose some
altitude , then come in somewhat high , and lose the rest using a slip.

Does anyone else feel the same ?
Any DEs out there - what would you say to a student who does this on a
PPL checkride ?

regards
Pavan Bhatnagar - student pilot.

Chris - you said you prefer S turns to a slip ... my personal
preference would be to slip rather than turn , thereby continuing to
track my intended approach path. I have never felt that the aircraft to
be less in control in a slip...in fact , the descent is rather more
stabile.
Otoh , if I'm really high , I would first do S-turns to lose some
altitude , then come in somewhat high , and lose the rest using a slip.

Does anyone else feel the same ?
Any DEs out there - what would you say to a student who does this on a
PPL checkride ?

regards
Pavan Bhatnagar - student pilot.


Chris Ehlbeck wrote:
Pretty close to my experience. I had my "engine failure" on what turned out
to be my last landing of the ride. I was high in the pattern and just
getting ready to turn to base when "it happened". I called a short
approach, pitched for best glide (and to slow) then told him that if I
wasn't in the pattern I'd have a landing spot in mind to head for, and try
to restart if time permitted, then called mayday on 121.5. I did some
s-turns while losing altitude, touched down longer down the runway than I
hoped but got it down. He had me stop when we taxied clear of the active
and had some questions. Why didn't you use a checklist and try to restart?
My answer was because I was in the pattern at the airport where I knew I
could make a landing (and did). My first responsibility was to fly the
airplane and get myself and passenger back on the ground, safely. He
nodded. Then he asked "Why S-turns instead of a slip?" I answered that I
was in coordinated flight with the turns in and airplane with a failed
engine and was more in control than in a slip. I then got a big grin,
handshake and "Congratulations on becoming a private pilot."

All the examiners are different but are looking for a safe pilot. If using
a checklist would compromise safety, you should be able to get away with not
using it.
--
Chris Ehlbeck, PP-ASEL
"It's a license to learn, have fun and buy really expensive hamburgers."

It's actually a coin toss. At that moment in time, I felt S-turns were
better. Call me weird but I've always thought slips were fun!
--
Chris Ehlbeck, PP-ASEL
"It's a license to learn, have fun and buy really expensive hamburgers."

wrote in message
oups.com...
Chris - you said you prefer S turns to a slip ... my personal
preference would be to slip rather than turn , thereby continuing to
track my intended approach path. I have never felt that the aircraft to
be less in control in a slip...in fact , the descent is rather more
stabile.
Otoh , if I'm really high , I would first do S-turns to lose some
altitude , then come in somewhat high , and lose the rest using a slip.

Does anyone else feel the same ?
Any DEs out there - what would you say to a student who does this on a
PPL checkride ?

regards
Pavan Bhatnagar - student pilot.

I like slips too!

Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech

"Chris Ehlbeck" wrote in message
...
It's actually a coin toss. At that moment in time, I felt S-turns were
better. Call me weird but I've always thought slips were fun!
--
Chris Ehlbeck, PP-ASEL
"It's a license to learn, have fun and buy really expensive hamburgers."

My feeling on this is that it depends on the emergency situation.
If I have a fire situation, I want to put the plane down as fast as I can.
If the engine quits and I am putting the plane down in some field I want to
stay aloft as long as possible to transmit, Maday and call for help.

At least that is what I was taught.

Kevin Kubiak
PP-ASEL

wrote:

Chris - you said you prefer S turns to a slip ... my personal
preference would be to slip rather than turn , thereby continuing to
track my intended approach path. I have never felt that the aircraft to
be less in control in a slip...in fact , the descent is rather more
stabile.
Otoh , if I'm really high , I would first do S-turns to lose some
altitude , then come in somewhat high , and lose the rest using a slip.

Does anyone else feel the same ?
Any DEs out there - what would you say to a student who does this on a
PPL checkride ?

regards
Pavan Bhatnagar - student pilot.

On 8/9/2005 20:04, Morgans wrote:

"Mark Hansen" wrote

the DE can't really check you out in
every possible circumstance, so he has to pick. He picked this one.

I've heard it said, that the DE knows if you are going to pass or not, by
the way you taxi out to the runway, and run-up. Kinda true?

I took an IFR 'stage check' (not the final check ride) with the assistant
chief flight instructor at the FBO, and he said that I had already passed
before the flight started, and that it was up to me to show him that I
should fail.

I thought that was an interesting way to look at it...

--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Student
Sacramento, CA

wrote:
Chris - you said you prefer S turns to a slip ... my personal
preference would be to slip rather than turn , thereby continuing to
track my intended approach path. I have never felt that the aircraft to
be less in control in a slip...in fact , the descent is rather more
stabile.
Otoh , if I'm really high , I would first do S-turns to lose some
altitude , then come in somewhat high , and lose the rest using a slip.

Does anyone else feel the same ?
Any DEs out there - what would you say to a student who does this on a
PPL checkride ?

I'm neither Chris nor a DE, but I think the question of slip vs. s-turn is
airframe dependant. Slips just aren't effective at all in some models. In my
airplane, I think the most effective method for steepening the approach is to
raise the nose, decreasing airspeed below best glide. Whatever works should be
acceptable.

Dave

T o d d P a t t i s t wrote:
Dave Butler wrote:

Whatever works should be acceptable.


I agree, but we don't really want our skills to stop at just
"acceptable," we want them good enough to cover any
eventuality, and slips are a good skill to have in the
toolbox.

Of course.

pavansheel's question was:

"Any DEs out there - what would you say to a student who does this on a
PPL checkride ?"

Dave