204 lines
9.1 KiB
Markdown
204 lines
9.1 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: post
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title: "Can't do that buddy"
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tags:
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- aviation
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- flying
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- vfrstudentpilot
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---
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Early on in my flight training I wrote that one of the most difficult aspects
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of the endeavour is summoning the strength to humbly, and realistically, self-
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assess your own performance.
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In the long run, I believe it to be a highly valuable capability to have as an
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individual, but that doesn't make it any less difficult at times.
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Today, I traveled to Santa Rosa for my private pilot (single-engine land)
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checkride with an examiner. If you're not interested in the journey, but only
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the result, I'll spare you some reading and state now that I didn't pass. I'm
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disappointed not in the verdict, but in my performance.
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I wouldn't have passed me either.
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* * *
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The checkride somewhat started the night prior, when my examiner asked me to
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plan a trip from Santa Rosa to Santa Barbara. Upon arriving home I immediately
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set to work preparing for the following morning. I labored over every single
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detail of the flight log, the routing, and the weather. While I wanted to have
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all my bases covered for the checkride, I am also planning on making this same
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trip at some point with my wife, so the amount effort poured in would be
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"reusable."
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Hopping into bed around midnight, my heart rate higher than normal with
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anxiety, I forced myself to sleep. At 5:11am, I awoke. Not due to an alarm, I
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just woke up. Again I forced myself to sleep. Two more of these cycles before
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I gave up hope of rest around 7.
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After an hour of killing time at home, I decided to head to the airport.
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Better to kill time in the company of other pilots than an empty house.
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* * *
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Hayward was overcast when I arrived, and was scheduled to be overcast into the
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early afternoon. My instructor and I talked about the checkride, did some
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paperwork, and waited [im]patiently for the fog in [Santa
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Rosa](http://airnav.com/airport/ksts) to raise up high enough for a safe
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instrument approach.
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As a lowly VFR pilot, clouds keep me grounded; with my instructor on-board,
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every cloudy day offers an opportunity not only to fly but also to accrue some
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_actual_ instrument time.
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I flew the departure, en route, he flew the appraoch, and then I landed after
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we popped out of the clouds. After a couple of unsavory bounces on the runway,
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he says "that's okay man, just shake that one off." I asked "does that count
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as three landings?"
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A subtle indication of "roger, shaking that one off."
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I pull into the Sonoma Jet Center, park and we head inside for more time
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killing.
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* * *
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The first part any checkride is an oral examination. With most examiners this
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means a couple hours of conversation, wherein questions required by the FAA
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are interleaved into stories, open-ended discussions, and reviewing of
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prepared materials.
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Without going into too much detail, the oral examination went well. I
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demonstrated that I had a sufficient grasp on the knowedlge I was expected to
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know, and the section ended with the final question of "shall we go flying?"
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A full pre-flight of my airplane later, we're both sitting in the cockpit and
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we each give each other our pre-flight briefings. Mine required by my
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checklist, and his required by his checklist.
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Engine start, taxi clearance received, we taxi to the start of runway 14 where
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I perform my runup.
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I request a straight-out departure, and one normal take-off later and we're in
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the air.
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* * *
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I start navigating towards [Napa County](http://airnav.com/airport/kapc), the
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first leg of our trip to Santa Barbara, when I'm diverted to Healdsburg. I
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relay the information for the diversion, using my GPS unit to make things
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_loads_ easier. The examiner is quite a friendly guy, and despite his
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confirmation that I was doing my work correctly, I was still incredibly tense.
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Holding right rudder to keep the ball centered, I caught my right leg gently
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shaking once or twice.
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En route to Healdsburg, he grabs the "foggles" (view limiting goggles) from my
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flight bag behind me, and starts vectoring me. Satisfied with my ability to
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climb, descend and maintain heading and control, he assumes control of the
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airplane for "unusual attitude recovery."
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The exercise means I'm to keep the foggles on, close my eyes, and put my head
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down. Meanwhile, the right seat puts the plane into an unusual attitude and
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says "recover," at which point I'm to look back up to my instruments and put
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the airplane back in a proper straight and level flight attitude.
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The first attitude was a steep nose down attitude, I immediately pull the
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power back and gingerly pull on the yoke. Airspeed is increasing. I continue
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to pull back gently, worried about the excess speed on the airplane and doing
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something unsafe on my first set of manuevers.
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Speed increases to midway into the yellow arc before I get it heading back in
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the right direction. My head is warm with anger, frustration and worry that
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he's going to ask me to take him back to Santa Rosa right then and there.
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The next unusual attitude results in a nose-high attitude, I'm quicker to
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correct the attitude but it's not great, certainly not to the standards I have
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for myself.
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Approaching Healdsburg, there's an X at the base of the runway. Runway's
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closed, we continue on towards
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[Cloverdale](http://www.airnav.com/airport/O60).
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Overflying the field, I'm still tense, but setting up for a pattern entry for
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runway 32. The wind sock however, indicates that runway 14 (opposite
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direction) should be used for landing. I turn around, and start making my
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radio calls about entering the "left pattern for 14", which is correct.
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What I started to do however, was enter the right pattern for 14, which
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doesn't exist, and is incorrect. The fog of anxiety made my mouth say the
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right things, but my actions didn't keep pace. He waited patiently for me to
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see my mistake and correct it, but it just wasn't happening, so he assumed
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controls and put the airplane on the correct side of the field.
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I breathed deeply into the headset. I broke one of the four rules of the
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checkride: don't do anything illegal.
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Just can't do that buddy.
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He asks if I want to continue. I do, so we continue to perform our landing
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work at Cloverdale. The first approach I'm wrangling the airplane into
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position, tense about the final approach, we descend within 30 feet of the
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runway, and I go around. My airspeed wasn't where I wanted, I didn't feel
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comfortable with the approach, so I used my get-out-of-jail-free card.
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When I'm flying by myself, I've got as many go-arounds as I have gas, but on a
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checkride, you get your one card, and then the examiner wants to see you land
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properly.
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Next circuit is for a soft-field landing which I execute correctly and the
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stress starts to melt away. A successful landing generally makes me feel
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better, but as we taxi off the runway, I start to loosen up and start thinking
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with my entire brain again.
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Holding short of the runway, I clear the area (spin in a circle on the ground)
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like i've been taught before re-taking the runway for a soft-field takeoff.
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That executed correctly, we come around the pattern again for a short-field
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landing. On final approach, I throw in the final bit of flaps, approaching the
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runway my glideslope is sinking below 3 degrees so I add some power, then a
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little more power, then a little more, then I remove it and stop on the runway
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properly. I later realized this need for power was because I just threw in 40
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degrees of flaps instead of the 30 degrees that I really wanted.
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A stop-and-go into a short-field later and we depart the area to go perform
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manuevers.
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At this stage of the game I was feeling confident, I knew I wasn't flying home
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a certificated pilot, but I was still flying, so that's something. The
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objective became to knock off as many tasks from the test as possible to
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redure the number of manuevers required for my follow-up checkride.
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* * *
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First I enter slow flight, followed by a straight-ahead power-off stall
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recovery. Both of those went well. Next I performed a power-on stall, he gave
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me the option of to the right or to the left, and like a doofus, I decided to
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perform my power-on stall to the right, which is a little more challenging
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than to the left. We turned probably 200 degrees before I was able to reach
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the stall buffet and recover.
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Satisfied with those manuevers, I then performed steep turns, first to the
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left and then to the right, both to standards.
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This wrapped up our manuevers and he asked to go back to Santa Rosa. Picking
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up the current ATIS, I call up Santa Rosa Tower, inform them of my current
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position and intentions and receive clearance for a straight-in appraoch.
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* * *
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Prior to my landings at Cloverdale, I wasn't necessarily "behind the plane" in
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terms of my workload management. Rather, I was so busy being stressed that I
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wasn't allowing myself to prove to the examiner what I know I'm capable of.
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"Real soon now" I will return to Santa Rosa to demonstrate the last missing
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piece of the puzzle to the examiner: that I know which side of the field to
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fly on. Once that's completed, I'll finally return to Hayward a certificated
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private pilot.
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By no means is a private pilot certificate the finish line, just the
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conclusion of this first leg of a life-long journey, burning money and avgas
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as quickly possible.
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