CASEL Checkride (long)

[RiddlePilot]

Well, so this whole run-around started a couple days back with the oral exam. I was scheduled to do both the oral and flight in the same day, however, the usual Northern Arizona spring weather (constantly gusty) kept me on the ground.

The oral was really really really easy. Since I'd already done my CMEL ride a month or so back, I had the vast majority of the oral out of the way. The only things that needed to be covered were Operation of Systems, and Performance and Limitations. For systems, I got to choose two to talk about, while the examiner picked 3. Guess which ones I picked? Yep, de-ice/anti-icing and engine. The two easy ones. Of course he didn't let me get away that easily. He had me explain the electrical system, vacuum system, and fuel system.

We then moved to Performance and Limitations, and that turned out to be a joke. I got asked a couple of questions like "what happens to takeoff distance with a higher temperature?" Duh. The whole oral took 20 minutes.

The flight had a rocky start, as I mentioned in my other post. I felt like he was going to no-show me for sure (this entails a $100 fine and a nice mark in your record). First of all, I showed up on time to get my weight and balance taken care of. Of course dispatch, with the efficiency of a 1946 Ford, felt like taking their sweet time to get through everyone in line. I stood there for about 10 minutes before finally getting checked in. I looked at my watch and decided to just meet the examiner and do the weight and balance after the pre-brief. I get to the preflight room, and he says "Okay...I need to see a few things. Logbook, weight and balance, and in-flight guide." I explain what happened in dispatch, but he wouldn't hear it. I got chewed out for "not showing up on time prepared." On top of all this, I realized that my In-Flight Guide (a ridiculous and useless ERAU creation) was sitting on my floor at my apartment. D'oh! So, I get the riot act some more. Okay. I don't care. Let's go fly.

I get out to the plane (C172), and I could tell that I wasn't feeling quite on top of things. I had sworn that I would never go flying on an empty stomach, but there I was. I preflight, and the examiner comes out and preflights again (Riddle policy strikes again). We start, and taxi out to 21L for a short field takeoff.

This goes pretty well, though right as I lifted off I could tell that I really should have eaten something. No energy, and my mind was a little fuzzy. I hate that feeling. We depart straight out to the practice area and climb to 8500' to start lazy eights. These went really well I felt. The examiner made the comment that I should have gotten my nose up a tad higher at the 45 degree point on the one to the right, but it was no big deal.

After those, we descended to 8000' to do a couple chandelles. These were a bit weaker than normal (thanks to my week and a half break from flying), but they were still within PTS.

At this point, I found a place to do steep spirals. Nothing really to report there. Easy. Right after I recovered after my 3rd turn, my engine "fails". Luckily there was a dirt strip not a mile from us. We shoot the emergency approach to land, and I break it off at about 500 feet after he's satisfied we'd make it. We stay low and find a good place to do eights on pylons.

I'll be the first to admit that these were horrid. Probably the closest I've ever been to busting a checkride. The strange thing is, I had no idea that they were so bad until the post-flight briefing. See, my instructor had taught me to hold a constant 90 knots through the whole maneuver, and that's exactly what I did. But as I found out from this examiner, the maneuver is constant-power, not constant-airspeed. Wow, you learn something new everyday. Now I just have to have a chat with that instructor.

We headed back to PRC to do a few touch and goes. We started with a soft field landing to soft field takeoff, and that went craptacular too. My soft field landing wasn't exactly soft, but it was passable.

We then did the power-off 180. I actually had to go around on my first one, as a downdraft on short final would have made us come up too short. Now a bit nervous, I came back around and hit my point without a problem, though my landing was flat. We came back around for a short-field full stop, and I hit that without a problem, though I touched down too flat again. Hmm. We taxiied back, shut down, and that was that!

So now I'm 100% done with the ERAU flight program, and I couldn't be more overjoyed. ERAU has left a bad taste in my mouth in recent months, so I walked out the door today and didn't look back. Don't get me wrong...I think ERAU is fine for a lot of people. I just didn't "take" to the Riddle mold. At the end I'd do things (safe things, of course) that are not standard Riddle procedure just to have a little fun with the uptight people here.

Man, now I gotta change my display name on this board.

[mtsu_av8er]

Good Job, RiddlePilot!! Sounds like you whipped it on! Congrats again, and don't worry - relaxing is normal, although most of our university aviation comrades don't know how.

[pilotjww]

Thanks for your story...The food and water thing is more important than people realize, so thanks for pointing that out. You study hard, sleep little, sweat a lot, and then missing a meal will make it harder for your test.

[E_Dawg]

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We then did the power-off 180. I actually had to go around on my first one, as a downdraft on short final would have made us come up too short

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Suuuuuureee

Congrats!