MY CHECK RIDE
Finally the day came for me to put to test the skills I had acquired for the past 5 months to an FAA examiner in order to obtain the much desired private pilot license. It was the Friday of the Thanksgiving weekend and I had taken the day off from work (ya sadly, we had a working day that Friday) and decided to go for it.
The day started around 930 am when I met my instructor at my club to go over my cross country planning, enroute weather for the same and, the weight and balance for the aircraft. Since the check ride
was scheduled for 1 pm, and the examiner was based out of Santa Rosa, our plan was to finish up everything in an hour or so and leave for Santa Rosa around 1030. By the time we finished the weight and balance and planning the cross country, the clock was ticking 11. We left for Santa Rosa in a Cessna 152 (the one I had been training in for the past few months), and planned to practise all the maneuvers enroute. Once we crossed the bay with breathtaking views of the Golden Gate bridge to the west and Bay bridge to the east, I started practising some of the customary maneuvers: slow flight, steep turns and stalls - essential skills a pilot learns for his private license.
We reached Sonoma County airport around 1145 with 15 minutes left for me to go over the coded weather information for my cross country, which, I have some times found difficult to decipher, especially codes that are so difficult to associate with their meanings. I could never figure out why mist would be coded as BR and not MI or MS until google told me that BR actually referred to 'Brume' which is a poetic reference to heavy mist or fog. Once we reached Santa Rosa, my instructor introduced me to the examiner who seemed like a really nice guy. The three of us went to his office and after reviewing the initial paper work for the airworthiness of the plane and my legality for appearing for the check ride, my instructor left me with the examiner for the oral part of the check ride. The oral went really well, partly I guess, because of the great score I obtained on my written. The examiner then asked me to meet him near the plane for the practical part of the exam. I did the standard preflight and got into the plane with the examiner and left for the cross country. One thing I missed (and I still don't know how) was to note down the altimeter setting as part of the ATIS. Guess I subconsciously assumed it would be the same as what it was when we landed. Once I reached the runup area, my examiner reminded me of it and told me that he had noted it down for me. We then took off along the planned cross country (towards St Marines) and after a brief flight along that course, the examiner asked me to divert towards Healdsberg airport. Along the way we went through some of the maneuvers and some flying under the hood and as I approached the airport, he asked me to do a series of landings in a given order. Luckily I was at close to my best as far as landings were concerned and all of them were pretty smooth. The examiner then asked me to navigate back to Santa Rosa and once we landed and taxied back, he got out of the plane and I heard the golden words 'Congratulations ! You are a private pilot'.
Finally the day came for me to put to test the skills I had acquired for the past 5 months to an FAA examiner in order to obtain the much desired private pilot license. It was the Friday of the Thanksgiving weekend and I had taken the day off from work (ya sadly, we had a working day that Friday) and decided to go for it.
The day started around 930 am when I met my instructor at my club to go over my cross country planning, enroute weather for the same and, the weight and balance for the aircraft. Since the check ride
was scheduled for 1 pm, and the examiner was based out of Santa Rosa, our plan was to finish up everything in an hour or so and leave for Santa Rosa around 1030. By the time we finished the weight and balance and planning the cross country, the clock was ticking 11. We left for Santa Rosa in a Cessna 152 (the one I had been training in for the past few months), and planned to practise all the maneuvers enroute. Once we crossed the bay with breathtaking views of the Golden Gate bridge to the west and Bay bridge to the east, I started practising some of the customary maneuvers: slow flight, steep turns and stalls - essential skills a pilot learns for his private license.
We reached Sonoma County airport around 1145 with 15 minutes left for me to go over the coded weather information for my cross country, which, I have some times found difficult to decipher, especially codes that are so difficult to associate with their meanings. I could never figure out why mist would be coded as BR and not MI or MS until google told me that BR actually referred to 'Brume' which is a poetic reference to heavy mist or fog. Once we reached Santa Rosa, my instructor introduced me to the examiner who seemed like a really nice guy. The three of us went to his office and after reviewing the initial paper work for the airworthiness of the plane and my legality for appearing for the check ride, my instructor left me with the examiner for the oral part of the check ride. The oral went really well, partly I guess, because of the great score I obtained on my written. The examiner then asked me to meet him near the plane for the practical part of the exam. I did the standard preflight and got into the plane with the examiner and left for the cross country. One thing I missed (and I still don't know how) was to note down the altimeter setting as part of the ATIS. Guess I subconsciously assumed it would be the same as what it was when we landed. Once I reached the runup area, my examiner reminded me of it and told me that he had noted it down for me. We then took off along the planned cross country (towards St Marines) and after a brief flight along that course, the examiner asked me to divert towards Healdsberg airport. Along the way we went through some of the maneuvers and some flying under the hood and as I approached the airport, he asked me to do a series of landings in a given order. Luckily I was at close to my best as far as landings were concerned and all of them were pretty smooth. The examiner then asked me to navigate back to Santa Rosa and once we landed and taxied back, he got out of the plane and I heard the golden words 'Congratulations ! You are a private pilot'.
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