Checkride Passed

Today was the big day. 9/23. I had made sure no stone was left un-turned when it came to my preparations. I meticulously crafted a PDF briefing sourced from DUATS with all current weather at the departure, destination and alternate fields. Additionally, I had included NOTAMS, FD Winds Aloft, FA forecasts, and any other pertinent information necessary to completing a safe flight. At the end of the document, I included all relevant and valid weather charts including radar summary charts, prognostic charts, surface weather charts, sig WX charts and satellite pictures. I handed the packet over to the DPE and he asked me a lot of questions about the charts in particular. I walked him through a majority of them and I believe he was satisfied with my level of detail in planning the flight.

Afterward we chatted about FARs, hypothetical scenarios and a lot of discussion concerning inoperative equipment.

The actual checkride portion of the test was a lot of fun, to say the least. The highlight was the simulated engine out procedure. He cut power at 4,500 and I executed 3 360 turns to a grass field landing he suggested I try. The runway there was 9/27, and winds were 160/07. The runway was 2400 feet long by 155 feet, at C37. I executed the procedure brilliantly and landed on the grass strip and brought the plane to a stop, taxiied back and took off again.

Other aspects of the checkride included some turns around a point, power-on and power-off stalls, steep turns, slow flight, short field landings and soft-field takeoffs.

At the end, he didn’t have much to say except that I taxied too fast at JVL. I thanked him for his time and shook his hand. He printed out my temporary pilot certificate valid for 120 days and sent me back on my way!

I was more than ecstatic to pass. I believe I overstudied in preparation for the examination, but it really was worth it. I felt confident behind the controls of the airplane at all times, and that was key to success.