CFI Initial

Now that I've readjusted to the Eastern timezone, caught up on some sleep, and processed what happened during this little adventure, I'm ready to share the experience.
Oral:
We started the oral on Thursday night at 5pm. The examiner wanted to get through as much as we could, so that we'd be able to finish up a littler earlier on Friday. As it turns out, this was a VERY good idea...

After the usual formalities of checking logbook endorsements, 8710, identification, and test results, we launched right into FOI. This was the subject area I felt the weakest in, as I had crammed to a "rote" level for the knowledge test. As it turns out, I was able to answer his questions and it turned into less of a QA session and more of a discussion on how students learn and adapting to various situations. It was very interesting, and I was feeling pretty good at the end. We wrapped up at 7, with the previous 2 hours having flown by. The examiner commented that if the morning went as smoothly we should be walking out to the airplane by 9:30. "Sweet" I was thinking, "I'll be driving through the Rockies by lunchtime". Boy was I wrong.

We started at 8:15 the next morning. He would play the role of student for the day, and he had me begin by explaining the concept of weight and balance to him. I started with the classic lever and fulcrum example, using a small notepad and my hand to demonstrate. I then replaced the notepad with a model airplane, to tie the two things together, and explain loading the a/c. Satisfied that I had done a good job, I asked if he had any questions, to which he replied that he was thoroughly confused and could I explain what balance meant in an airplane. Huh? Hadn't I just done that? I mean, remember the lever and the fulcrum? I fumbled around for a long while, and eventually he took out a piece of paper and drew exactly what I had just explained, and then drew an airplane outline around his lever and fulcrum picture. Okay, I thought, that's an effective demonstration and I might actually use it, but I had talked about everything he had just done. If he was trying to see if he could rattle me, he did, and it carried over into the rest of the checkride.

Next we talked about systems. Up to this point, being able to regurgitate the general workings of a constant speed prop and retractable landing gear as explained in the Handbook of Aero. Knowledge and the Jepp text has been sufficient for a checkride. Today, that was not the case. After my reciting of how a constant speed prop, he started asking me things like where is the governor located on the RG, how is the propeller control connected to the governor, how is the governor connected to the oil system...things I didn't really know the answer to. Had I been smart, I would have immediately replied "I don't know, let's look it up" or "I don't know, but I'll find out". Instead, no, I tried to dig and fumble around for the answers. He was feeding me copious amounts of rope, and I was gladly hanging myself. In fact, I really did want to hang myself, and really thought about quitting. Landing gear and the electrical system went the same way. At some point, I reverted to the books, but the books I mentioned before didn't have the answers I was looking for, and I'm quite sure he knew it.

He either had mercy on me, or I failed, I didn't know which at the time, and we moved to airspace. Finally, something I knew about. We breezed through that, logging and endorsements, and my lesson on slow flight. But the damage was done, and I was badly shaken. I called for a break and went to the terminal for lunch. Yes, we had just spent 5 hours on 3 systems and the definition of the word "balance".

Flight:
Finally, at 2:30, we headed to the plane. I think I had actually made myself sick, and didn't think I would be able to fly. I kept having to tell myself not to give up, or do something to sabotage this checkride. It wasn't until I was actually strapped in the right seat and going through the checklist that instinct took over and I just flew the plane, like my instructor had hammered into my head. Now that we were short on time, we were condensing certain items, but I still made sure to talk through everyhing that I did. We took off and headed out to the practice area, and hit at least one item from everywhere in the PTS. My maneuvers were solid, and this gave me confidence. We had some good discussion on certain things, such as real world stall scenarios and emergencies, and before I knew it, we were headed back for pattern work. We were cleared for a 5 mile final, and the extra time gave me just what I needed for a soft-field landing. I crossed the threshold right at 65 kts, and performed what may have been my first true soft field landing on any checkride. The examiner must have seen enough, because on the next circuit the tower was working a number of a/c and called for a short approach. He took the controls just beyond mid-field, and did a power off 180 spot landing with full flaps to see if he could make A6. He did. We taxiied in and shut down, at which point he asked if I had heard the "B" word. I replied that I hadn't, but I was still waiting. He chuckled, said I had passed, but that he had an assignment for me.

Conclusion:
During the debrief, he let me know that during that systems debacle the word failure had really crossed his mind. He said I need to be able to connect the knee bone to the leg bone to the foot bone, and explain everything that happens in between. He gave me a couple of books to get to read up on systems (Aircraft Systems for Pilots being one) and recommended that I spend time in the hangar going over an engine in for overhaul. He then said my flying was the strongest part, and that I was an excellent stick and had an outstanding cockpit presence. This made me feel somewhat better, but overall I still felt awful. He must have sensed that, offered some encouraging words, gave me my temporary ticket, a nice pen, his book of endorsements that he sells, and a certificate he had made for the "I Love Me Wall". We shook hands and he was off, with the sun well below the horizon, a scant 10 hours after we began that morning.

Some people I have talked to thought he was being unreasonable in some of his expectations, but I disagree. It was his checkride and he had a right to go into as much detail on any subjects as he saw fit. In retrospect, the problems came with my handling of the situation. Had I immediately reverted to the "I don't know" clause, and even displayed a little confidence while doing so, it could have gone much smoother. Instead, I fumbled for answers, made assumptions, and flirted with making things up. It must have been painful to watch, but he handed me a shovel and I was all to happy to start digging. In reality, I'd like to think the former is how I'll handle an actual situation, but I think being on a checkride, under pressure, and in deep trouble, all compounded the situation.

The worst part was that after it was all over, I felt terrible. That's a shame, because it is a great accomplishment. Perfection, although unattainable, is something that I expect of myself. But the reality is: if we were perfect, what would motivate us to improve?

The bottom line is that it's over, and I passed. Each day I feel a little bit better about it, and I'm going to take his advice and read those books. Sorry for the long post, but it was a long day! See you on the front lines!

A pass is a pass...Don't get down on yourself...The real test is when you are out there teaching students. You obviously have your chit together, and although you may not have satistfied your personal mininums, you satistfied the FAA. Grab yourself a beer, think back and say WTF!, start smiling, and kick arse as a CFI!

Way to go man! Congats!

PS- I see your from Virginia, but did your CFI out west? Did you go through a CFI program?

It wasn't a program per se; it was a guy that runs a small flight school in Denver, and was willing to and had the time to work with me every day for a week to git 'er done.

Congrats!

Let me ask you though, you said that he had an assignment for you. . .what was this assignment?

A pass is a good thing. I did the same thing on my multi ride, stumbled, pulled the bs card and kept digging a hole, and even though I was able to pass I felt like dog crap after and almost thought of hanging it all up, that is how screwed up the DE had me. I shook it off and moved on. Learn from it and move on.

Congrats!!

To read one or both of those systems books and find my way to an aircraft in for overhaul and take a good luck at the kneebone-legbone-footbone connections.