Lesson 38: Stage three check ride!

Today, I became a licensed sport pilot! It has been the most difficult six months! I sat down on Thursday, August 2nd for my stage three check. We sat down at a desk and I got out my flight plan and planner and was ready to talk about my preparations for the practical exam. He then asked me content knowledge covering all 17 chapters of the Rod Machado Pilot Handbook. It was rough and mentally exhausting. I only got hung up on ATC light gun signals. I lifted up my sectional and flight plan from my knee board to take a peak and he urged me to dig deep in my memory to pull the information. I countered with a safe and responsible pilot should know everything but if one forgets something, the safe and responsible pilot will know exactly where to find the information. He countered with, dig deeper, I'm sure you can recall the information. After four hours sitting across the desk from the FAA examiner, the weather had changed for the worse and I asked to postpone the practical portion of the exam. Mike was proud of me for making a good decision and not rushing into the practical flight test in excitement, but to be a safe and responsible pilot and make safe and good decisions. We rescheduled for early this morning.

This morning was the earliest I had ever been at the airport. Being a teacher, I always flew in the afternoon. The airport operations office was closed, CSP was closed, though a flight instructor was planning to meet me, my wife, and Mike at the office to let us in, and my aircraft was covered, no drenched in dew. I was nervous, as I thought I would be, but these few things seemed to throw me off a bit. I panicked and grabbed a towel and started wiping down the entire plane. I new I was overthinking and I certainly wanted to wipe down the cockpit, but the entire plane, I was off. I asked Mike and my wife to stand off to the side while I did my pre-flight and then informed my wife we would be leaving. Mike and I jumped in and my check ride began!

I taxied down to the engine run up for runway 11 and I noticed that there were hundreds of geese on the center line in the middle of the runway. I called on the unicom and asked for anyone at the airport operations office to drive a golf cart down the taxiway to spook the birds. I called a few times but remembered that the office was closed when I arrived and possibly, no one was in this early on a Saturday. I was panicking but finally made a decision, I told Mike I was going to abort the take-off and taxi back to the tarmac and hope that the birds would scare and fly off along the way. Mike said he was about a minute away from failing me because I needed to make a decision. He was happy I did, gave me the benefit of the doubt, and suggested that I advise the CTAF that I would taxi down the runway to clear the geese and to make the advisement a few times very clearly. I thanked him profusely and made the call. I taxied down the runway until the geese were airborne. We exited the runway and began the engine run up procedures again.

We were airborne on our way to SBY for the cross country. As with my stage two check, we deviated to RJD and practiced maneuvers and emergency procedures along the way. after a quick touch and go at RJD I demonstrated an emergency landing, emergency descent and as we entered the traffic pattern, an engine out procedure to runway 11 from the downwind to base turn and it was successful. Major forward and side slips to make it work and a lot of right rudder but I did it. Though things went well during the exam, Mike was very calm and quiet in the back with minimal conversation and showed no emotion over the two hour flight. This worried me and I was sure as I taxied up to refuel the plane, he would deliver the bad news that I needed to work on something and we would have to look at our calendars to reschedule my check ride. After checking the ELT, I shut off the master switch and avionics switch and took off my headset. I was hot, exhausted, and still nervous. I opened the canopy to let in some fresh air and Mike spoke to me. He asked, "so are you going to take your wife up today?". I finally was relieved for the first time in six months to have achieved my goal of becoming a pilot! Mike told me I was a great pilot, a safe pilot and a confident guy to work with. As I packed up the plane I couldn't stop smiling. I wanted to tell everyone I walked past! Mike printed out my temporary certificate and wished me the best of luck!

My wife came over and took a few pictures and got in the plane and flew up north along the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay and flew towards Chestertown. We then flew west below the restricted airspace of Martin State and Aberdeen Proving Grounds in the hopes of seeing an A-10 on final approach. With no jets in sight, we headed back for W29 and had a bit of a round landing. Maybe I was feeling too confident and I had to remind myself on that very first licensed flight, that I am always a student of the sport, I will always stay current, I will always follow the ADMP to ensure my safety, my passengers safety, and the safety of everyone flying around me.

This certainly was a life changing opportunity that I set out on back in December 2011 and I am so proud of everything that I have learned. I look forward to all the experiences I will get to share with my students in the ground school course at SRHS in the hopes of instilling the lessons I learned and encouraging them to take up the same opportunity I was given months ago, to become an aviator!

Lesson 36-37: Final practice sessions!

Today and Wednesday the 11th were my last practice days before my stage three check ride! I put myself through soft and short field take-off and landings, steep turns, cross wind take-off and landings, stall work, cross country and deviation practice. I chose to go to ESN for my check point work and then deviated towards GED. I deviated from GED back to W29 as I was making my check points on time and with great accuracy.

These two days I also worked on my reaction timing based on the results of my stage two check. I was feeling confident and scheduled my stage three check ride with an FAA examiner. I was prepped that I would have a few hours on the ground covering all the knowledge I should have gained throughout my training. If that went well, we would head for the practical portion of my exam. I made sure to brush up on my maintenance records as I felt that I was rusty on some of the terminology, time frames of inspections, etc. so I made sure to review that with my instructor beforehand.

After topping off the tanks, I quietly and calmly pulled my Sky Arrow back to be tied down in front of Chesapeake Sport Pilot. I felt very proud of how far I had come and all that I had learned. I was also nervous about proving I could handle all that I should know in front of the FAA examiner. After packing up the Sky Arrow, I walked into the CSP office. I talked with a veteran pilot about my upcoming check ride and how nervous I was. He reminded me that I should have a healthy respect of fear and should be aware of my abilities, though if I am nervous because I am uncertain, then I should speak up now and ask for help and to certainly postpone my check ride. I knew I was confident and only nervous about the situation of performing well for the FAA examiner. Dan agreed, we shook hands and I left CSP for the last time as a student pilot.

Lesson 35: Stage two check

Today was a big milestone! I made it through my stage two check from W29, planned a cross country to OXB and a deviation to RJD and back to W29. It was about a two hour flight. I met my stage two check examiner and talked him through my cross country plans. I demonstrated a good pre-flight and took off!

After a few minutes of hitting all my check points accurately, the examiner informed me that there was a large earthquake at OXB and we would need to deviate to RJD. I figured this was going to happen and quickly was nearing RJD. We then did a few emergency procedures and emergency descents, various maneuvers and a steep turn.

As we began the return trip to W29, the aircraft began suddenly climbing! I pushed down on the stick as hard as I could and nothing happened. I began to panic. The aircraft then leveled off after I struggled with the stick a bit longer. Suddenly, the aircraft began to climb again. I pushed down on the stick and checked my gauges. My examiner then asked me why my trim seemed to be on the fritz. He chuckled and then in a very serious tone, asked me why I hadn't noticed that my electric trim was out of control. He was sitting behind me adjusting the electronic trim tab and I hadn't noticed the change. He was disappointed in my lack of ability to react quickly to errors. He then asked me to continue to W29.

Upon landing, he asked me to taxi around to take-off again. I was so bummed. I was physically and mentally exhausted. I was frustrated with myself because I wanted today to go well and I had let my instructor down. Nonetheless, I taxied up to the displaced threshold, I checked the pattern, advised that I was taking off, and applied full throttle. We had just passed the numbers and my examiner yelled out, OIL PRESSURE IS IN THE RED, OIL PRESSURE IS IN THE RED! It took me far too long to abort the take off. As I retarded the throttle, communicated my abort, and exited the runway, I received an ear full from my examiner about how terrible my reaction time was and I had better start working on it.

Overall, my examiner felt that I was ready for my final check ride. I was relieved but he was firm that I needed to work on reaction time to be a safe pilot. I was happy the day was over and I was grateful for the lessons that I learned.

Lesson 33-34: Maneuver practice, short/soft take-off and landings, stalls, steep turns, engine out and forward slips

Today and yesterday were stressful days. My instructor put me through my paces to prepare me for my stage two check tomorrow. I felt very proud today as I was able to talk myself through all of the maneuvers listed in this title.

The forward slips are always my favorite, (as shown in the image above), practicing losing a ton of altitude without an increase in airspeed. The Sky Arrow is great at executing this maneuver because of it's large rudder. Here is a great graphic to help explain a forward slip:

I was also feeling confident in my steep turns. My instructor gave me a few reminders but it was mostly smooth sailing. I felt that I needed to work on my altitude holding abilities during the steep turn as every now and then I can feel myself wanting to pull back on the stick to increase my altitude, though this would only result in a tighter turn and more resultant forces pushing me into my seat. As the image below shows, one does not want to increase their wing loading factor during a steep turn that could result in a spin.

I was excited after my lesson today knowing that tomorrow would be my final step before my check ride. I am so close to achieving my goal of getting my license!

Lesson 32: Solo Cross Country to Millville, NJ

Today was a big day! I flew solo to NJ! I crossed the Delaware Bay! It was quite the experience! After days of landing work, I prepared my flight. I picked out my landmarks, calculated the wind correction angle, checked the weather many times, and calculated the fuel consumption for each leg. I decided to use flight following during this flight as I new I would have a lot on my plate flying solo and it would keep me calmer knowing someone was watching me on radar.

I called and opened my filed flight plan. After all the planning and preparation, I took off from W29 on runway 11 and began my climb to 5,500' towards the Eastern Shore. Check point after check point, I slowly made my way across the Eastern Shore. As I flew north of Dover AFB, the center controller informed me that I had traffic at my 3 o'clock west bound at 4,500'. I scanned the skies but could not find them. I was happy to have someone watching over me. The Delaware Bay grew larger and larger and my heart started pounding as I could see MIV and WWD (Cape May) and I wasn't sure at first which airport was mine. I remembered my flight instructor telling me to trust my heading, trust my instruments, and to trust my check points. I new that there was a twisting winding river north of MIV and not north of WWD. I checked my sectional chart again. I looked outside, pilotage was working wonders. I was confidant again and told the center controller that I had my destination in site. I asked permission to change frequencies and tuned into the MIV CTAF. As I flew over the bay, I noticed that my oil pressure gauge was teetering towards yellow. My heart was pounding again. I needed to descend anyways and now I was sure that I needed to tip my nose and reduce power. I continued to watch the oil pressure gauge. I had to focus on getting to TPA and begin advising on the CTAF. This was an interesting experience as their was a center controller monitoring the airspace around the airport rather than a tower controller. I gave my traffic advisories and the center controller reminded the aircraft in the pattern the sequencing of landing. I was very proud of myself as I entered the pattern at a new airport and had a solid landing! I taxied to the terminal and closed my flight plan. I called my flight instructor to tell her I had made it to NJ! I then went to relax and enjoy a lunch.

After lunch and a quick potty break, I began my preflight. I opened my flight plan and taxied down to do my engine run up. A low wing was behind me as I throttled up. Immediately, the oil pressure gauge was in the yellow. I shut down the plane. I advised the plan behind me to go around to take off. I got out of the plane and grabbed the spare quart of oil from the baggage compartment. I checked the oil level and topped it off. I cleaned up and hoped back in the plane. Feeling confidant that I certainly wasn't losing oil, I taxied back to the terminal. I called the FSS and informed them that I would be delaying my departure and updated my arrival time at W29. I then called my flight instructor to inform her of the events. She asked me if I had cross checked my engine gauges. I said, uhhh no. I knew the oil pressure was in the yellow and the oil temperature was nearing yellow and the engine temperature was in the green. She asked me if I was flying fast and if it was a long flight and if it was a hot day and if I had flown to a higher altitude than normal. I was surprised that she knew all of these things about my flight, duh she reviewed and signed off my flight planner. She was also very experienced and reminded me that the oil viscosity was lower causing the oil pressure to slightly drop because the oil had warmed up beyond what I was used to. It was the longest flight to date and the more I thought about it, I realized what she was saying. After thanking her, I taxied and took off again for W29. I did a deviation for RJD (Ridgely Airport) and was proud to be able to pilotage my way there.

As I neared the Kent Narrows Bridge, I saw a large plume of black smoke in the sky. There must have been a house fire south of W29 near 3W3 (Kentmorr). I landed quickly and called my wife to let her know I had made it! I closed my flight plan and called my flight instructor to tell her the good news! It was an amazing accomplishment and a real confidence booster as I am nearing my stage 2 check!

Lesson 30-31: Landing practice at W29

Today and yesterday, I practiced landings to keep me current and ever prepared for my first solo cross country. I plan to fly my solo cross country in about a week so now is the time to get in as much landing practice as I can to give me the confidence to land at Millville Municipal Airport in New Jersey. There will be plenty on my plate that day and knowing my landing abilities will certainly help me with a successful first solo cross country!

Lesson 29: Crosswind take-off and landing practice

I spent an afternoon at Bay Bridge Airport working on my crosswind landings and take-offs. After nine successful landings, I was worn out! Obviously, during a crosswind take-off, one should be prepared to use the rudder more than usual, but boy my feet were working the rudder pedals today. It is important to remember to keep the stick into the wind while taxiing and NEVER let the aircraft fly itself. Upon rotation and climb out, I immediately crabbed into the wind to stay above the center line of the runway. My previous work of turns around a point and s turns really paid off during my practice today. I will say that coming in on final, low power, low airspeed, a side slip to stay on center and immediate rudder and control upon landing is tiresome yet invigorating at the same time. You really know you are flying on days like these!