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August 14th, 2004, 15:36
| #1 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Daytona Beach/Cleveland, OH
Posts: 637
 |  One stupid little gauge...... Its amazing how one little inch of plastic can screw you over...... Today was scheduled to be my ppl checkride. Last night I met my examiner (who btw is good friends with my instructor) at the Akron Canton Airport for my oral. He even gave me a discount on his fee by knocking 250 bucks down to 225, oh lucky me. I did fine on the oral and was looking foward to the practical test today and finally getting my ppl. Before I go on, I should say that my plane had just arrived back from Younstown because its 100 hour inspection on Wednesday was due....my flight school decided to let me know about this Tuesday, the day before. Also, I fly a 152 and my flight school only has one 152. So my checkride was scheduled for 2pm today at Lost Nation Airport, about 8 miles or so from where I'm based. My instructor and I met at 10am to do a quick review flight of all the manuevers. After departing we notice that the Oil Tempature gauge was malfunctioning. The needle was flapping all over the place and after a few minutes it deflected to the side of it's littl window and just died, not giving any indicated temp. It just died. The problem is that a working Oil Tempature gauge is required for a plane to be considered airworthy (check 91.205 if you dont believe me). Upon returning to our base I call the examiner and tell him our problem. He responds by saying if I were to fly down to LNN and expecting him to get in the plane, he would have failed me right then and there. He wanted me to drive to LNN, do a flight in a 172 with an instructor there, get a solo endorsement in a 172, then do our checkride that evening. This guy must think I'm made of money or something [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]. The Big problem. This examiner comes up from Florida (where he resides) every other week or so to give checkrides. He leaves Monday morning and is booked solid until then. He won't be returning until Labor Day weekend. Unfortunatly I will have left for college by then (and I'm signed up for a flight class which assumes I have a PPL going in). What I think happened is that during the 100 hour inspection, the mechanic either forgot to ground the connection to the gauge, or crossed some wires or who the heck knows. But the gauge was working perfectly earlier this week and know it doesn't. Whats worse is that we are positive that the problem is the gauge itself and not the oil tempature, so nothing in the engine is malfunctioning. Talk about ironic. I thought an inspection was supposed to CHECK for problems, not create them. So now my instructor and I are desperatly trying to find an examiner in the Cleveland Area who will be able to give me a checkride on such short notice. I leave for school this weekend. One stupid little piece of plastic....... Mike McM |
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August 14th, 2004, 16:25
| #2 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Mid-Atlantic, KMRB
Posts: 1,925
| Re: One stupid little gauge...... That sucks! I feel bad for ya . . . so close, yet so far away. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] |
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August 14th, 2004, 17:57
| #3 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Space Shuttle
Posts: 620
| Re: One stupid little gauge...... Monkey Poo! I hope you can get this figured out. Good Luck! |
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August 14th, 2004, 18:01
| #4 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Prescott, AZ
Posts: 928
| Re: One stupid little gauge...... [ QUOTE ] I thought an inspection was supposed to CHECK for problems, not create them. [/ QUOTE ] You'd be surprised. Sorry about your luck, though. Welcome to the wonderful world of checkrides. Enjoy! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] |
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August 14th, 2004, 18:18
| #5 |
| Junior Member  Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Orange County
Posts: 164
| Re: One stupid little gauge...... Hey, I feel your pain man. Both my private and instrument checkrides were delayed several months each due to scheduling and MX problems. My suggestion would be to relax and work something out with the current DPE. I mean you already paid him and took the oral portion of the exam, so technically hasn't the exam already begun. You even said your instructor is good friends with him, which means he has probably coached you on what to expect. And the school thing, no worries since you pretty much got everything nailed. You may even be sharper than those who have had their PPL for awhile. Now I know that's not really what you want to hear, but it's just my $.02 Oh yeah, get checked out in the 172 after your checkride. Now's not the time to be jumping in one. Best of luck to you!!! |
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August 14th, 2004, 19:10
| #6 |
| Old Skool Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: ??
Posts: 4,600
| Re: One stupid little gauge...... [ QUOTE ] So now my instructor and I are desperatly trying to find an examiner in the Cleveland Area who will be able to give me a checkride on such short notice. I leave for school this weekend. [/ QUOTE ] Try Marty Haske out of New Castle, PA or Ron Carroll out of YNG. Both are great guys. If you explain your predicament to them, they might be able to help you out. Sorry, I have no idea what I did with their numbers, but I'm sure you can find them pretty easily. Good luck. |
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August 14th, 2004, 19:11
| #7 |
| Moderator  Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: chicago
Posts: 4,145
| Re: One stupid little gauge...... my buddy had to cancel a checkride because the compass correction card was missing... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] |
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August 14th, 2004, 19:15
| #8 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Space Shuttle
Posts: 620
| Re: One stupid little gauge...... [ QUOTE ] my buddy had to cancel a checkride because the compass correction card was missing... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] [/ QUOTE ] hmm.. I can't even read the compass correction card in my plane. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buck.gif[/img] |
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August 14th, 2004, 23:02
| #9 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Daytona Beach/Cleveland, OH
Posts: 637
| Re: One stupid little gauge...... [ QUOTE ] My suggestion would be to relax and work something out with the current DPE. I mean you already paid him and took the oral portion of the exam, so technically hasn't the exam already begun. You even said your instructor is good friends with him, which means he has probably coached you on what to expect. And the school thing, no worries since you pretty much got everything nailed. You may even be sharper than those who have had their PPL for awhile. Now I know that's not really what you want to hear, but it's just my $.02 [/ QUOTE ] I'd like to but logistics isn't on my side. He leaves for Florida on Monday, is booked completely Sunday, and my plane can't be taken to a mechanic until Monday at the earliest. He's also promised to give me a hefty refund on his charge too. The good thing about this is that now I can concentrate in the practical part of the test (soft field stuff is my achilles heel). Hopefully I can find a DNP who can give me a checkride in the latter part of this upcoming work week. ESF, thanks for those names, I'll definatly look into them. I've flown through the YNG TRSA alot and into the new castle airport (UCP i think [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]?) on a few occasions too. I quote my father... "##### happens but why does it always seem to happen to me?" [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif[/img]......... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/insane.gif[/img] Thanks everyone! Mike McM |
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August 15th, 2004, 20:33
| #10 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: May 2003 Location: Home Sweet Home!
Posts: 957
| Re: One stupid little gauge...... [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] I thought an inspection was supposed to CHECK for problems, not create them. [/ QUOTE ] You'd be surprised. [/ QUOTE ] And how ... I'm scheduled to pick up our airplane next monday from ( major ) maintenance and I will have a bag packed for the week ... nothing goes as planned coming out of maintenance. Jim |
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August 15th, 2004, 21:55
| #11 |
| Junior Member  Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Minnesota
Posts: 109
| Re: One stupid little gauge...... A quote from one of the instructors that I've had so far. "We teach you to fly airplanes, not an airplane!" |
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August 15th, 2004, 23:12
| #12 |
| Junior Member  Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: On the Road
Posts: 174
| Re: One stupid little gauge...... I 100% understand. I had my CFI ride delayed 8 weeks for the new seats not having 5 stiches per inch. Don't worry it will all work out. I am a CFI now. |
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August 16th, 2004, 00:15
| #13 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Atlanta, Ga
Posts: 1,300
| Re: One stupid little gauge...... [ QUOTE ] my buddy had to cancel a checkride because the compass correction card was missing... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] [/ QUOTE ] Which reg does that fall under? |
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August 16th, 2004, 17:29
| #15 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: G-Forks, ND/ NYC
Posts: 3,085
| Re: One stupid little gauge...... [ QUOTE ] I don't think there's any relief on that as far as I know. You can be missing a placard in some cases and it'll ground the aircraft. [/ QUOTE ] 'No Smoking' Placard = Grounded [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buck.gif[/img] (At least in the Warrior III as far as I know) Geez |
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August 17th, 2004, 12:39
| #16 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Daytona Beach/Cleveland, OH
Posts: 637
| Re: One stupid little gauge...... UPDATE..... After several phone calls I was able to schedule another dpe in the cleveland area (far away from me but still in the area) for thursday morning. Also, my plane's gauge was fixed yesterday and I took it for a spin last evening. I wonder what instrument won't be working thursday..... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/insane.gif[/img] Mike McM |
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