flying-gamer
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2013
- Messages
- 33
- Reaction score
- 12
Today I had my sport pilot checkride. As a fellow tailwheel pilot (he has a Pietenpol), I made small talk with the DPE to keep myself relaxed. "Which kind of landings to you prefer, 3-point or wheel?" "I never got a chance for coffee with a friend who had his instrument checkride from you, so I don't have any extra advantage." etc etc. This made the whole affair as stress-free as possible, like taking someone for a ride who wants to know everything you can tell them about being a pilot.
This helped because I got a little flustered and confused myself discussing class G and E airspace, but I cleared it up soon enough. The oral wasn't nearly as intensive as I feared it would be, but then again the sport license isn't as intensive.
The flight portion went very well, too. I flew to my first waypoint on the cross-country he gave me, and then we set about doing some maneuvers: slow flight, power-on stall in a turn, steep turns, turns around a point, emergency descent, etc. I wasn't real happy with my turn around a point, so I said I was going to do another one. He was happy with that.
When we did take-offs and landings, he asked about short field and soft field in a Cub. They're pretty much all the same, but I did describe how a slight variation can get somewhat shorter take-off distance.
After I landed at the origination airport, he said that as long as I can park it that I would pass. I already pretty much knew that since he hadn't given negative feedback on any maneuvers except a few suggestions for me to try out later - another factor to remember to reduce stress.
When I cut the engine at our parking spot, the last thing he said on the intercom was, "Awesome." Since he didn't strike me as the kind of guy who would use the word "awesome" often, it made me feel pretty good.
Next goal is to get PPL later next year or the following year all while I build time, especially tailwheel time. My hope is to one day get a chance to fly some bigger trainers and contemporaries to the Cub, so lots of tailwheel time will increase those chances.
Total time after checkride:
Dual: 23
Solo: 9
PIC with passenger: 1
Total landings: 109
This helped because I got a little flustered and confused myself discussing class G and E airspace, but I cleared it up soon enough. The oral wasn't nearly as intensive as I feared it would be, but then again the sport license isn't as intensive.
The flight portion went very well, too. I flew to my first waypoint on the cross-country he gave me, and then we set about doing some maneuvers: slow flight, power-on stall in a turn, steep turns, turns around a point, emergency descent, etc. I wasn't real happy with my turn around a point, so I said I was going to do another one. He was happy with that.
When we did take-offs and landings, he asked about short field and soft field in a Cub. They're pretty much all the same, but I did describe how a slight variation can get somewhat shorter take-off distance.
After I landed at the origination airport, he said that as long as I can park it that I would pass. I already pretty much knew that since he hadn't given negative feedback on any maneuvers except a few suggestions for me to try out later - another factor to remember to reduce stress.
When I cut the engine at our parking spot, the last thing he said on the intercom was, "Awesome." Since he didn't strike me as the kind of guy who would use the word "awesome" often, it made me feel pretty good.
Next goal is to get PPL later next year or the following year all while I build time, especially tailwheel time. My hope is to one day get a chance to fly some bigger trainers and contemporaries to the Cub, so lots of tailwheel time will increase those chances.
Total time after checkride:
Dual: 23
Solo: 9
PIC with passenger: 1
Total landings: 109
