There comes a moment when you look around and realize you’re ready for the task ahead, for me it occured just after the second and final landing of my checkride. A feeling of “I can’t believe I’m done!” came over me as the examiner’s voice came over the intercom.
“You did good,” he said.
I had just completed possibly the most stressful flight ever, my Private Pilot checkride. Carl and I arrived at Centralia airport (KENL) at 12:30pm on July 25, 2007 in the trusty Warrior. We secured the aircraft and went inside and awaited the arrival of Les Erb, the FAA Examiner who would be giving me my checkride today.
The checkride process begins with three or more hours of preperation in the air with your CFI. For me, Carl and I had finished the required three hours of “hood time” and were ready for the checkride prep. Carl flew with me twice, and Aeroflite’s chief pilot, John, flew with me once to give me a second instructor’s opinion.
With both CFI’s convinced I was ready, we scheduled the checkride and headed out on a hazy summer morning. I did possibly my worst-ever landing at ENL, with at least two bounces. Safely stopped and taxiing back, I commented on how great a mood I was now in after botching that landing just before the checkride.
Before we left, Carl had me plan the cross country the examiner wanted to KBNA (Nashville, TN) and I had weight and balance computed for the trip.
The examiner arrived and reviewed the paperwork and my logbook. Then we began the oral exam. The examiner reviews the student’s written test score — I got a 98 — and can quiz the student on any areas of flight, operations or regulations that he or she chooses. I got quizzed on cross country planning, airspace, and weather minimums. After about 20 minutes, he instructed me to preflight the airplane and we’d go flying.
A smooth take-off and we headed out on our mock cross country. I identified two checkpoints and had my third in sight when he cut the cross country off and began our maneuvers. He asked for a power-on stall, and a smooth break later, he was happy with my performance. Next, he had me perform a steep turn to the right and then one to the left. During the left turn, he failed my engine (by bringing the power to idle). I trimmed the Warrior for 73kias and flipped on the carb. heat. Just over the right wing was a perfect field for a forced landing, and I began to setup for the approach. Confident that I’d made it, he had me put the power back in and climb back to 3,000 ft.
He put me under the hood for about ten minutes and had me do some simple turns, climbs, and descents. He had me pull my hood off and then asked me to take him back to the airport and do a landing.
I was completely disoriented, and the fact that I was in an unfamiliar place wasn’t very good either. I asked for his permission to use the VOR to get us back, and he gladly said, “yes.”
I tuned in the Centrailia VOR, which is about 4 miles from the field, and began making a slow right turn towards it when I spotted the field, directly behind me. I had been directly above the field when he pulled my hood off. Good trick. I kind of laughed as I said, “ah.” He chuckled. “I like it,” I said.
A smooth approach, careful to make all my radio calls for an uncontrolled field, and I made a pretty good short-field landing as a touch and go. Around the pattern again I was starting to feel confident, but that was soon to change as a bounce on my soft-field landing really screwed me up. I was terrified, although I tried not to let it show. I taxiied off the runway, thinking he’d make me go up and try it again, but he didn’t.
“Good job,” he said.
The greatest relief I’ve ever felt came over me. I taxiied back in and shut the aircraft down. He jumped out. “Meet you inside,” he said. I took my time cleaning up the cockpit, putting my chart and kneeboard away and I walked into the FBO.
“Congratulations,” Carl said as he greeted me at the door.
The examiner typed up my temporary airman certificate (valid until the FAA sends me my perminant one) and we flew home with me as Pilot In Command, carrying my first passenger, my CFI.
So welcome aboard, you can fly with me now!
Logbook
Aircraft: N2875X (PA-28-161)
Dual: 1.0
PIC: 1.5