Today I retook the first stage check for the private pilot course. If you read the last post, than you know how horribly I failed my first attempt at it. I had Bob again; however he wasn’t as intimidating this time. Having done it once, I knew what he was going to be looking for and what things I had to fix.
When I woke up this morning the skies were overcast, and I knew it was going to be questionable whether or not I was going to have the stage check this afternoon. I was scheduled to have the flight at 1715Z (12:15 pm local). So after my first class of the day, I headed over to the airport for the flight.
I checked in with the Air Boss and filled out my dispatch paperwork. The weather was winds of 12kts out of 340 and gusting up to 19kts. More importantly, the clouds were OVC080, or overcast at 8000 feet. These conditions meant I would be flying.
After pre-flighting the airplane I was assigned, I went back to the briefing room and met up with Bob. We both had a laugh about how horribly I had done the last time and how I should do better today. Well it went better, but not as good as I would have liked. From when the engine started until I left the ground, I only made a few mistakes. Forgetting to take the fuel pump off after engine start, and forgetting to retract the flaps after we were both inside the plane are two examples. I was about to radio tower to request permission to take off when Bob radioed the tower and asked to stay in the pattern for touch-and-goes. The weather had gotten bad enough that he knew going out to the practice grounds would be unfair conditions to test me in. I got permission to take off and taxied onto the runway.
The take off went well, as did turning crosswind and then downwind. This time I definitely didn’t forget to do the pre-landing checklists. Bob said he was going to use the radio today so I didn’t have to worry about that. However, I did have to worry about the rain and winds, which were gusting at 1,100 AGL (traffic pattern altitude). The visibility stayed VFR but went down to 5 statute miles at times. The hardest part of the flight was finding the traffic and reporting back to the tower that traffic was in sight. Bob helped me with this because of the deteriorating conditions.
The first landing went well, however Bob had me do a go-around on the second one because I forgot to announce the decent was stabilized at 200 feet AGL. After that one, I didn’t forget it for the rest of the lesson. All in all, I did 5 landings with one go-around. The worst part of my flying was that on most of the landings, the plane wasn’t lined up on the centerline. After 1.2 hours Bob had had enough and I landed for the last time. I taxied back to Echo ramp and shutdown the plane. During our talk, back in the briefing room, Bob had said that the worst part of today was my landings weren’t on the centerline. Other than that my approaches and line ups were good, as well as my traffic pattern maneuvers.
I got an incomplete on the day (because of the weather, not because of my flying) and I will finish up the stage check either tomorrow morning or next week sometime. I’m hoping I pass the stage one check ride before the Thanksgiving break next week.
When I woke up this morning the skies were overcast, and I knew it was going to be questionable whether or not I was going to have the stage check this afternoon. I was scheduled to have the flight at 1715Z (12:15 pm local). So after my first class of the day, I headed over to the airport for the flight.
I checked in with the Air Boss and filled out my dispatch paperwork. The weather was winds of 12kts out of 340 and gusting up to 19kts. More importantly, the clouds were OVC080, or overcast at 8000 feet. These conditions meant I would be flying.
After pre-flighting the airplane I was assigned, I went back to the briefing room and met up with Bob. We both had a laugh about how horribly I had done the last time and how I should do better today. Well it went better, but not as good as I would have liked. From when the engine started until I left the ground, I only made a few mistakes. Forgetting to take the fuel pump off after engine start, and forgetting to retract the flaps after we were both inside the plane are two examples. I was about to radio tower to request permission to take off when Bob radioed the tower and asked to stay in the pattern for touch-and-goes. The weather had gotten bad enough that he knew going out to the practice grounds would be unfair conditions to test me in. I got permission to take off and taxied onto the runway.
The take off went well, as did turning crosswind and then downwind. This time I definitely didn’t forget to do the pre-landing checklists. Bob said he was going to use the radio today so I didn’t have to worry about that. However, I did have to worry about the rain and winds, which were gusting at 1,100 AGL (traffic pattern altitude). The visibility stayed VFR but went down to 5 statute miles at times. The hardest part of the flight was finding the traffic and reporting back to the tower that traffic was in sight. Bob helped me with this because of the deteriorating conditions.
The first landing went well, however Bob had me do a go-around on the second one because I forgot to announce the decent was stabilized at 200 feet AGL. After that one, I didn’t forget it for the rest of the lesson. All in all, I did 5 landings with one go-around. The worst part of my flying was that on most of the landings, the plane wasn’t lined up on the centerline. After 1.2 hours Bob had had enough and I landed for the last time. I taxied back to Echo ramp and shutdown the plane. During our talk, back in the briefing room, Bob had said that the worst part of today was my landings weren’t on the centerline. Other than that my approaches and line ups were good, as well as my traffic pattern maneuvers.
I got an incomplete on the day (because of the weather, not because of my flying) and I will finish up the stage check either tomorrow morning or next week sometime. I’m hoping I pass the stage one check ride before the Thanksgiving break next week.
