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thatoneguy · December 22nd, 2005, 13:29

When I was preparing for this checkride, I read everything I could find to help prepare me for it. Hopefully this will help others that are in the same position.

Preparation
Oral –
I took the written test a couple of months ago, so I was a little rusty on some of that information. I spent about a week going back over the Gleim study guide getting back up to speed on all of that stuff. During that time, I also read the ASA Private Oral Exam Guide. There’s a lot of information in there, but don’t let it overwhelm you. Just read a section at a time, and make sure you have a good understanding of the material.

Practical –
With my work and school schedule I usually only get to fly on the weekends. This isn’t really a problem, but I always notice that I fly better on Sunday then I do on Saturday. With this in mind, I made a point of flying several days in a row before the checkride.

The examiner wanted me to plan a cross-country from MBT to HSV. Up to this point, I had never flown into MBT, so I had instructor take me up there to gain experience in the area.

My instructor and I did three mock checkrides from MBT that included all of the short / soft field take offs and landings that I would be doing. Then we got on course for the cross-country portion and made sure that all of my times and headings were good for my checkpoints. Then we diverted to our usual practice area, and went through all of the maneuvers, power off / on stalls, and emergency procedures.

At this point, I was feeling really confident in my flying, but was still really nervous about the oral portion. My instructor kept telling me to relax, and that I was making it out to be a lot worse than it really is.

Test Day!

Oral –
My instructor was right; I was all worked up for nothing.

I showed him all of my required documents for the checkride, and then he reviewed the aircraft logbooks. He then asked me what was required to be on board of the aircraft to go flying. I went through the whole AROW thing.

Then he asked what I should do if I went to rent an old Cessna and they told me that they don’t have an owner’s manual. I told him that I couldn’t legally go flying.
He then said what if the owner of the aircraft said "don’t worry about it, I’ve never had an owner’s manual for this plane." At this point, I could tell that he wanted me to say that it was okay to go flying without it, but I didn’t know why or how. I eventually gave up on my stance that we absolutely had to have it, and said that I would have to check the FAR and see if there were any exceptions. He said that he would save me the time, and explained that before 1979 aircraft were not required to have them, and therefore it is legal to fly without it.

He then asked me about the maintenance requirements for the aircraft. When is a 100 hr inspection required, and who can do it? How often does the ELT need to be inspected and the battery changed? How often does the pitot/static system need to be checked?

Then he gave me a scenario where I was flying with a passenger who began suffering from a severe headache. My first thought was carbon monoxide poisoning, but he said that I was feeling fine. My next thought was hypoxia, but he said we were only flying at 8,000 ft. I finally told him that I didn’t know what was wrong with the passenger, but that I would land as soon as possible to get them medical attention. He explained to me that the passenger could be suffering a blocked sinus passage, and that the pressure difference from sea level could be causing the pain. He is a retired Air Force pilot and said that this was very common with them because a lot of the training aircraft they used were not pressurized and there were a lot of rapid accent / descents.

Then he had me explain my flight plan to him. He asked about the airspace we would be flying through, and the visibility requirements for them. He also asked about the restricted area to the East of HSV, and where I could find information about it.

Then he said that we were done, and that I could go preflight.

Practical –

I did a thorough preflight using the checklist, and then we both climbed in. I made sure that his seatbelt was on and that he had latched the door.

Our first take off was a short field one. We stayed in the pattern, and did a short field and normal landing.

Then he had me begin my cross-country.
I found my first two checkpoints with no problem, and my times were both within 15 seconds of my estimate.

Then he had me divert to Kirkland. I plotted my heading, and estimated that it would take us a little over 7 min to get there. The town is just North of a dominant fork in the road, but I couldn’t for the life of me find the darn thing. I started worrying that I may have flown past it, so I tuned in the Nashville VOR and plotted a radial that intersected the town. I hadn’t flow past it, but the needle was beginning to center, and I still didn’t see it. When the needle centered, I still didn’t have it in site. Just then, a gust of wind made my left wing drop, and there was the city off of my wing tip (thanks for the help God)!

He then had me slow the airplane down and demonstrate slow flight. He had me maintain 65 at 3000 for a while, and then turn 30 degrees to the left and right.

Next was a power off stall. Normally this plane stalls real gently, but when the nose broke this time, the left wing dropped out on me. I could see out of the corner of my eye that the examiner had picked his hands up out of his lap. All I could think to myself was …please, please, please don’t take the controls. I recovered quickly though and put the airplane back into cruise flight.

We were still up at 3000 ft when he asked me to perform an emergency landing. Normally my instructor pulls the throttle out while we are practicing the ground reference maneuvers at 1700, so I felt like I had all day to get her down. I pitched for best glide, picked out my field, and went through the engine failure checklist. I was way high when I was on final for the field, so I dumped all of the flaps, and nosed it over. He had me fly it down to about 700 AGL, and then recover.

We climbed out, and he said okay, let’s head back to MBT. It was a nice clear day, and we could see the airport from where we were, so I just pointed the airplane in that general direction. (On a side note, we flew right over my house on the way back. Pretty cool!)

When I announced that I was on the 45, he asked that I make it a soft field landing to a full stop. Out of all of my landings, the soft field is my weakest. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t keep that nose gear off the ground. Some how I managed to do it today though, and nailed it!

We taxied over to the FBO, and shut down. We got out, and he said, "okay, lets go do some paperwork," and that was it!

ASEL Baby!!!!

December 22nd, 2005, 13:29	#1
thatoneguy Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Middle TN Posts: 41	Private Pilot Checkride (long) When I was preparing for this checkride, I read everything I could find to help prepare me for it. Hopefully this will help others that are in the same position. Preparation Oral – I took the written test a couple of months ago, so I was a little rusty on some of that information. I spent about a week going back over the Gleim study guide getting back up to speed on all of that stuff. During that time, I also read the ASA Private Oral Exam Guide. There’s a lot of information in there, but don’t let it overwhelm you. Just read a section at a time, and make sure you have a good understanding of the material. Practical – With my work and school schedule I usually only get to fly on the weekends. This isn’t really a problem, but I always notice that I fly better on Sunday then I do on Saturday. With this in mind, I made a point of flying several days in a row before the checkride. The examiner wanted me to plan a cross-country from MBT to HSV. Up to this point, I had never flown into MBT, so I had instructor take me up there to gain experience in the area. My instructor and I did three mock checkrides from MBT that included all of the short / soft field take offs and landings that I would be doing. Then we got on course for the cross-country portion and made sure that all of my times and headings were good for my checkpoints. Then we diverted to our usual practice area, and went through all of the maneuvers, power off / on stalls, and emergency procedures. At this point, I was feeling really confident in my flying, but was still really nervous about the oral portion. My instructor kept telling me to relax, and that I was making it out to be a lot worse than it really is. Test Day! Oral – My instructor was right; I was all worked up for nothing. I showed him all of my required documents for the checkride, and then he reviewed the aircraft logbooks. He then asked me what was required to be on board of the aircraft to go flying. I went through the whole AROW thing. Then he asked what I should do if I went to rent an old Cessna and they told me that they don’t have an owner’s manual. I told him that I couldn’t legally go flying. He then said what if the owner of the aircraft said "don’t worry about it, I’ve never had an owner’s manual for this plane." At this point, I could tell that he wanted me to say that it was okay to go flying without it, but I didn’t know why or how. I eventually gave up on my stance that we absolutely had to have it, and said that I would have to check the FAR and see if there were any exceptions. He said that he would save me the time, and explained that before 1979 aircraft were not required to have them, and therefore it is legal to fly without it. He then asked me about the maintenance requirements for the aircraft. When is a 100 hr inspection required, and who can do it? How often does the ELT need to be inspected and the battery changed? How often does the pitot/static system need to be checked? Then he gave me a scenario where I was flying with a passenger who began suffering from a severe headache. My first thought was carbon monoxide poisoning, but he said that I was feeling fine. My next thought was hypoxia, but he said we were only flying at 8,000 ft. I finally told him that I didn’t know what was wrong with the passenger, but that I would land as soon as possible to get them medical attention. He explained to me that the passenger could be suffering a blocked sinus passage, and that the pressure difference from sea level could be causing the pain. He is a retired Air Force pilot and said that this was very common with them because a lot of the training aircraft they used were not pressurized and there were a lot of rapid accent / descents. Then he had me explain my flight plan to him. He asked about the airspace we would be flying through, and the visibility requirements for them. He also asked about the restricted area to the East of HSV, and where I could find information about it. Then he said that we were done, and that I could go preflight. Practical – I did a thorough preflight using the checklist, and then we both climbed in. I made sure that his seatbelt was on and that he had latched the door. Our first take off was a short field one. We stayed in the pattern, and did a short field and normal landing. Then he had me begin my cross-country. I found my first two checkpoints with no problem, and my times were both within 15 seconds of my estimate. Then he had me divert to Kirkland. I plotted my heading, and estimated that it would take us a little over 7 min to get there. The town is just North of a dominant fork in the road, but I couldn’t for the life of me find the darn thing. I started worrying that I may have flown past it, so I tuned in the Nashville VOR and plotted a radial that intersected the town. I hadn’t flow past it, but the needle was beginning to center, and I still didn’t see it. When the needle centered, I still didn’t have it in site. Just then, a gust of wind made my left wing drop, and there was the city off of my wing tip (thanks for the help God)! He then had me slow the airplane down and demonstrate slow flight. He had me maintain 65 at 3000 for a while, and then turn 30 degrees to the left and right. Next was a power off stall. Normally this plane stalls real gently, but when the nose broke this time, the left wing dropped out on me. I could see out of the corner of my eye that the examiner had picked his hands up out of his lap. All I could think to myself was …please, please, please don’t take the controls. I recovered quickly though and put the airplane back into cruise flight. We were still up at 3000 ft when he asked me to perform an emergency landing. Normally my instructor pulls the throttle out while we are practicing the ground reference maneuvers at 1700, so I felt like I had all day to get her down. I pitched for best glide, picked out my field, and went through the engine failure checklist. I was way high when I was on final for the field, so I dumped all of the flaps, and nosed it over. He had me fly it down to about 700 AGL, and then recover. We climbed out, and he said okay, let’s head back to MBT. It was a nice clear day, and we could see the airport from where we were, so I just pointed the airplane in that general direction. (On a side note, we flew right over my house on the way back. Pretty cool!) When I announced that I was on the 45, he asked that I make it a soft field landing to a full stop. Out of all of my landings, the soft field is my weakest. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t keep that nose gear off the ground. Some how I managed to do it today though, and nailed it! We taxied over to the FBO, and shut down. We got out, and he said, "okay, lets go do some paperwork," and that was it! ASEL Baby!!!!