I'm Ready

July 22, 2011

I finally got to fly today for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks and it felt great. Matt asked me to fly with Nick who is another instructor at the airport. He wanted Nick to test me to see if I was ready for the big checkride.

Prior to today's lesson, I flew solo on July 5th. Then on the 13th I was supposed to fly with Nick but weather kept us on the ground. The time didn't go to waste; we ended up doing 2 1/2 hours of oral exam preparation. Then on the 20th I took my FAA Private Pilot Knowledge Exam and scored a 93%!!! Now all of the requirements that are needed prior to taking the checkride have been completed, which brings us back to today's flight.

Nick and I flew in the other Cessna 152 because my regular airplane has been down for maintenance. We departed runway 18 with a soft field takeoff. We headed out to Jerseyville and did the cross country portion of the mock checkride. All went well so we moved onto the next thing. I don't remember the exact order but we ended up doing unusual attitudes while under the foggles, we did turns around a point, and steep turns. He then cut the power to idle to simulate an engine failure. Nick intentionally had me come in high to test me on how well I could do a forward slip. It went really well and I would've made the intended point of landing.

While we were still out by Jerseyville, Nick had me set up for slow flight before going into a stall. After successfully completing slow flight, I received a huge compliment. Nick said that my slow flight maneuver met commercial pilot standards. Wow!! Hearing him say that felt so unbelievably good.

On the way back to the airport, Nick put me back under the foggles and had me navigate by VOR. Once close enough, I took the foggles off and entered the traffic pattern for runway 9. Nick said that I needed to make a short field landing and should touch down at the intersection of runway 9 and 18. Then he changed his mind and said he would just be happy to see a nice landing on the runway itself. Without telling him, I decided to take the challenge anyway. After softly touching down on that intersection, Nick complimented me on a job well done. It was an unexpectedly fantastic day.

Once back inside, I was told that I would've passed the checkride. After my plane is fixed (which could be another two weeks) I can contact a FAA examiner and schedule the real checkride. I am so excited.

Flight Log to Date
Hours flown: 70.9