Mock Checkride

February 18, 2011

Today was a fun and exciting lesson. Matt and I did a practice checkride. To prepare for today, I flew solo over the weekend and gained some much needed confidence. I practiced power-off and power-on stalls, then practiced short/soft field takeoff and landings. So when today came, I felt completely comfortable having Matt test me on my abilities. 

The first thing that he had me do was a soft field takeoff. We flew out west and then he told me to show him steep turns. Once I reached a safe altitude, I made my clearing turns to check for traffic, then began my turn to the left. Once I did a 360° turn, I turned into the opposite direction and did another 360° turn at the required 45° bank. Overall I did good, but made a few small mistakes with maintaining a consistent altitude. After steep turns, he had me show him slow flight and stalls. Again, I did great overall but made some minor mistakes with altitude. Next he pulled the power to idle to simulate an engine failure. Everything went smoothly with no issues. Matt then had me show him a ground reference maneuver. I chose to do turns around a point. My biggest problem was staying within the required ±100ft altitude range. I was off by about 50ft.

Matt then had me do something completely new. I was asked to recover the airplane from an unusual attitude after becoming disorientated in flight. To do this, Matt took the controls. He had me close my eyes, put my head down, and take my hands and feet off all controls. He then flew the plane in all directions; right and left, in circles, and up and down. I was completely unaware of where I was or what the plane was doing. Then he told me to open my eyes and get the airplane back to straight and level flight. The first time we did it, I opened my eyes to see the airplane in a steep decent with a slight bank angle. The second time I opened to see the airplane with the nose way up and turned to the left. This was surprisingly fun and I did great. I love learning and experiencing new things!

We then came back to the airport and did a soft field landing. Afterward I had the opportunity to learn yet another new thing... crosswind takeoff and landings! I have been so excited to learn these, so when he asked if I was up to the challenge, I jumped at the opportunity. He took the controls and showed me how to do the takeoff, then flew the pattern around and showed me the landing. Next it was my turn. I was surprised to see how well I did for it being my first time. I love having an instructor who takes the time to really explain and show me things. 

We then taxied back to the hanger and went inside. I was really hoping to get that checkride endorsement today but it didn't happen. I understand why and I'm ok with it. Matt is having me fly solo again this weekend to focus on doing the maneuvers within the required altitude range, and to practice more crosswind takeoff and landings. Practice makes perfect!

Flight Log to Date
Hours flown: 29.1