----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----
Scott, What works for me...I always talk to God. I tell him come on BIG guy, quite messing around! Give me a chance. Then after that if I mess up I usually just go around and do it again, and again and again...usually after the 2,379th time I start to feel "a little loose" and I'm getting the hang of it! Well, the landing gear is still attached anyway! One thing I have learned (the hard way), 100% for sure is that if the fuel line splits open (on the side facing the engine block (and you did not see it during pre-flight)), that's NOT a good thing! Especially when on final approach! I found myself landing when and where I didn't want to. Nerves, can you say "dry mouth"? I know, not with a dry mouth! Ha, ha. At least I didn't break anything, especially my neck! Thanks God. Scott, Keep the faith amigo, hang in there, you are going to end up being one of the best pilots out there! Flyin' Bob -----Original Message----- From: Ercoupe Hangar Flying [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2006 2:01 AM To: Ercoupe Hangar Flying Subject: Digest list: Ercoupe Hangar Flying ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]---- Message list: 1. [COUPERS-FLYIN] Check Ride 2. Re: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Check Ride 3. Re: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Check Ride 4. RE: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Check Ride Messages: From: "scott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: "scott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Check Ride Well, folks, after 1 year of lessons, finally got my checkride and pulled a pink. I decided to use a 172 so I would not be limited to an Ercoupe. Checkride After calling ATIS before I flew to the airport where the examiner was, I was relieved that one of the westerly runways was open (they are doing a lot of work on the runways) During that 15 minute flight to the airport, ATIS changed and the remaining west runway closed, leaving a north-south runway (17) and a X wind from 230-240 at up to 10 knots. Long wait for the examiner Nerves Did I mention nerves? I pull off all the required takeoffs and landings Overtake an aircraft in the pattern who must have been practicing his cross country work at the same time... he was all over the place. My bad tho...thou must leave space Helicopter enters the runway when I am over the numbers on final - just hovers - I was like a deer in the headlights - which way to go? tower screaming at him. I should have called in to the tower. What do you do with a copter in that situation? Hoodwork, unusual attitude recovery...no problem. Diversion after hood work - despite severe haze, I thought I knew where I was. WRONG!! Next thing I knew, The examiner took the controls - Sorry, can't let you fly into Mexico Check ride over I was also weak in heavy traffic, although after the helicopter incident, I was pretty rattled. I am not complaining - I want to be the best and safest pilot I can be, but man what a day!!! Anyone else out there have a checkride story to commiserate with? I am pretty dissapointed. Scott ---------------------------- From: "A DeMarzo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: "A DeMarzo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Check Ride Scott; You did well and you'll get another shot at it. Learn from your mistakes. When I took my checkride, we found out that everyone had miscalculated my hours and I didn't have enough! ----- Original Message ----- From: scott To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2006 7:56 PM Subject: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Check Ride ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]---- Well, folks, after 1 year of lessons, finally got my checkride and pulled a pink. I decided to use a 172 so I would not be limited to an Ercoupe. ---------------------------- From: "heavensounds" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "scott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[email protected]> Reply-To: "heavensounds" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Check Ride Scott You have to bounce back from this temporary setback. Make sure you write down everything you need to improve while it is fresh on your mind and work on it thoroughly with your CFI. You will have to do that in the C172, if that's the plane you will use on the checkride. Hope you get your license soon. You have our support. Eliacim Cortes N87071 ----- Original Message ----- From: scott To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2006 7:56 PM Subject: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Check Ride ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]---- Well, folks, after 1 year of lessons, finally got my checkride and pulled a pink. I decided to use a 172 so I would not be limited to an Ercoupe. Checkride After calling ATIS before I flew to the airport where the examiner was, I was relieved that one of the westerly runways was open (they are doing a lot of work on the runways) During that 15 minute flight to the airport, ATIS changed and the remaining west runway closed, leaving a north-south runway (17) and a X wind from 230-240 at up to 10 knots. Long wait for the examiner Nerves Did I mention nerves? I pull off all the required takeoffs and landings Overtake an aircraft in the pattern who must have been practicing his cross country work at the same time... he was all over the place. My bad tho...thou must leave space Helicopter enters the runway when I am over the numbers on final - just hovers - I was like a deer in the headlights - which way to go? tower screaming at him. I should have called in to the tower. What do you do with a copter in that situation? Hoodwork, unusual attitude recovery...no problem. Diversion after hood work - despite severe haze, I thought I knew where I was. WRONG!! Next thing I knew, The examiner took the controls - Sorry, can't let you fly into Mexico Check ride over I was also weak in heavy traffic, although after the helicopter incident, I was pretty rattled. I am not complaining - I want to be the best and safest pilot I can be, but man what a day!!! Anyone else out there have a checkride story to commiserate with? I am pretty dissapointed. Scott ======================================================================== ====== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm ---------------------------- From: "Ed Burkhead" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'scott'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"Cflyin" <[email protected]> Reply-To: "Ed Burkhead" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Check Ride Scott, You've got all our sympathy. It's frustrating as can be. We all go to the checkride with sweaty palms and a churning stomach. Also, keep in mind that any checkride failure counts against your instructor's CFI rating, too. He has a vested interest in your passing on the next try. You WILL pass on the next try! When you go back for the re-check keep this in mind: the basic criterion is that "the outcome of the maneuver shall not be in doubt." In short, he has to be confident that you'll keep your passengers and yourself alive. If there's an obstruction like a helicopter and you go around, that's a pass. My examiner told me to do a short field, soft field, crosswind landing. On the approach, I saw I was too high and so I told him I was too high and would have to go around for a short field landing and asked would he like me to actually go around or go ahead and do the soft field crosswind landing part because I had enough runway to do that safely. He liked that I was aware and made the good choice and did not ask me to do it again. If a maneuver isn't going right and you say so and show that you know what's going on and choose a safe option, you may well be allowed to do it again. Always choose for safety. As for the helicopter over the runway, Ken Dravis' song "Go Around" is good to sing to yourself during approach. "You can always go around If it don't look right coming down Don't wait until you're sideways maybe sliding on the ground You can always go around I know back when I learned to fly my instructor was yellin in my ear power in, carb heat cold, climb out pitch, flaps to go take it round the patch, one more time again I know now, he was showin' me that just because the nose is pointing down if it doesn't look right, give it one more try you can always go around" There's more to the song and it's funny while being good advice. And, it's set to a bouncy, catchy tune that's fun to sing to yourself as you fly the pattern. Ken Dravis is a corporate pilot, type rated in Citations, who wrote songs about flying and recorded them. I first heard about him at Sun-N-Fun when I was coming back from some program and he was singing in one of the forum shelters with midi instruments for background. And he was good and the songs were about flying. I love the one where his wife is nagging him on a weekend about mowing the grass and he decides he needs to see if it looks long from the air. And there's a touching one about the boy at the airport fence. Some of his songs are funny, some are thoughtful, a couple are cautionary. All are very good. Professional quality. Recommended! http://www.kendravis.com/ Ed Burkhead http://edburkhead.com ed -at- edburkhead???.com (change -at- to @ and remove "???") ---------------------------- ======================================================================== ====== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm ============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm
