The CFI Initial check ride is a special one. It is the only check ride where the examiner MUST be designated by the FAA. It is usually the most thorough and most exhaustive one. I don't blame the FAA. Being a flight instructor is a specially privilege that not everyone should be allowed to do. As a private pilot or even a commercial pilot, you may or may not know all the information you need to teach flying. You may be one heck of a pilot, but knowing and teaching are two completely different things. After all, how many of you had a REALLY smart professor in college but when it came to teaching, he or she was absolutely worthless.
Unfortunately, when my name was "placed in the hat" in Fort Lauderdale, the FAA came back and said that I wouldn't be able to test until after the New Year. Bummer. So, ATP placed my name in the hat in Orlando (which also covers Tampa). I should find out sometime in the next week when my check ride will be...so until then, I'm "holding short."
Now onto more interesting matters. What I did all last week. Last week was EXHAUSTING. I sat in ground school from 8 am until around 9 pm every day and tried to stuff my brain full of as much information as possible. Since ground school is over and I am just waiting for my check ride, I decided to come back to Tampa. After all, I still have to finish my single-engine commercial flights before I can take the CFI or Commercial single-engine check ride.
In the last two days, I hopped back into the ol' Cessna 172. For those of you not affluent in anything flying, it is possibly the most popular training aircraft in the world. It's a high-wing design with a single engine in front. Throughout my training, I've flown a random variety of aircraft. I flew the Cessna in 2005 before my senior year at the Academy. My uncle paid for me to get my first solo, and I did just that. Then, in the spring of 2006, I flew the DA-20 at the Academy. This is a low-wing design with a control stick instead of a yoke. Then, in 2010, I flew the Piper Cherokee. It is also a low-wing design with a cockpit almost identical to the twin-engine that I was flying the last few months.
Ok, you may be asking yourself, why should I care? It's so I can make excuses. For my first flight in over 6 years in a Cessna, we took off and headed for the practice area. We did some basic maneuvers and also some commercial level maneuvers. Just know that they are a little more complicated involving power management, airspeed management and pitch/bank control. There are various maneuvers that test your ability to control the airplane at a much higher level than that of the private pilot maneuvers. I thought, for the most part, I did pretty well with the new and old maneuvers. I made some mental notes on how to improve for the next flight and headed for landings.
Now, that's where the story changes. What a disaster. I guess I should clarify. It wasn't a disaster in terms of crashing and dying or even being close, but it was almost as if I had forgotten how to fly. The last few airplanes that I flew didn't do a whole lot of floating. The Cessna does. I had a few bouncing landings, some over-flare landings, and some just plain ugly landings. It was pretty embarrassing for someone who has over 200 hours and almost 500 landings. The next day (today) was a lot better for the maneuvers. The first few landings were just as bad as yesterdays. Fortunately, for my sanity, the last few were MUCH better. I don't know why my head was buried up my ass, but it was. I managed to dislodge it and figure out how to land a plane again.
So, let's just hope I don't manage to find myself looking at my large intestine again next time I fly! And remember, keep the brown side down!
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