Flight Log 05-02

I am now a Private Pilot! I got to the airport at 8:00am and got all my resources in line to use for the oral portion of the exam. I checked and re-checked the weather forecasts and notices for the Brazos Valley area, and brushed up on basic knowledge that I thought I might need. Bob Hans, the FAA examiner for my Private Pilot Certification Test, arrived shortly before 9:00. Bob is a 777 pilot for Continental and in his spare time he travels around southeast Texas administering these exams - and with an examiner's fee of $400 a pop, that's some serious loose change on top of his Captain's pay.

We started out with basic requirements and limitations, which involved short bulleted answers and progressed quickly. As we moved into more open-ended questions about operations, Bob started becoming more of a teacher than an evaluator. The other instructors had told me before hand that Bob "liked to talk", which is good for me because the more talking he did, the less answering I had to do!  I would give the answer, which he would acknowledge as being fundamentally true, then he started talking about the way things work in the real world. What he did more than anything was describe fatal accidents he had witnessed throughout his 40+ years of flying that involved a pilot error in the specific field we were discussing... after hearing about 10 of these stories I wasn't so sure I wanted to fly today. To put everyone else at ease, all of these involved pilots trying to beat out thunderstorms or not watching their instruments at all during critical stages of flight. He also made the point that a brand-new pilot would be safer to fly with than a guy that had his license for a year: "I've seen it happen a few times: a kid gets his license, but none of his friends want to fly with him because he's inexperienced. So he flies solo maybe once a week, then once a month, then the money runs out so he stops flying all together. About a year later his friends say 'hey, you're still alive, so you must be a safe pilot...' so he loads up a small plane with three of his friends. It's been 6, 7, 8 months since he last flew, his skills are rusty, and the plane is overloaded. Bad combination." We wrapped up the rest of the oral exam, took a short break, then briefed for the main event.

The clouds were almost overcast, but way up at 10000 feet. I love flying on cloudy days with high ceilings- the sun isn't beating in your face, thermals aren't around to bounce you, and the winds are pretty calm. I took off on a simulated flight to Fredericksburg, and before I had hit my second checkpoint I received the 'divert' command. After the diversion he checked out my instrument flying, which was over in maybe 10 minutes. He asked to see some slow flight and stalls, then go down to 1000 AGL for S-Turns. Almost everything I did today felt simplified and easy compared to the long rigorous tests my instructor's put me through on the progress checks, like trying to cross-reference VOR's to determine my location on a map with the hood on, while the plane is pitching and rolling in turbulence. When we were out over the practice area it started to rain a bit, which was a fun new experience. At Hearne I displayed my short-field landing abilities. On the first approach I came in perfect- I got down close to the ground as I came over the overrun area, an extension of the runway not suitable for landing, aiming for my touchdown point right on the numbers. I was about 10 feet up and as I crossed the threshold (a white striped designating the beginning of the runway) I got excited- this was on the money. I pulled out the throttle to bring the plane down then - go around! He caught me completely off guard! Only 3 feet up, I jammed the throttle forward. I had never been that low on a go-around before. The next approach was almost as good but about 50 feet to long... still within the test standards though. We went back to Easterwood and my soft-field landing was about as soft as could be, then I pulled off the runway and taxied to the ramp.

 Before I could shut down the plane Bob shook my hand and said, "Congratulations, you are now a Private Pilot!"