Checkride Day

You can never be prepared enough for this day.

It felt like the oral exam took a long time. I think we had at least 2 breaks, and although the DPE had been personable in the beginning, it still felt very stern fatherish. Beyond the length of time I realize several answers I gave were not crisp, and when I asked a second time to reference the FAR / AIM he indicated he wanted me to respond from memory. Finally he told me we were going flying.

For September day it was hot. By the time we departed it was bumpy. I got to my second waypoint on my intended cross country before he diverted me and soon started setting up for slow flight. Not only was i warm and bumpy but it got breezy. I was struggling to remain within the tolerances for altitude but by the time I had completed my lap I had regained my lost elevation.

The next set of maneuvers took a strong amount of focus. The plane was all over the place and my mind was fighting the stress and workload. As we were coming into Longmont for performance landings and takeoffs a plane in the pattern turned crosswind to downwind as we were entering the downwind. Recognizing the proximity I made some space by performing a 360. The DPE seemed stoically in agreement with my decision.

For the short field landing he asked me to designate my touch down point. I called the numbers, but on runway 11 the numbers were at the very end. On short final I realized how close to the end of the paving they were, but I managed to hit them spot on. As we taxied clear of the active he suggested next time I pick a point a little farther down, despite me successfully nailing the landing.

As we departed Longmont only a few maneuvers remained but it had gotten even more bumpy and it was warm. I mentioned to the DPE I might want a continuance. I could feel my confidence shaken and beyond the long oral exam, it felt like we had been in the plane for an extended amount of time. He made the comment that I had already completed the hard part and it made me feel like he was going to pass me based on what I had already done.

We set up for unusual attitude recovery. I closed my eyes, chin to chest, and he started to push the plane around. I could feel the adrenaline from the day mixed with flying in warm bumpy weather as the plane was moving around the sky. I was feeling sick.

I managed to make all 3 recoveries, but as he told me to set up to return to our home airport, I could, feel I was physically ill. Surely throwing up would get me a failure. I’m not sure why that thought seemed so certain to me, but it was at the time. As I got the ATIS I remember seeing high winds with gusts. I entered the pattern as instructed by ATC.

When I turned base I started entering flaps. On final I put in 20 degrees, then went full flaps. I was wrestling the airplane as we came down towards the runway and the fight became intense just before touch down. I got the plane on the runway but a gust gave it some loft. It didn’t leave the pavement but it was floating lightly on the gear. The DPE instantly reached down and retracted the flaps and added aileron correction.

I took the controls back and steered the plane onto a taxiway exiting the active runway. I made communication as required, but I was defeated. The DPE had touched the controls on the final landing, which made me assume it would be an instant failure. It was a long quiet taxi through the ramp and back to the flight school. I looked down at my ATIS notes; wind 22 gusting 32. It was a hell of wind and would at least help explain to everyone why I was failed on the landing. Even though I knew the failure was the use of flaps in such high winds. My training had kicked in and I just started deploying them even though I should have landed without using any of them.

I went through the shutdown checklist and the prop came to a stop. The sudden silence was unnerving, and I knew I would need to face the DPE. Before I could look over he said “I’m going got pass you, but for the love of God I have no idea why you used any flaps on that landing.”

Wait, you said I passed…? It was all I heard. I looked at him and my face must have been blank. “Yes,” he said, “You passed.” I was sick - physically ill - but suddenly I had a wave of new energy. I passed… I was now a private pilot.

The author after passing the checkride.