Private Pilots....check ride?

[Jmh05]

I know we have some pilots on here....I'm taking my check ride for my license next week. Everybody say's it's not a big deal...but still kinda nervous about it. Any words of wisdom?

I've got about 80hrs total time and went on another long cross country today...200miles...I feel pretty good about it...but still...

[Cam-Mac]

My only words of wisdom are to only land on the wheels. Other than that- you'll do great!! All your nervousness will go away as soon as you leave the runway, like it always does.

Good luck!!

[Atfulldraw]

Good luck!

You'll do fine.

[tvc184]

Brush up on your emergency procedures and flight rules (minimum altitudes, cloud spacing, etc). I took it about 20 years ago but if it hasn't changed much, the better you do on the oral interview/question session, the less he will ask you. I got that tip from my instructor and when I nailed about half a dozen questions the interview ended.

I guess they still have you plot a flight plan for a VFR flight. Mine was to Houston in the plane that I was in for the check ride and he made sure that I didn't have enough (theoretical) avgas. The examiner wanted to check to see that I knew that I would not run out of gas but I would not land with the required fuel reserves.

Then it was off to the flight. Unfortunately I took my check ride in about a 15 knot wind with gusts. Quite the bumpy ride, especially under the hood for instrument flight but I passed.

I will also say that I made an error in my flight that probably should have failed me. When the ride was over, the examiner asked how I thought it went. I told him that I was nailing everything better than I ever had until my mistake. Then I got flustered and had a hard time. I even told him that I understood if he failed me because of my error.

His response? He passed me because I recognized and admitted my mistake. I think that realizing mistakes on your own and improving is the part of the game. If you mess something up, don't try and hide it because the examiner won't miss it.

Try and get a good night sleep and don't stay up late worrying about it or studying too hard.

Good luck. Remember, if your instructor didn't think that you were ready, we wouldn't have signed off on the check ride.

[keep]

How difficult is it to get a license?

[Swanyriver]

How difficult is it to get a license?

X2 and what kind of costs are involved?

[DaveS903]

It will not be as tough as you think. I figured mine was going to be an all day grilling with a lot of time in the air but it was all over in a couple of hours. As TCV184 pointed out, be prepared to make a mistake or two. Make sure he knows you know you did something wrong and ask to correct it. I can almost guarantee he will ask you a question you will not know the answer to. Don't get flustered, just ask if you can look it up. Knowing where to find the answer is part of the exam. Don't be a afraid to go around. His job is not to fail you but to make sure your are safe. Your instructor would not sign you off for the ride if there was any question. Good luck and have fun!

[tvc184]

How difficult is it to get a license?

Not as hard as some people think and not hard at all for most people. I was going solo in about 10 days after I started. I read my own books so I didn't do any ground school.

You can go in and fly with an instructor almost anytime. You won't need to get a physical until you do a solo flight. Some places will give you a free ride to see if you are interested. They will bring you up for a few minutes and let you take the yoke and make a few maneuvers to get you hooked.

If you do decide to take lessons, get it in your mind that you want to do it and then fly as often as possible. An hour lesson/flight every day or every other day is better than one lesson a week. You retain a lot more with recent repetition. If you take a lesson and lay off for a few days, I think it takes a bit to get the feel back when you first start flying. It is just better (IMO) if your last flight was yesterday than it is if your last flight was two weeks ago.

[tvc184]

I googled check rides and found this site. It shows some tips and some of it was already covered.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Pass-Your-FAA-Checkride---10-Tips-You-MUST-Know&id=1410863

[Stupid]

It's just another flight. Typical flight planning, weather brief, calculations, preflight, flight, postflight. If you make a mistake owe up to it. You aren't flying a 757, any examiner will give you some cushion. Bottom line, do you know it, do you know where to find it, and do you apply what you have been taught? Emergency procedures are a must!!! Good luck!!

[Mister Bubba's bulletman]

You'll do great.

My guy didn't like one of my stalls and wanted me to do it again.

Hey, I was trying to fly nice and smooth for him.

The next one I squeezed every bit of flight I could and got a really hard break causing him to spill his coffee all over the cabin and muter "let's not do that again".

When we landed he said let him know the next time I was going up so he could stay home. Ha ha.

I passed.

[DaveS903]

How difficult is it to get a license?

Jim - it isn't particularly difficult. You find a flight school or an instructor you feel comfortable with and you get started. Along the way you either enroll in a formal ground school or go the self study route. After 7-15 hours of instruction, you make your first solo flight (which you will never forget as long as you live) consisting of a few takeoffs and landings on a quiet calm day. You get more flight instruction on everything from flight planning, flying in controlled airspace, navigating, emergency procedures and you fly solo to practice what you learn. Towards the end of your instruction you plan and fly a cross country flight with your instructor then you do it solo. You will get a few practice check rides then you will contact a flight examiner for the real deal. After that, you are 10 feet tall and the best pilot in the entire universe.

X2 and what kind of costs are involved?

The cost for a private pilot license ranges from around $4000 and goes up depending on the number of hours you need to be ready for the check ride. I have heard the current average is in the $5-$6K range. There is a new license called the sport pilot license which takes less time and is a little less expensive but you are limited to lower performance airplanes and no night flight.

One thing to keep in mind - to maintain your skills you will need to fly after you get your license. A simple 100 mph 2 seater costs in the $50-$75+ per hour range to rent. A 125 mph 4 seater costs about twice as much. A high performance (constant speed prop and retractable landing gear) capable of cruising in the 150-200 range mph costs 3 or 4+ times as much per hour.

Here is a link with all kinds of info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_certification_in_the_United_States

[flyingfish]

(Long post)

You'll do great.

Its been about 6 years now but as I remember, in the verbal portion we did the flight plan, went over wind calcs, fuel calcs, etc. reviewed the charts and different types of air space ... things like that. Have current charts for your area and if you're close to a boundry for the adjacent areas. Be sure to have a current green book (airport directory) and be able to explain how to look up things in both.

The only area I had problems with during the verbal was he asked several questions about special requirements for flight above 12,000'. I knew the requirements to use oxygen after 30 minutes, the signs of hypoxia and that everything from 18,000 up was class A airspace but he asked some other questions that I didn't know the answers too. Sorry but I can't remember what they were now.

He asked so many questions about about flights above 12,000 that I reminded him that I had a 1956 172. I told him that after 10,000' it only climbs about 50' a minute with two on board (I'm a big one) so I didn't worry about flying that high. His response was that I probably wouldn't always be flying a 56 172. He didn't ding me for it but did tell my instructor to put more focus on that with future students.

I plotted my route for the flight plan I created on my charts during the verbal and made a trip plan (turns, times, frequencies, etc.) and flight plan. He had me explain each and had me explain how to file, open, and close the flight plan. He had me actually file but had me tell the flight briefer that I was filing as part of my flight exam as an exercise and that we would be canceling before take off. We did call and cancel but he said sometimes he does have the student open the flight plan in the air so know how to do that.

We then did the pre-flight (make sure to use a checklist) with explanations about what I was looking at and why. Be sure to stick the fuel tanks. One thing my examiner told me afterwards was that he's been on a lot of flight checks where the student either didn't have enough fuel for the flight they'd planned or was over gross with full fuel for the type of plane being used (152's and such). Both problems are bad for the exam and in real life. He also had me do center of gravity calculations, show him where I got the info in the POH to do those and then show him that we were within limits.

He said in his case having too much or two little fuel and being out of CG result in an immediate fail if you don't tell him you had a problem instead of him telling you. If you're over-weight he expects you to either be ready and know how to remove fuel or to say you can't do the flight due to the weight issues. Obviously you don't fly if over weight or out of CG limits. I have a 172 so I didn't have an problem with full fuel so it wasn't a problem.

He had me do a short - soft field take-off and watched to be sure I checked the checklist to make sure I set the flaps correctly and that I went through every step on the checklist.

Once in the air we headed off on the flight plan. We went on plan for about 10 minutes then he said all my radios were dead and had me head for another local airport using dead reckoning. In my case we were south of Houston Southwest and he wanted me to go to Brazoria (LBX) so I headed down a road that I knew ended up about 20 miles west of the airport.

I figured I'd fly that to the intersection of another road that went to the airport and then follow that but I didn't explain what I was doing. Since I hadn't headed straight for LBX he asked me where I was going. When I explained he said point to the field. I did and he said go that way. I figured afterwords that he wanted me to go direct to start with but I'd always followed roads when possible on my cross countries so that's what I'd planned on doing that time.

He didn't comment afterwards during the flight so I wasn't sure if I'd messed up or not but afterwards he signed me off I asked. He said that since I was able to point to where I was on the chart when he asked and that I did know where the airport was in relation to where I was I did OK. He said what he was checking for though was to see if I could relate a heading on the compass to a heading to the direction I had decided the airport was. He said its common to have to switch to an alternate in flight for a lot of reasons so he needed to know that I could make a change 'on the fly' and then fly the new plan.

After we'd headed for LBX at some point he cut power and had me run through the emergency procedures and had me set up for an off airport landing. One of the things he was looking for was that I would be able to tell someone on 121.5 about where I was (10 miles from AXH at 170 degrees or 15 miles from *** VOR on the *** radial). As long as you're following along on the chart so you know where just like you did on your cross country flights that's not a problem so don't sweat it.

I did have the checklist turned to the emergency procedures page but didn't go through it before I had a spot picked out and was getting set up for a pattern to land. When I did start to review it he said you better have that memorized because if you really need to look at it in an emergency you wouldn't have time.

I told him I did have it memorized but that I thought it would be good to go through it once I was set up to do the landing to be sure I didn't over-look something. He said that didn't hurt but not to depend on being able to look at it.

He actually had me go down to around 100 feet before he let me power back up. That made me nervous enough that I asked at around 200 feet on final if he was ready for me to power up and go around but he said he'd let me know when he was ready.

I kept going but planned on pushing the power in at 50 feet if he said go or not because I'd picked a mowed field as my landing site. I didn't want to actually do an off airport landing on someone else's property that hadn't been checked for holes, sticks, etc. if it really wasn't an emergency.

I told him that after he'd signed me off and he said one of the things he was checking for was to see if I was going to 'act like a pilot and question him at some point' but that I'd passed that test when I'd asked at 200 foot and he was comfortable that I wouldn't let it go far enough to risk damage to the plane or to him.

He said that he tries not to pull power somewhere near a real runway because he assumes the student has probably practiced in that area and is ready for him but when he does end up doing the procedure near a runway he has the student actually land (assuming he's set up correctly and its safe).

I don't know if that's common but I didn't getting that low off airport like that so I mentioned it to my instructor after I'd passed. If anything had gone wrong and the engine didn't power back up when he was ready we'd have had to land and could have damaged something. My instructor told me later that he'd talked about it with the examiner but I don't know if that's ever changed.

Anyway after the simulated emergency he had me go back to about 900' agl and do some S-turns and other typical low altitude work to check my air work then we went up to 3,000 agl to do stalls, slow flight, steep turns (make sure to hold 45 degrees and to hold altitude) etc. For some reason I do steep turns better one direction than the other but I stayed within limits so I passed that part.

We then went back to the airport and did various landing's (short, steep, no flaps, go around and side slips both directions). We finished with a spot landing and he had me taxi back. He didn't tell me if I'd passed until he finished writing so that was kind of a nervous time but it felt good when he shook my hand and handed me my new license. The entire flight only took about 45 minutes but it sure seemed a lot longer while it was going on.

I can't remember a lot more about the flight check but basically we went over exactly the same things the instructor had been going over for both the verbal and the flight check so I knew what I needed to know and could do what I needed to do. Bottom line is its bad for the instructor to have someone take the check ride that ends up not passing so yours wouldn't have signed you off if you weren't ready. Try to sleep well the night before the flight, have a decent break-fast and just do what you do. You'll do fine.

Getting the license opens up a whole new world. My wife likes to fly so we've done a lot of trips to a lot of places. I got the license in June 2004 and have around 800 hours in my plane since. My longest trips so far have been several trips to Ohio and the Dakotas and two trips to Oshkosh. We did a trip to the black-hills the first summer and flying over Mount Rushmore and the other monuments was really cool.

I changed jobs about a year after I got the license. I'm a regional manager in my new job with offices in Beaumont, Houston and Dallas and my employer not only lets me use my plane to travel between offices they pay for the fuel. I don't have a commercial license I only get reimbursed for fuel to be sure I don't have any legal issues. I do take tax deductions for the expenses that aren't reimbursed. The IRS treats it just like using a car as long as you can show the trips are 'necessary and reasonable'. The AOPA has a lot more info on that if you ever need it.

My counterparts fly commercial to their offices so the plane isn't required but it sure makes doing the trips more fun and lets me get to a lot of sales calls / meeting that I couldn't do any other way in the same amount of time. I flew up to Dallas from Angleton Tuesday (I'm here now). Smooth air, visibility to the curvature of the earth and good tail winds. What a way to travel. About 550 hours of my time since 2005 is from trips that the company buys the gas for including the Ohio trips and both trips to Oshkosh. We have a customer that headquarters in Iowa so I go see them on they way back from Ohio. That makes Oshkosh more or less on the way and it's just worked out that my meetings in Ohio ended on the right Friday and I set the meeting with the customer for the following Tuesday. That gave me the day before Oshkosh and two days of the airvention to check things out.

I didn't plan on using the plane for work when I got the plane and pilot's license but its sure worked out great.

Have fun. You never know what will happen next but you'll have a great time. Let me know when you pass.

Gary

[Jmh05]

Thanks y'all for all the advice and tips. My check ride was supposed to be today, but winds are already 20kts and supposed to get higher....not good in a Top Cub. I'm on standby for an opening this week, but have a rescheduled date of the 28th of May.

I'm just ready to get it done.

For the non-pilot guys, what was said from the pilots is about 100% correct. It costs about $5k to get your license. It's better to fly several days a week versus once.

As far as difficulty, on my first flight, I thought there was no way I could ever be a pilot. I was flying a piper Super Cub, a very difficult first plane to fly and it took me about 18hrs to solo in it. After that, I realized that a monkey could learn to fly a plane. It's not that hard. I have built up 84hrs of flight time over the past 8 months of flying and it's been the best thing I have ever done. This check ride is just the last step before I really get to fly and become a pilot.

I'll keep y'all posted.

[SMUMan02]

Not as hard as some people think and not hard at all for most people. I was going solo in about 10 days after I started. I read my own books so I didn't do any ground school.

You can go in and fly with an instructor almost anytime. You won't need to get a physical until you do a solo flight. Some places will give you a free ride to see if you are interested. They will bring you up for a few minutes and let you take the yoke and make a few maneuvers to get you hooked.

If you do decide to take lessons, get it in your mind that you want to do it and then fly as often as possible. An hour lesson/flight every day or every other day is better than one lesson a week. You retain a lot more with recent repetition. If you take a lesson and lay off for a few days, I think it takes a bit to get the feel back when you first start flying. It is just better (IMO) if your last flight was yesterday than it is if your last flight was two weeks ago.

That's no joke. I had a close buddy a few years ago that was an instructor and he took me up and let me "fly" it for a bit. It's incredible and every since, I've been wanting to get a license. This thread is bringing that desire back up again. I'd say unless you have the money to go through with the training, etc., don't take that free ride! If it gets in your blood, it won't get out!