The Lowdown

First of all, thank you to everyone for the positive comments and emails. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! It made a difference.

Wow! 19 months, 2 days from the first day of flight school to an airline check ride. It feels very surreal. It's had to believe that 2 years ago I was just beginning the quest to become an airline pilot and would have never expected for it to happen so soon.

Well I'm back in Arizona enjoying my family. The kids are sick, but it's nice to be home. It feels good knowing I don't have to leave until Wednesday afternoon. Ahhhh.

So...about the check ride. I guess it's about time to talk about it.

In summary, it was AWFUL. Yes I passed, but the one word that truly describes the experience is AWFUL.

The examiner was fair and that's all that should have been expected. However, he has a military background which seemed to play the lead role during the oral and check ride.

I arrived at the training center twenty minutes early to relax, collect my thoughts and prepare. We ran into each other in the men's room, exchanges pleasantries and I headed to the break room to relax. He came in right behind me and said, "Ok, let's get this party started." Crap. I wasn't ready, but felt like I had no choice.

Every previous check ride has begun with a little ice breaker. Hi. How are you? Where are you from? What is your background? Let me tell you a little bit about myself. Here's what to expect from this event. Well...zip...zero...zilch. He asked for my license, medical, FCC and paperwork. I said, "Well I'm excited about being here today. It's been a long journey to finally get to this moment. I've been looking forward to it." With an absolute straight face, zero sarcasm intended, he said, "Flattery isn't going to get you anywhere with me." Umm...ok. My statement wasn't intended to flatter him, but whatever. That was the tone for the oral.

The oral started with a performance problem. He wrote down some weather data and then told me he wanted the performance for a specific airport and runway. He said he'd be back in five minutes and left. When he came back, we went over the data and he started quizzing me on all aspects of performance. We then went in to the systems of the aircraft including flight controls, engines, APU, fuel system, electrical system and environmental control system. While discussing each one, he would ask for emergency memory items for certain events, specific limitations and procedures.

In past experiences, if I didn't understand the question or the concept from the examiner, he/she would redirect to find out if I needed to look at it a different way or just didn't understand. Not this time. He would just ask the question over and over until I figured out what he wanted to hear. There was little room for error.

Usually, an oral exam has a natural flow and it is pretty easy to determine when it is coming to an end. This time, there was no segue. His final question was about fuel system shut off valves and how they can be closed. When I answered it, he simply said, "That concludes your oral. Here's your dispatch release. Look it over and I'll see you in the sim in 10 minutes."

I met the captain who was assigned to fly with me. We exchanged pleasantries and he assured me that he would do everything in his power to make the LOE go smoothly. He would take the first leg (ATL to CLT) and I would fly back.

We had one item on the Minimum Equipment List (MEL). It was a deferred right pack. A pack is an air conditioning unit. The aircraft has two packs. During single pack operations, the CRJ-200 is limited to operations below FL250. There is also a different method to transfer the 10th stage bleeds.

The flight out was uneventful. From push-back and engine start to taxi, takeoff and arrival in Charlotte, everything went smoothly. He programmed an over temp caution message for Hydraulic system 3B. We ran the QRH procedures and continued on to CLT and landed fine. He told us to take a 10 minute break and be ready with the same passenger & cargo load for the return leg. That made it easier to do the load manifest.

He didn't give me any starter malfunctions and the taxi and takeoff were without incident. The pack deferral and hydraulic caution were cleared and operation was normal. He gave us a 200 knot tailwind, which is common on check rides to save time and money. Once approaching Atlanta, he started throwing a bunch of stuff at us, including a nearly impossible crossing and speed restriction. He was intentionally throwing as much as he could at me to see if I would get flustered and do something stupid. While I did feel the pressure, it didn't affect my decision making skills. I decided to go missed and slow things down a bit. I think that's what was expected. We came around for a second ILS approach and landed without any problems. He gave me a nice crosswind and I touched down on center line.

After the flight ended we went out to the lobby where he informed me that I had passed. The check ride was worse than it sounded. To include every horrible detail would take 10 pages. Like I said, he was fair and that's all that should be expected.

He did say that he threw a bunch of stuff at me in ATL because that is what it is really like there every day. He wanted the LOE to be as real as he could make it.

I thanked him for his time and told him that I walked away having learned a few things. He sounded offended by that and replied with, "Don't ever tell an examiner that they taught you something. My job isn't to teach you anything. It's to see if you can fly worth a damn and if I feel comfortable putting you in a $25 million aircraft with passengers." I replied by thanking him again and said, "I didn't really say that YOU taught me anything. I said that I came away from this experience having learned a few things. I have always learned new things on a check ride." That doesn't mean the examiner is teaching, it just means that learning has occurred.

I have also been told by many examiners that their goal is to evaluate me successfully and teach a thing or two. Oh well, either way it doesn't matter. What matters is that I passed.

I called my instructor afterwards. He really is a good guy. He confessed that when I asked him about my examiner before the check ride, that he was afraid to tell me about him. He didn't want to make me more nervous than I normally would be (A LOT). He said that the guy is very fair, but has a bit of a reputation as a difficult examiner. He was probably right about not telling me about the examiner. I would have been a bigger wreck and probably would have busted the check ride somehow.

It's over. Almost time to start flying on the line.

Enough about me already. Blogging is fun, but kind of a self-centered past time. Once in a while, after going back to read an old post, I wonder why other people read it. I am constantly amazed by the number of visitors to this blog as well as the countries where visitors reside. Maybe one day I'll have enough time to create and post a map of visitors.

I just checked my schedule and it's there! More about that tomorrow. Time for bed.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

Well, I'm done flying for now. I have met all the requirements to file form 8710 and request a check ride from a DPE. Now all I need to do is study, study and study some more. My main course of study will be the ASA Oral Exam Guide and PTS as well as some systems literature I've gathered for the ancient "Hershey Bar" winged Arrow I's that will be used for the flight.

The last flight went well. There had been rain the night before and the ceiling was broken at 3,500 and improving at departure time. It was high enough to do eights on pylons and a bunch of landing practice. When we got out towards the practice area, there was a large enough break in the clouds for us to climb VFR. Here's a rare photo of Phoenix from above the clouds. Sorry for the quality, it was taken from my smart-phone.

Once on top of the clouds, I took the opportunity to practice Chandelles and Lazy Eights one last time. No problems.

Afterwards, we decided to head to Phoenix Regional (A39). As I've said before, it's a modest facility. It has a 50'x5,000' runway 3/21 that is in marginal condition with no markings other than faded numbers. Most of the time, winds favor runway 21 - which has 20'+ tall trees right at the approach end. So most landings must be treated as 50' obstacle landings.

The DPE that will most likely be doing my check-ride loves to take candidates to Phoenix Regional at 5,500 and cut the engine for a steep spiral down and transition to a power off 180. I've done about 20 of them there and have about a 90% ratio on the numbers so I'm pretty confident about that. I've also been practicing soft field landings on point and short fields. The PTS doesn't require a point for soft field landings, but I figure if I can do that, then a standard short field should be a piece of cake.

One of my concerns was calculating pivotal altitude for eights on pylons in the aircraft. Thanks to John (Aviation Mentor) for a good pointer. I'll just make a chart based on a variety of air speeds. If the DPE asks, I'll just as him which airspeed and voila, there it will be.

The only flight stuff to brush up on is emergency procedures and diversions (which are easy with a properly done flight plan).

My friend Dana is coming over tonight to help me study for the oral exam. She's a CFI and knows her stuff. I'm glad she can help. Next month, she'll probably have an airline job. She has 3 interviews scheduled in January.

If all goes well, I should be ready for my Commercial Single check ride on or about next Saturday, January 6th.

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The other day, I took my middle son to Wickenburg with me. Out of the three kids, he's been the most timid about flying. I was proud of him. He sat in the front seat of the 172 and spent the entire flight both ways with his face pressed against the window pointing out things below.

When we arrived in Wickenburg, we parked next to an Archer II with a very nice paint job. Other than the bent empennage and the 4 foot gash in the right wing between the aileron and flap, it was a nice plane. The undercarriage and nose were in tact and it didn't look at all like damage from a bad landing. How did a damaged Archer get there?

The local A&P came out to say hello and told me the story:

The plane came in on December 22nd from California carrying a couple visiting Wickenburg for the holidays. The tied down at the transient parking area and left on their merry little way. The next day, a local who owns a Cessna 170 decided to go solo flying. From what I hear, he found the battery to be dead. Keep in mind, I don't know whether a 170 has a parking brake or not. Since he was flying solo, the obvious thing to do was hand prop it. I don't know if chocks were used or not, but when the plane started...it really started. It got away from him so fast that he couldn't get in the door.

The 170 picked up speed as it rolled across the apron to the transient parking area where it promptly smashed in to the Archer, totalling it. I didn't see the 170, but heard that the damage was minimal.

Of course the owner of the 170 wasn't insured. Also, the couple who own the Archer couldn't be reached. As of the 27th, they still didn't know that their pristine Archer was a total loss. On their aircraft was a note, giving the name of the owner of the 170 and stating in big letters: "SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE". Inconvenience? A flat tire is an inconvenience. Even a damaged prop might pass as an inconvenience. A total loss? I would call that a FUBAR.

I'm sure the Archer owners were insured, but it is aircraft insurance after all. I'm also pretty sure there's going to be some lawyerin' going on.

I didn't have a camera. If the plane is still there next week, I'll take some photos and post them.

This is one of those classic situations where my favorite poster from Despair, Inc. comes to mind:

What do you say to the 170 owner other than, "It must really suck to be you right now."