PPL Checkride

[ScottG]

I took my checkride in Boise on May 16th at 8:15. I woke up a little early and printed off some weather charts and got the winds. My examiner had told me to plan a trip from BOI to SLC in the 172 and so I had that all prepared and plugged in the WCA's. My instructor and I arrived at 7:30 to open up the building and we were standing outside watching different airplanes taking off when the examiner arrived. He joined us outside as we were trying to identify one of the the airplanes taking off and the three of us talked for about 30 minutes. Finally we headed upstairs to the conference room to begin the oral. First off he pulled out the checklist and explained that it made sure he covered everything. The first point stated for him to put the student at ease, which he said was the point of us talking outside. The rest of the exam consisted of him asking about the maintenance logs and required documents before we got to the cross-country portion of the exam. He explained to me that this was crucial and that he wanted me to explain every aspect of my cross country plan and if I covered everything adequately he would only ask a couple of questions and we would go fly. I must have done OK because he asked only a couple of questions. He asked my if the airplane had any anti\de icing equipment. My stupid brain drew a blank for a minute and all I was seriously thinking was, I have never seen any windshield wiper fluid.... After a minute I finally said I'm not sure followed quickly by OH! CARB HEAT. Question answered. The only other question that tripped me was if I was required to carry a TAC in class B to which I said no. He corrected me by saying that each pilot is required to be familiar with all info for the flight and while there is no direct wording for it he considers carrying a chart part of that rule. On to the flight. We started out on the flight diverting to Mt. Home no problem. On the way there we did a steep turn to the right followed by power on\off stalls and about a tenth under the hood doing maneuvers and unusual attitudes. We then did short field takeoff\landing at Mt. Home as well as a soft field takeoff. On the way back to Boise we did ground ref. maneuvers during which I BOTCHED the turn around a point but we moved on. Last landing at BOI was a soft field to which the examiner said it was the best he has seen in a long time as far as students go. Paperwork, a word about my turn around a point and extending downwind too far and I was a private pilot.

One word on the sentence flow and grammar. I am attempting to watch the Braves-Mets games so there may be errors, I will re-read the post post-game.

[Sidious]

Congrats!!!! Feels awesome huh?

[Goldmember]

Rock on man, it's a great feeling! My examiner was a real hard case and I think he purposely tried to make me UNcomfortable so I remember when we got down and I got my license how happy I was!

[Crockrocket94]

Congrats man!

Shows you don't have to be perfect to pass

I know I was not.


Anyhow, master those Turns around a pt now