Aviators, or those with duchess experience

[USMC-SGT]

My checkride for PMEL is scheduled for tomorrow but when I flew today we were having a problem with the airplanes loadmeters showing the over/under voltage light periodically. The airplane showed no problems besides the lights, but nonetheless a problem that will prevent me from flying with a DPE for sure tomorrow. SOOOOOOOOOO

If the plane goes down they are saying a week to troubleshoot. Counting that week it will be 3 weeks I have been delayed due to maint issues and other small problems. I am ready for my checkride for sure, actually very ready with 18 hours in type now and I dont want to be delayed anymore.

SO here is where I need your help.

If my plane is down I believe I can go to another fbo on the same field and do a quick checkout with their instructor (is what the chief instructor says) and then take the exam in their plane with my dpe using my endorsements to take the ride from my current instructor.

So......how big of a deal would that be seeing that I have 18 hours in my me-202 duchess and its little quirks and then going to another duchess, flying maybe 1.5 and then taking a checkride, is it enough where It could cause me to be off on my maneuvers and possibly pink slip or am I being over cautious? I figured you could help because most of you rotate through 10 or so different planes on a regular basis.

Help please!

[Gonzo]

Quite a few people are going to get a laugh out of this coming from me. Most duchess's fly the same is not that big of a difference. Out of all my checkrides at the aviator I never flew the same plane on my final flight before the Checkride as they did on the actual checkride.

[darrenf]

I flew a rotation of 5 different Duchesses before my checkride. I didn't notice a difference between them.

[USMC-SGT]

this is good news so far, thanks for your fast responses.

the airplanes are not equipped nearly the same, but nothing that makes a difference really, ive never used elec trim because it is inop in my plane but thats not a big issue, if i dont like it i can always turn it off and use the manual trim

[CarolinaAviator1984]

yeah dont even mess with electric trim if you havent used it much its really not going to help that much anyway. I always seemed to have a problem switching from one plane to another right befor a checkride but it was always mental i would always waist a flight trying to figuer out what was wrong with that damn plane when it was I who was the problem you will be fine a duchess is a duchess

[USMC-SGT]

Thanks everyone,

I contacted the DPE and he is cool with the idea. I am going to show up there at noon tomorrow, fly for a checkout with an instructor and then the examiner is going to meet me there at 1pm to start the checkride oral portion. It is a lot closer and more flustered than I like my checkrides but it is either this or the following saturday..no thanks

Thanks for your help everyone who replied

[darrenf]

Good luck, let us know how you make out.

[jg1585]

what the hell kind of mx crew takes a week to "troubleshoot" an overvoltage/undervoltage light? I have worked on a lot of 76's and I have never seen it take a week to fix that kinda prob.

[Florida_Flyer]

After all that BS, you did pass right? Which DPE, you go with?

[USMC-SGT]

I added the update in the checkride area forum. I did pass the checkride and my examiner was out here in SoCal and his name is Pat Hill, great guy, tons and tons of hours and tons of experience.

The plane that I flew ended up being a bit different, the power settings were different for example I fly the pattern in my usual plane at 16" approx and this one had to be flown at 13" or else it was too fast and would not descend. Also on a short field I had to pull the power all the way to idle about 100 feet shy of the threshold and land it just like a cessna or else it would float down the runway and never touch down. In my duchess if i pulled the power to idle 100 feet shy I would touchdown 75 feet shy. I just fly in at 15" at 76 kts, slight nose high while pulling throttle to idle and it settles right in. It all worked out well though.


also...my plane is back and the alternators are still messed up. It alternates from left to right which over/under voltage light comes on and they NEVER indicate correct in the alternator checks, one picks up the load sometimes but not always and they alternate. I am not confident it will ever work right. They sent out the alternators to get them checked out and now they are thinking about checking out the voltage regulators

[greaper007]

Under/Over voltage lights along with pressure pumps and engine gauges seem to be a problem in the Duchess.

[my_controls]

If the load is too low the alternator will go off-line intermittently. It's normal. Try adding some load by turning on some more lights/avionics or whatever is available and it should solve the problem.

On a side note, never tap the engine instruments, you'll break the needle mechanism if you're unlucky and that may well result in a "normal" reading even though you just busted the instrument.