I don't have the strength right now to put together a real "journal" post about it ( Long-term rec.aviation.student readers will know what I mean ), but just thought folks would like to know that I passed my Private checkride today!

• Doing some of my sloppiest flying ever.
• Losing my hood, and having to make up one in the airplane out of a big yellow post-it note, a couple torn pieces of nav log, and a pair of cable ties
• The morning's forecast weather being replete with words like "cumulonimbus", "lines of thunderstorms", "VFR not recommended", "mountain obscuration", and "turbulence".

My main worry had been "wheel landings". I'd had a discussion with the examiner a few weeks prior. He'd said, "I have all my Private applicants with tailwheel airplanes do them". I'd answered "I have to admit, I don't know how to do them at all". To which he replied "then I can't give you a checkride". Urgh. I'd spent the intervening two weeks vainly trying to do the wheel landings. Got two hours of dual on them. Spent ten hours solo on them. Three and a half of those hours all in one day at my home airport. On the last flight that day, the tower had told me "I'm surprised you're not out of fuel". To which I'd answered "They have nice people on the field who keep selling me more!"

I'd progressed past the point of being terrified of approaching the upcoming tarmac without pulling the yoke back, but not to the point where I could, with any kind of reliability, keep the airplane on the ground after touching down. I'd never got so much practice at doing go-arounds! And could, in fact, count the successful "wheelies" on my fingers without using any finger twice.

Amazingly enough, when he asked for a wheel landing, I performed it right off! It was a bit messy, and he said "I'll accept that" with some reluctance, but the airplane stayed on the ground! Good thing he didn't ask me to do it again :-).

• Not flying a stabilized approach. This was a case of "checkride nerves: I pride myself on nailing my approach speed.
• Letting the ball wander off to the side: same deal.
• Landing off center. OK, I'll fess up: I'd gotten a bit sloppy in general on that. Mea culpa, and I'm going to work on it.
• Not timing my legs well in the cross-country part. Truly, this is something I've never been good at. He didn't bust me on it because I did always know where I was. And this wasn't because I was extremely familiar with the route, either - mostly, I was watching the chart, tracking the VOR radial, and comparing the scenery. Gotta work on that timing thing....

All in all, it was 1.7 hours of flying, and another hour & a half of Oral.

- Jerry "169.8 Hours" Kaidor

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