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Check Ride


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Well finally the time has come for my private pilot check ride. It was originally scheduled the 31st of may but due to some time requirements I have to meet with uvsc I have to have it completed no later than May 20th. Thanks to the help of my chief instructor he was able to get me a check ride on Monday the 19th 12 days early than I expected which I just found all this out today, so I'm definitely a little nervous.

 

So today due these time requirements I have to meet, my chief instructor calls around finds me an examiner that will take me on such short notice but tells me your oral exam is in four hours and your check ride is on Monday :unsure:, wooo in four hours!!!!! Man was I starting to get nervous. All this happening so fast and no time for last minute studying.

 

So to make a long story short I flew out to long beach airport at the last minute were I met with Tim Tucker, who was nice enough to take me on such short notice, he gave me my oral exam..... And I passed :D, so on Monday I have to fly back to long beach were I'll take my check ride with Tim.

 

I’m nervous but also confident, I guess it's all right to be a little nervous!

 

Sorry for the long post but I also wanted to say thanks to everyone on VR who has been nice enough to help out all of us newbie’s on answering questions and helping all of us along the way. Thanks for all the most invaluable information.

 

Well wish me luck and I'll make sure to let everyone know how my check ride goes.

 

P.S. sorry if this post seems confusing, it's been a really overwhelming and confusing day for myself.

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I don't know about you, but I always dread the Oral more than the flight. Just go over your EP's (emergency procedures), learn em, live em, love em.

 

I just did mine and got a very "brisk," we'll call it, hover auto, a straight in, 180, and a simulated engine failure during the XC portion. Just remember, when you climb into the right seat, that is YOUR aircraft. Your DPE is just along for the ride. Go in with confidence, be absolutely sure about everything you do, and things will go well. Your CFI wouldn't have signed you off if they didn't think you were ready.

 

Also, try and use a bit of that nervous energy to your advantage. Instead of dwelling on "oh geez, this is my check ride" think about the radio calls, where you'll go if you get diverted on the x/c, where the winds are, all that jazz. You'll do fine.

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Good luck - try not to get too stressed about it, like said earlier, concentrate on your emergency stuff, the DPE is only there for sightseeing, treat him like a passenger and make it your responsibility to keep him safe at all times. That attitude will server you well. You'll find once you get inbto the hover on the taxi way your mind will relax and you'll then get busy with the important things you have to do.

 

Post back and let us all know how you get on.

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I passed!

 

Now that it's over I'm wondering what I was so nervous about. Everything went perfectly, and it all seemed to go by pretty fast. The weird thing is that the maneuvers I thought I had problems with actually ended up being my best ever during the check ride and the maneuvers that I felt comfortable with ended up being the worst maneuvers during the check ride, Weird the ways things work out. Overall the check ride was a blast and a great learning experience; it couldn’t have gone any better. It really top’s the chart on my list as one of the greatest days of my life.

 

Well thanks to everyone for all encouragement and advice it really helped out a lot before my check ride.

 

Thanks Alex

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Hey well done..! Now.... off the the important task of ferrying around your family, friends and every one you know for the next six months giving pleasure flights..!

 

Yea I can’t wait to actually take up some of my family and friends so they can see what all the fuss has been about. The only part that sucks is that for my schools insurance I can’t fly passengers until I take the Robinson safety course, which is actually probley a good thing just to be more on the safe side?

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Yea I can’t wait to actually take up some of my family and friends so they can see what all the fuss has been about. The only part that sucks is that for my schools insurance I can’t fly passengers until I take the Robinson safety course, which is actually probley a good thing just to be more on the safe side?

 

 

I don't know. Like my DPE said, after all the emergency practice we do as students, we probably are in as good a position to handle a failure as we are going to get unless we go on to higher ratings. We might even fly a bit more carefully as a new pilot than during the 'I've got 150 hours and know everything" phase. I took my family up right away in one of the helos that wasn't Pathfinder insured. It was great!

 

Congratulations on getting your license!

 

Regards,

Tom

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Congratulations! So how many people called you up and asked you for a ride? The day I got mine, my phone was blowing up pretty much all day.

 

Just remember, you're now a Pilot with a big P.

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