Any last minute suggestions? I'll have about 2-3 hours of practice time in the next week prior to the examination...
I feel great with everything except memorization of the rule numbers (i.e.: if i don't know something, knowing where it lives in the FAR/AIM...)
checkride friday
Moderator: drseti
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Mark Gregor
- Posts: 209
- Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 9:36 pm
- Location: minnesota
Re: checkride friday
Ask your CFI what your examiner will ask you. Every examiner has pet questions they like to ask.
My CFI asked if she could sit in on the oral. Obviously she couldnt help me but got to see how well i was prepared.
Same thing with the actual ride. Ask around what your examiners pets are. My examiner told me before we started he would not answer any questions so dont ask.
He also said if I didnt call and clear every turn he would take me back in.
One thing i wasnt prepared for was as soon as we got in the plane he blanked all the glass screens. I guess I wasnt surprised but never expected it.
It was turbulant on my day and the examiner asked if i still wanted to go. I said yes to him. (said lets get this over with to myself)
Once i got in the air the nervousness went away and i just did what i was trained to do. It was very busy at the airport and i was 20 minutes out before i was cleared on course. He said, well, see if you can still find your checkpoint. Dont know how but i still found it. It was 5 mile vis and i was not familiar with the area.
Everyone has a checkride story. You will too. Will be happy to hear it when your done.
Eat a good meal first, no junk food. Imagine your self doing well and if something difficult comes up you will handle it.
Remember the worst that can happen is you have to do it again and you sure wouldnt be the first one.
Good luck!
Jake
My CFI asked if she could sit in on the oral. Obviously she couldnt help me but got to see how well i was prepared.
Same thing with the actual ride. Ask around what your examiners pets are. My examiner told me before we started he would not answer any questions so dont ask.
He also said if I didnt call and clear every turn he would take me back in.
One thing i wasnt prepared for was as soon as we got in the plane he blanked all the glass screens. I guess I wasnt surprised but never expected it.
It was turbulant on my day and the examiner asked if i still wanted to go. I said yes to him. (said lets get this over with to myself)
Once i got in the air the nervousness went away and i just did what i was trained to do. It was very busy at the airport and i was 20 minutes out before i was cleared on course. He said, well, see if you can still find your checkpoint. Dont know how but i still found it. It was 5 mile vis and i was not familiar with the area.
Everyone has a checkride story. You will too. Will be happy to hear it when your done.
Eat a good meal first, no junk food. Imagine your self doing well and if something difficult comes up you will handle it.
Remember the worst that can happen is you have to do it again and you sure wouldnt be the first one.
Good luck!
Jake
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Targetbuster
- Posts: 47
- Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 3:51 am
- Location: Sultan wa
Re: checkride friday
You'll do fine. If you are comfortable flying, that part will be fine. The examiner will probably want to see you look up something in the book, just to demonstrate you can use it so maybe you should consider looking up something that he asks about even though you know the answer. That way you don't have to fumble around looking for the answer to a question he purposely asks to make you demonstrate this ability (I fumbled around and sweat for 10 minutes when he asked me an obscure question, I think, to make me demonstrate I knew how to look something up). Other than that, my check ride was very straight forward. Not nearly as much to worry about as I had imagined. Good luck, I suspect you'll do fine.
Sport Pilot
Re: checkride friday
My PP check ride was last week and ended with a Discontinuance. (Hurricane Sandy was on the way up the coast and the ceiling became a factor. (Scored major points with the examiner for calling it off tho'). I was totally fried worrying about the oral and it was unwarranted leading up. The line of questioning on the oral was standard stuff. No curve-balls I can think of. It was a conversation type environment vs. a line of questioning. I learned a few things along the way. A few minor suggestions I can think of though.
- Get some Post-it's (different color ones if you can) and tab off the different sections in your FAR/AIM. As mentioned he'll EXPECT you to need to look things up. If you tab them off, it's easier on you to find things plus it demonstrates that big thick monster didn’t sit on your shelf the whole time. The more beat up your FAR/AIM is, the more they like it I think.
- Make sure your comfortable reading a METAR for your planned flight. Winds aloft data, Any NOTAM's or TFRs should be documented with your flight plan that you present.
- Be comfortable identifying items on the sectional. Know the airspace rules. (Remember the LEGEND if you need it on the flap of the sectional)
- Keep your answers simple. "Yes", "No", "I don’t know" <-- don’t be afraid to say that to him. Odds are he'll say "Ok, well tell me where you find out"?
- Organize your paper work. If it makes his job easier, it'll set a comfortable tone. For example, I took a standard folder, on one side I had a copy of my 8710, Student Cert, Knowledge test results and ID paper clipped together on one side and I had my flight plan info paper clipped to the other side of the folder. Double check your Log book and make sure your CFI signed off everything you need signed.
If you've read 100 posts like I did, it really is true. The examiner, at no time gave me the impression he was there to sink me. Did I have all of the answers? No way. He tripped me up a few times actually. The key is knowing where to find the answers. He already knows your probably nervous but he also remembers HIS check ride(s). Keep your ears open, you'll learn quite a bit from him/her.
Remember to have fun!
- Get some Post-it's (different color ones if you can) and tab off the different sections in your FAR/AIM. As mentioned he'll EXPECT you to need to look things up. If you tab them off, it's easier on you to find things plus it demonstrates that big thick monster didn’t sit on your shelf the whole time. The more beat up your FAR/AIM is, the more they like it I think.
- Make sure your comfortable reading a METAR for your planned flight. Winds aloft data, Any NOTAM's or TFRs should be documented with your flight plan that you present.
- Be comfortable identifying items on the sectional. Know the airspace rules. (Remember the LEGEND if you need it on the flap of the sectional)
- Keep your answers simple. "Yes", "No", "I don’t know" <-- don’t be afraid to say that to him. Odds are he'll say "Ok, well tell me where you find out"?
- Organize your paper work. If it makes his job easier, it'll set a comfortable tone. For example, I took a standard folder, on one side I had a copy of my 8710, Student Cert, Knowledge test results and ID paper clipped together on one side and I had my flight plan info paper clipped to the other side of the folder. Double check your Log book and make sure your CFI signed off everything you need signed.
If you've read 100 posts like I did, it really is true. The examiner, at no time gave me the impression he was there to sink me. Did I have all of the answers? No way. He tripped me up a few times actually. The key is knowing where to find the answers. He already knows your probably nervous but he also remembers HIS check ride(s). Keep your ears open, you'll learn quite a bit from him/her.
Remember to have fun!
Drew
PP-ASEL
PP-ASEL
Re: checkride friday
SSDriver wrote:My PP check ride was last week and ended with a Discontinuance. (Hurricane Sandy was on the way up the coast and the ceiling became a factor. (Scored major points with the examiner for calling it off tho'). I was totally fried worrying about the oral and it was unwarranted leading up. The line of questioning on the oral was standard stuff. No curve-balls I can think of. It was a conversation type environment vs. a line of questioning. I learned a few things along the way. A few minor suggestions I can think of though.
- Get some Post-it's (different color ones if you can) and tab off the different sections in your FAR/AIM. As mentioned he'll EXPECT you to need to look things up. If you tab them off, it's easier on you to find things plus it demonstrates that big thick monster didn’t sit on your shelf the whole time. The more beat up your FAR/AIM is, the more they like it I think.
- Make sure your comfortable reading a METAR for your planned flight. Winds aloft data, Any NOTAM's or TFRs should be documented with your flight plan that you present.
- Be comfortable identifying items on the sectional. Know the airspace rules. (Remember the LEGEND if you need it on the flap of the sectional)
- Keep your answers simple. "Yes", "No", "I don’t know" <-- don’t be afraid to say that to him. Odds are he'll say "Ok, well tell me where you find out"?
- Organize your paper work. If it makes his job easier, it'll set a comfortable tone. For example, I took a standard folder, on one side I had a copy of my 8710, Student Cert, Knowledge test results and ID paper clipped together on one side and I had my flight plan info paper clipped to the other side of the folder. Double check your Log book and make sure your CFI signed off everything you need signed.
If you've read 100 posts like I did, it really is true. The examiner, at no time gave me the impression he was there to sink me. Did I have all of the answers? No way. He tripped me up a few times actually. The key is knowing where to find the answers. He already knows your probably nervous but he also remembers HIS check ride(s). Keep your ears open, you'll learn quite a bit from him/her.
Remember to have fun!
This is the type of instructor I am looking for but only in a sport pilot instructor.
Tony