Theory done. Dummy checkrides next.

So yesterday was my FAA written (theory) test.

I went to the testing site in the morning as scheduled. I got there a bit early, which turned out to be a good thing, as they couldn't get their system running. I waited 45 minutes, then asked them to send me somewhere else. Another 45 minutes later, I arrived at the new place, with about 45 minutes available to finish the test (see a pattern here?).

Nothing like a bit of stress and time pressure to make these things more fun.

Ended up finishing the test in about 25 minutes. Just before I hit submit I changed my answers on 3 questions. After grading, turned out all my original answers were right, and the changed ones wrong.

slaps forehead

So instead of getting a 93, I got an 88. Oh well. Still a decent passing score.

I also had a solo in the afternoon... had a weird thing happen that totally freaked me out. On my last landing, it finally went really well - smooth, perfect positioning, perfect directional movement, the whole thing. As I am congratulation myself on a nice landing, maybe a second later the plane suddenly jerks violently to the right, nose moving 20-30 degree and I'm suddenly headed to the grass at 50 miles an hour.

Yikes.

I must admit my initial reaction was not the best - I pulled the mixture all the way out to kill the engine. Not sure why I reacted that way; I think my brain was screaming "stop the car... er, plane!"

Of course, a split second later I realize what I just did (as I am working the rudders and breaks to go back to centerline) so I push the mixture all the way in... and also the throttle.

Little planes get up to take-off speed pretty quickly.

Anyway, I did manage to get off the runway eventually without an inadvertent touch-n-go at about two thirds down the runway. My heart was thumping and I was feeling deeply embarrassed. They did go and check to make sure nothing was wrong with the breaks (it felt like the right wheel locked spontaneously), but it seems like the plane was fine. So this had to be put down to idiot error (the idiot being me). Best guess is a sudden severe gust of wind or even some wake turbulence (tons of planes today, including a couple business jets, on two parallels) moving across the runway. Live and learn for next time.

Next up - starting tomorrow, I will be doing dummy checkrides. All my requirements are met at this point except for a couple solo hours I'll get out of the way doing just landings and takeoffs.