Wow, it sure has been awhile since my last post. I believe I left off with my prep-for-checkride flight and was hoping for a checkride in the next few days. Well, that didn't happen. I ended up waiting almost a week until an examiner was available. On Monday, I had my last prep-for-checkride flight and boy was I a little rusty. There were three different times during that flight where I would have busted my checkride.
So, I landed and, of course, I was really upset with myself. I didn't come all this way to screw up now. Not to mention that the guy who was going to be my examiner had "failed" two of the last three guys he checked. So, I was nervous and almost sick to my stomach. I thought I was prepared but how can anyone who thinks they are ready for a check ride do so bad that they fail on the oral exam.
I suppose I should give a little more detail on what a check ride entails. First, the exchange of money. There are two ways to get a rating added to your certificate. The most common way is to use a Designated Pilot Examiner. The DPE is not an employee of the FAA but is certified by the FAA to conduct check rides in their place. Due to not being employeed, they are permitted to charge a "fee." I say "fee" because some of the money they charge is borderline ridiculous. The guy I flew with charged $500 (in cash only) and is allowed to fly twice each day. The day after my check ride, he flew with two different guys seeking out their Airline Transport Pilot certificate. He charged $600 cash for those two guys totally $1200 for the day. Cash. Do I need to say cash again? So, in two days, he earned $1700. This particular examiner also did a Multi-engine add-on ($450) and two private pilot check rides ($450 ea) this month and that was only at our particular facility. There are 3 other flight schools at St Pete International and another airport down the road in St Pete. Note to self: get that job when I get older.
Anyways, the DPE comes in, collects his fee and does some paperwork before getting started. I did forget to mention one thing. Those guys who failed their check rides not only have the stigma of busting a check ride but they also have to pay the examiner fee again. Another reason to pass the first time. Back to the story. So, my examiner comes in and we exchange some small talk before getting started on the oral exam. The oral exam is a myriad of questions to judge your competency in the regulations, aircraft performance, weather, flight planning, etc. The oral exam can last anywhere between 30 minutes to 90 minutes. So, he comes in and starts asking questions rapid fire. Tell me about the equipment required to fly IFR. What inspections are required to fly IFR? Tell me about the currency requirements to legally file an IFR flight plan. What do you do if you don't meet the requirements? Etc. And, I ROCKED it. I mean, I hit it out of the park. There were a few times he stopped me mid-answer, said that was good enough and asked a different question. And then we got into my bread and butter.
We get through most of the oral and he gets on his computer and pulls up the latest weather observations and forecasts. Trap set. I have yet to tell him about my collegiate background and borderline obsession. He has me read the encoded Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) and the current observation for St Pete. Of course, being that I had to practice encoding them at the Academy, it really wasn't an issue for me to just blow through it. After I answered, he kind of looked at me funny and said, "well, that was really good." And that's when I showed my hand.
Me: Well, weather is kind of an obsession of mind. I mean, I majored in meteorology.
Him: Really?
Me: Yeah, at the Air Force Academy
Him: Wow. Wait, are you joking?
Me: Haha, no. I have a B.S. in Meteorology from the Air Force Academy
Him: Well, I think we are just about done with the weather questions then
We finished up the oral exam and he sent me out to pre-flight the airplane. I found later that my instructor asked him how the oral exam went. He said, it went well. My instructor then asked if he asked me any weather questions. The examiner laughed and said that after he found out it was my major, he didn't want to ask many more questions so that I didn't embarrass him. Point me. Maybe in the future I'll keep that little bit of information to myself and just answer a bunch of weather questions. It couldn't hurt, right?
So, I went out and did the flight portion of the check ride. It went really well too. After we landed and I turned off the engine, the examiner says, "Great job young man. Congratulations." He got out of the airplane and walked into the building. I had a little party on the ramp. Wow, what a relief!! I was told that the instrument check ride was one of the most difficult ones and I hit a home run.
So, we filled out a little more paperwork and then my instructor and I got in the plane to fly to Daytona again. It was the last flight with him before I started the "time building" portion of the program. I have to fly 50 hours in the next week or so to prepare for my commercial check ride. I will be flying with another guy who got here a week before I did. Funny story. I was a cadre in his basic cadet squadron my junior year at the Academy and he was one squadron over the whole academic year. Small world, right?
So, you might be thinking to yourself, what's with the title of the blog. Of course, there is a good chance you might not be thinking that to yourself but you sure are now that I've mentioned it. I'm going to share what I heard as I'm climbing out of St Pete enroute to Daytona.
Pilot: Tampa Approach, Cessna 37S with request
ATC: Cessna 37S, go ahead with request
Pilot: Yes, we'd like to shoot an approach into St Pete and then fly out over the ocean for some practice maneuvers.
ATC: What?
Pilot: We'd like to fly an approach into St Pete and then fly out over the ocean for some practice maneuvers.
ATC: The Atlantic Ocean?!
Pilot: No, ocean right by St Pete.
ATC: You mean, the Gulf of Mexico.
Pilot: Yeah, the Gulf of Mexico Ocean.
ATC: Are you KIDDING ME?!
That's all for today. I did my first cross-country to Jacksonville and back a few days ago but we've had to cancel the last two days because of aircraft availability and weather. Hopefully tomorrow we'll take off for a literal across the country cross-country. Thanks again for all your support. It means the world to me.
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