I'm a pilot!
So following my failed checkride from two weeks ago, I came back in today to do it again. I was filled with trepidation. I slept only 2 1/2 hours last night, which was the most I could manage; Pink Panther and Dr. Phil kept me company from about 3AM onwards (luckily, I had the discipline to not go back to the books, which would have scuttled any chance of my passing the oral again).
At 7:15 I left the house, and drove to the airport, arriving at 7:45. My instructor was there already, and we quickly wrapped up the IACRA application and additional endorsement in my logbook. I went to the examiner's office; he was late, which gave me just the perfect opportunity to consider again where I was, what I was about to do, and freak out of my mind. Again.
Honestly, with all the hyperventilating I'm surprised I wasn't hypoxic.
Eventually he got there around 8:20AM and we went into his office. Most of the next 45 minutes were spent fighting the IACRA website while at the same time going over some of the oral portions. But we've had a much longer session last Friday so he mostly just tried to make sure I didn't forget critical stuff and trip me up on practical questions of various sorts that he never asked me before (what do you do if the engine starts running rough during flight? basic stuff, but not previously mentioned).
We were done at 9:15AM. I went to get the plane; scheduling mixup. No plane. So they frantically called another instructor and had them give me the plane he was about to fly with his student. It was the only other 172R available, so it was either that or piss off the DPE. The school fears this guy, I'm telling you.
The winds were horrific - 20kn at an angle, gusting to 30kn from multiple directions. Talk about increasing confidence!
I preflighted, a quart of oil missing, got that taken care of (and made the DPE happy). We got in, and for the next 10 minutes, I did nothing BUT screw up. Well, sort of; I taxied fine, but then ATC gave me an unusual instruction that I never heard before ("hold the line") which I thought meant "hold short" but really meant "enter the runway and wait". He got upset with me. He got even more upset when I got nervous and ended up taxing off the runway after getting on it. I'm surprised he didn't fail me then. But he let me proceed.
Did the best soft field takeoff I've ever done, literally textbook. Inside I was shocked; I have never managed to do it quite so perfectly, taking almost the entire runway to accelerate slowly to Vy before climbing. We did our turn, and he started by giving me a simulated engine failure. No problem; I like those. But this one was just textbook again. In fact, it was better than textbook; I took precise accounting of the wind and got the plane utterly controlled, at the proper speed, right past the numbers. He made me go around instead of actually landing, but his voice softened. I was getting on a roll.
Then I WAS on a roll. I executed the best series of performance landings I have ever done in my life. Engine failure, short, slip... one after the other, perfect airspeeds, well-controlled, right on the numbers each and every time. And he varied all my takeoffs, too. Considering the winds in play, I gained confidence more rapidly throughout this series than I ever have.
Then another oopsie. I forgot my XC flight plan in the car. He yelled at me a little, but then I pulled out the sectional, showed him my path, and quoted from memory the course and headings, times and fuel, for the first couple of legs. They were all spot-on, so he let it go.
Literally. He just let it go, and immediately asked for a diversion to an unknown airport. We did that and made a normal landing; took a full stop so he can visit the head, then back on. Short field takeoff, again textbook. Low airwork - Esses and around-a-point, even stronger winds, no problem. Hood came next. That got me flustered, not because I can't do it, but because for some reason it kept slipping and distracting me, leading me to repeatedly get "just near" to busting the various PTS requirements. But I didn't. We did a quick VOR interception, unusual attitude recovery, and took the hood off. Next came slow flight, easy. Stalls, easy. Steep turns - ohhh, good steep turns today. Smooth, and nicely level all the way through.
And then he said "OK, take me back to the airport, and give me a soft field landing to a full stop". I pissed him off again by using "incoming" instead of "inbound" on the radio, but the setup to land and airspeed control was still as precise as before, and we landed nicely and smoothly (and STILL just beyond the numbers). I didn't let the eleveator down until we slowed down a lot, while remembering to correct for crosswind even after landing, and he really liked that. I was so busy though, that when tower asked me to taxi off at Lima I forgot to answer; he looked at me and said "did you hear the tower?" and, in a spot of coolness I did not really feel, I was on the radio confirming the instruction I never heard. Luckily, I guessed right, and was able to follow with "yeah, I was just making sure I had full control of the plane before I answered". I'm such a bullshitter, but I got away with that one.
And with that, it all came to an end. We taxied back, turned the engine off, and he said "I'm going to pass you, but you still have a problem with being distracted. You really need to work on that. I strongly recommend you fly with an instructor at least once a month for a while, and get them to help you with that. But your airspeed were really good and your control of the aircraft was also very good, so I'm going to pass you". Then he was gone.
And I got out of the plane, went to grab the tow-bar, and out of nowhere, sat on the ground and started crying like a baby. I just couldn't stop it for a couple minutes. I was shaking so hard it was difficult to get the plane back to its parking spot, and it took another 40 minutes to work the stupid IACRA and get my temporary certificate printed. And then it was over, and I became a private pilot.
Didcha hear me? I earned my ticket!
Failing my oral a couple weeks ago was a hard blow. Coming back in today and being so in the zone felt like a really nice comeback. I don't know if I could pull off another series like that in this sort of wind. For some reason, today, all my training and hard work came together in difficult conditions and made me seem a lot more experienced than I really am. And it felt so... gosh... darned... good.
In another funny coincidence that made me happy for no good reason - the third page in my logbook was just happened to get filled with this flight. In other words, I am literally "opening a new page" as a private pilot.
Something else I just remembered:
I did not do a single clearing turn the entire checkride.
I was surprised myself. But it turned out that way. We did the low airwork right as we came out of the airport, and they weren't needed because we emerged from the pattern (which is "self clearing", basically, considering the rectangular course to 800ft).
Then when I did high airwork, he started with steep turns, which ARE self-clearing. I asked if he wanted a clearing turn and he said no. The rest was either hood work or immediately followed the steeps. My writeup above mixed the high airwork up in that sense; steeps came first, not last.
We also never did emergency no-engine landing beyond the simulated engine failure to the runway. So no ABCD. Another surprise.
At 7:15 I left the house, and drove to the airport, arriving at 7:45. My instructor was there already, and we quickly wrapped up the IACRA application and additional endorsement in my logbook. I went to the examiner's office; he was late, which gave me just the perfect opportunity to consider again where I was, what I was about to do, and freak out of my mind. Again.
Honestly, with all the hyperventilating I'm surprised I wasn't hypoxic.
Eventually he got there around 8:20AM and we went into his office. Most of the next 45 minutes were spent fighting the IACRA website while at the same time going over some of the oral portions. But we've had a much longer session last Friday so he mostly just tried to make sure I didn't forget critical stuff and trip me up on practical questions of various sorts that he never asked me before (what do you do if the engine starts running rough during flight? basic stuff, but not previously mentioned).
We were done at 9:15AM. I went to get the plane; scheduling mixup. No plane. So they frantically called another instructor and had them give me the plane he was about to fly with his student. It was the only other 172R available, so it was either that or piss off the DPE. The school fears this guy, I'm telling you.
The winds were horrific - 20kn at an angle, gusting to 30kn from multiple directions. Talk about increasing confidence!
I preflighted, a quart of oil missing, got that taken care of (and made the DPE happy). We got in, and for the next 10 minutes, I did nothing BUT screw up. Well, sort of; I taxied fine, but then ATC gave me an unusual instruction that I never heard before ("hold the line") which I thought meant "hold short" but really meant "enter the runway and wait". He got upset with me. He got even more upset when I got nervous and ended up taxing off the runway after getting on it. I'm surprised he didn't fail me then. But he let me proceed.
Did the best soft field takeoff I've ever done, literally textbook. Inside I was shocked; I have never managed to do it quite so perfectly, taking almost the entire runway to accelerate slowly to Vy before climbing. We did our turn, and he started by giving me a simulated engine failure. No problem; I like those. But this one was just textbook again. In fact, it was better than textbook; I took precise accounting of the wind and got the plane utterly controlled, at the proper speed, right past the numbers. He made me go around instead of actually landing, but his voice softened. I was getting on a roll.
Then I WAS on a roll. I executed the best series of performance landings I have ever done in my life. Engine failure, short, slip... one after the other, perfect airspeeds, well-controlled, right on the numbers each and every time. And he varied all my takeoffs, too. Considering the winds in play, I gained confidence more rapidly throughout this series than I ever have.
Then another oopsie. I forgot my XC flight plan in the car. He yelled at me a little, but then I pulled out the sectional, showed him my path, and quoted from memory the course and headings, times and fuel, for the first couple of legs. They were all spot-on, so he let it go.
Literally. He just let it go, and immediately asked for a diversion to an unknown airport. We did that and made a normal landing; took a full stop so he can visit the head, then back on. Short field takeoff, again textbook. Low airwork - Esses and around-a-point, even stronger winds, no problem. Hood came next. That got me flustered, not because I can't do it, but because for some reason it kept slipping and distracting me, leading me to repeatedly get "just near" to busting the various PTS requirements. But I didn't. We did a quick VOR interception, unusual attitude recovery, and took the hood off. Next came slow flight, easy. Stalls, easy. Steep turns - ohhh, good steep turns today. Smooth, and nicely level all the way through.
And then he said "OK, take me back to the airport, and give me a soft field landing to a full stop". I pissed him off again by using "incoming" instead of "inbound" on the radio, but the setup to land and airspeed control was still as precise as before, and we landed nicely and smoothly (and STILL just beyond the numbers). I didn't let the eleveator down until we slowed down a lot, while remembering to correct for crosswind even after landing, and he really liked that. I was so busy though, that when tower asked me to taxi off at Lima I forgot to answer; he looked at me and said "did you hear the tower?" and, in a spot of coolness I did not really feel, I was on the radio confirming the instruction I never heard. Luckily, I guessed right, and was able to follow with "yeah, I was just making sure I had full control of the plane before I answered". I'm such a bullshitter, but I got away with that one.
And with that, it all came to an end. We taxied back, turned the engine off, and he said "I'm going to pass you, but you still have a problem with being distracted. You really need to work on that. I strongly recommend you fly with an instructor at least once a month for a while, and get them to help you with that. But your airspeed were really good and your control of the aircraft was also very good, so I'm going to pass you". Then he was gone.
And I got out of the plane, went to grab the tow-bar, and out of nowhere, sat on the ground and started crying like a baby. I just couldn't stop it for a couple minutes. I was shaking so hard it was difficult to get the plane back to its parking spot, and it took another 40 minutes to work the stupid IACRA and get my temporary certificate printed. And then it was over, and I became a private pilot.
Didcha hear me? I earned my ticket!
Failing my oral a couple weeks ago was a hard blow. Coming back in today and being so in the zone felt like a really nice comeback. I don't know if I could pull off another series like that in this sort of wind. For some reason, today, all my training and hard work came together in difficult conditions and made me seem a lot more experienced than I really am. And it felt so... gosh... darned... good.
In another funny coincidence that made me happy for no good reason - the third page in my logbook was just happened to get filled with this flight. In other words, I am literally "opening a new page" as a private pilot.
Something else I just remembered:
I did not do a single clearing turn the entire checkride.
I was surprised myself. But it turned out that way. We did the low airwork right as we came out of the airport, and they weren't needed because we emerged from the pattern (which is "self clearing", basically, considering the rectangular course to 800ft).
Then when I did high airwork, he started with steep turns, which ARE self-clearing. I asked if he wanted a clearing turn and he said no. The rest was either hood work or immediately followed the steeps. My writeup above mixed the high airwork up in that sense; steeps came first, not last.
We also never did emergency no-engine landing beyond the simulated engine failure to the runway. So no ABCD. Another surprise.
posted by Blinkered at 4:32 PM
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