Check rides are probably one of the most daunting experiences in your aviation journey — I would know, I have done 3 thus far. In all of my check ride experiences, I have always found speaking to recent graduates to have tremendous value added to my preparation. As such, I am writing this article in hopes that I can help those after me.
The Administrative (1.5hr)
The day started with me meeting Mark, my Designated Pilot Examiner, at the Spectrum hangar of Kissimmee airport. We spent about 1 hour going through my logbook. I suspect it won’t take as long for most of you — I was coming in with hours flown in Singapore and we had to tie down on which hours were convertible to my FAA Private Pilot. For those of you using a non-FAA logbook, Mark pointed out that I should have my endorsement pasted in my logbook. This would have streamlined the checking of flight hours.
The Oral Portion (1.5hr)
The first thing he quizzed me on was the maintenance logs. I had photocopied the relevant pages the day before in anticipation of the questions. This was helpful as we didn’t have to flip through pages to find the most recent annual and 100 hours inspections for the engine, propellor and airframe.
It was followed by multiple questions to tick off the requirements listed in the ACS. To make it easier for your reading, I have written them down in point form (along with the answers to the simpler questions).
- What does the pilot need for a flight? medical, license, logbook, w&b
- What altitude to fly at if your cross-country path is towards the south? Follow Hemispheric rule. At what flight level does hemispheric rule apply? 3000ft AGL. Does the Hemispheric rule apply to your heading, magnetic course, or true course? magnetic course.
- What does magenta gradient line on the sectional chart means? Class E airspace starts from 700ft. Don’t confuse this with the Class G marking.
- What are victor airways, what airspace is it, and how wide are they? VOR to VOR routes on the sectional chart. Class E airspace. 8nm wide
- What is the common frequency for FSS? 122.2MHz
- How can you reset the deadline for your biennial flight review? Taking another check ride or participating in WINGS programme
- What is the WINGS programme? See here.
- What is the difference in VFR criteria between class b and class c?
- What does minimal VFR mean? 3–5nm visibility. What’s the difference between regulatory VFR and VFR definition in weather map?
- How to calculate landing distance?
- How to calculate cruising rpm? And how many percent power is that?
- How to contact FSS of VOR? See sectional chart for the frequencies and be sure to understand what “R” besides the frequencies mean
- Is the cloud ceiling higher or lower in low-pressure areas? Lower. Just imagine a hurricane. The cloud ceilings are lower in the middle of the hurricane which has lower pressure.
- 3 methods of cross country? Pilotage, electronic and dead reckoning
- What are the different types of airmets? Sierra, Tango, Zulu. What do they mean?
- Can I fly passengers if I haven’t flown in 6 months? No, you need to perform 3 touch and go for day currency and 3 full stops for night currency.
- Can I fly if I haven’t flown for 3 years? No, you need to do your biennial review
Lastly, I briefed him on the weather and course of our cross-country flight (KISM->KPGD). He asked a few more questions regarding the different weather charts available in foreflight as well as my W&B calculations.
Pre-flight Inspection (30 mins)
After taking a short break from the oral, we went out to the apron to perform my pre-flight inspection. He used this time to quiz me on the aircraft systems. Over here, you should always remember that your first and foremost priority is to inspect the aircraft. You can always tell your DPE to pause the questioning if you are in the middle of draining the fuel or checking the oil quantity.
- How many fuel drainage points are there?
- What is the fuel vent for? I answered this incorrectly by saying it was for extra fuel to vent out, but I quickly caught myself and told him it was also for the air to enter the fuel tanks
- What are the hydraulic systems in the plane? Brakes but some planes require hydraulics for retractable landing gears. What colour is the brake fluid? Red.
- Should the trim tab on the elevator be neutral, up or down for takeoff when the elevator is held neutral? Slightly Down. This will deflect the elevator upwards to assist in the takeoff rotation.
- Where is the engine air inlet? Would the engine fail if the engine air inlet is blocked?
- Would the engine fail if the alternator fails?
- How does the engine drive the alternator? Alternator belt
Startup and Taxiing
After starting up, I radioed Kissimmee ground and requested a flight following to KPGD. This was quickly corrected by my examiner as he wanted me to perform a mock cross-country without flight following. Instead, I asked for VFR towards the south.
While taxiing, he quizzed me about what hotspots were in airports. Additionally, he pointed out that examinees should always brief the examiner before taxiing. This would help prevent runway incursions — also, it is a reason he can fail you if you didn’t do it.
I did the usual runup and before takeoff checks at Delta. After which he told me to demonstrate a soft field takeoff. The plan was to take off on runway 15 and immediately perform a cross-country to Punta Gorda (KPGD).
One mistake I made here for my soft field takeoff was escaping the ground effect early. The Cessna 172s I was flying had a really powerful engine and after rotation, I left the 1 wingspan distance before I could even react. In hindsight, I should have prepared myself to apply more forward pressure to maintain the S&L.
Post takeoff
We continued climbing towards my intended Top of Climb. During the Oral portion, I briefed him that the visual point for my TOC was the intersection of 2 highways south of Kissimmee. As we approached this intersection, he called off the cross-country and we turned west for manoeuvres. At this time, he also asked me to tune in to Lakeland VOR and demonstrate how I would use it to find my way to Lakeland airport (KLAL). This phase of flight had me make 2 mistakes. The first one was misreading the KLAL VOR frequency. The second mistake was changing to the training area frequency (123.45MHz) on Comms 2, but not switching my comms to utilise Comms 2.
Manoeuvres test
As we entered the training area, we saw a cloud of smoke in the distance that made a good visual reference point. I did a left, followed by a right clearing turn before starting with the steep turns. Amid my first steep turn, he stopped it. He has forgotten to brief me that all manoeuvres performed would only be done once and there is no option to redo it.
I proceeded with the steep turns making sure that I kept within the VA limit (105kts). This was followed by power-off stall and then slow flights with climbs and turns. During the power-on stall, I told him I will reduce my airspeed to 60kts before increasing the throttle to full power. He corrected me by saying I should reduce it to 70kts as the point of this manoeuvre is to simulate a takeoff climb.
After this, he took control for Unusual Attitude recovery and talked about spin awareness. He asked me about skidding vs slipping and which wings would stall first in a slip. The point he wanted to make is that skidding at low speed is dangerous as your inner wing would be stalling first and that will exacerbate your turn into a spin.
Next, he gave me a simulated Fire in Cabin. I attempted an emergency descent at 90kts while performing the memory checklist of a Fire in Cabin. He stopped my descent around 1000ft AGL and told me that I should have descended at VNE instead. His rationale is that there is a fire in the cabin and that the airworthiness of the airplane means nothing with our lives on the line. I clarified this portion with him post-flight and he said that in the test, he would expect the examinee to descend in the yellow zone (above VNO) while stating that in an actual situation, the descent could go as high as VNE.
At 1000ft AGL, it was the perfect height for us to do a ground reference manoeuvre. We found a pond to our left and he wanted me to circle it. The cloud of smoke we have seen previously gave me an indication of the wind direction. As we were upwind then, I told him I will reposition the aircraft to start this manoeuvre downwind.
Finally, we headed back to KISM for our closed traffic (also called Circuit pattern for CAAS pilots). He allowed me to use the GPS to locate KISM.
Closed Traffic
Closed traffic was pretty uneventful. We came in for a soft field landing stop and go. After stopping on the runway, we quickly transition to a short field takeoff. This was followed by a short field landing to land.
As I came in for the final approach of short field landing, he got me to go around. This would constitute the baulked landing component of the flight test.
Lastly, we came in for a full stop with no flaps. In the previous few landings, he commented that I came in really flat and wanted me to show him a higher flare aspect before touching down. I attempted this by pulling up till the cowling of the airplane was on the end of the runway, but this caused the plane to float even higher. Foreseeing that I might come in hard and cause a bounce, I increased power slightly just to cushion the land (he complimented me for on this during debrief!).
We exited runway 15 at A2. This time, Kissimmee Ground told me “Taxi via alpha, cross runway 24, bravo to spectrum”. As I approach runway 24, I realised I wasn’t sure if I should make a left while on runway 24 or make a left after crossing runway 24. In hindsight, I could have clarified this with ground control. I opted to take the conservative approach of crossing after exiting runway 24 as the alternative would have me enter the active runway 15 and possibly cause an incursion.
Congratulations
After shutting down the engine, Mark congratulated me on passing the check ride and we proceeded back to the hangar for the debrief. All in all, the entire flight took us 1.7hrs.
I hope that by sharing my experience as well as my mistakes in the check ride, I would be able to help you with yours. At the private level, examiners are not looking for perfection; They understand that we are amateurs, and they are just figuring out if we are safe pilots. If you encounter any doubt, always try to clarify with the resources you have — otherwise, opt for the more conservative approach.
Good luck and be safe flying!
