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date: 2020-08-08
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## Checkride with Jon Thornton

A week before the test, Jon had me change the time to 9am Saturday in Watsonville, so I flew myself and [[N297LA|my plane]] down two days earlier and got an Airbnb. I'm really glad I did this to get in the mind space early and really focus on the task at hand.

Thursday, I left Hayward at about 3, did a practice approach into Half Moon Bay, got a late lunch, and took off around 4:30. I gave myself a random unpublished hold over Half Moon Bay, then flew to Salinas and did the ILS 31, went missed and did a few holds, clumsily circled around to get established on the DME arc for Watsonville VOR A, and finally arrived KWVI just after 6.
 
I got to my Airbnb, posted up in my room and started reading whatever I could find, whatever I could think of as follow up questions that I didn't know the answer to.  

Friday, while eating breakfast I got an outlook briefing for the planned flight KWVI to KFAT, which predicted what you'd expect: Marine layer in the morning, burning off around noon, a stationary thermal trough in the Central Valley, and some convective activity in the Sierras. Then I did all the performance calculations by hand to figure out the required time, fuel, distance, minimum runways, etc.

By the time I got out of the house and picked up the rental car, it was nearly 4. I planned to do some practice approaches and then land in Monterrey, get dinner, and fly back to Watsonville, but after a few approaches the Marine layer was blowing in and I started to get worried if I'd get back VFR. Rather than risk it, I flew back to Watsonville - scud running a bit just under the clouds, not ideal... - and landed at KWVI around 5:40. I felt safer knowing (and seeing visually) there were several other planes including a banner tow aircraft at the same altitude as me. Unlike the Moss Landing area, KWVI was clear skies luckily.

I drove to Target to grab an oil funnel and gloves in case Jon expected me to test the fuel on the morning of the test. Then grabbed dinner and returned to the Airbnb to get early rest. Before bed I figured out how to get performance data out of Foreflight for the takeoff roll, time/fuel/distance, landing roll etc for the flight I had planned from KWVI to KFAT.
## Morning of the test
I left the house early and got a standard briefing in the car, which was identical to what I had heard the previous day. I got to the airport at 8:30, taxied over to Specialized Helicopters, parked in the back as instructed and left the pitot cover, control lock etc removed for ease later on. At 9 I showed up to the room where Jon was set up with an iPad and whatever else he needed.

He started with a warning/disclaimer/legal sounding statement that he was an agent of the federal government, this (the test and the fact that I was taking it) was legally considered an investigation into me, and anything I said could be used against me in the future. I recognized this as the Pilot's Bill of Rights (at least, one half of it...) And agreed to sign, which I did on my phone via IACRA.

After this, he scanned my ID and medical, and went over my logbook, etc etc. Even though my logbook was messy with several corrections in the math, he didn't ask for detail on anything or try to trip me up on a technicality. From the beginning he seemed to be interested in getting my cert - at this stage in the checkride, before he'd asked me a single oral exam question, he said something like "I'm sure you'll go home with your temporary certificate today." This optimism helped put me at ease.. he wasn't going to be the kind of examiner that tries to make you fail.

We looked over the aircraft logs which was extremely simple as it's a brand new plane. This panned out exactly as I hoped - there was nothing to ask about, no room for follow up questions.

With all the paperwork out of the way, the oral exam began. He let me know that I could use any thing I wanted - Google, text someone, take all the time I needed to answer each question. Bathroom and coffee breaks whenever. "This is your test." I appreciated this. I had a ton of material ready to go: FAR/AIM app on my iPad, PilotsCafe cheat sheet printed out, phone for quick Googles or texts to my instructor.

We started with the basics - when do you need IFR, how do you stay current, he asked several scenarios to test when you can log IFR (I said I wouldn't log an approach where you are in actual until after the FAF but before the MAP, he said are you sure? And I looked it up and corrected myself.) This kind of little minor re-steering happened quite a few times and definitely saved my ass - a stricter DPE could likely have failed me on these things.  

A little bit on weather, what's the standard lapse rate, how do you know a front has passed (I had to look this one up and had a clumsy answer, but all he was looking for was the winds change and temperature changes). Similarly, he asked what's the difference between a precision and non precision approach, I started saying a bunch of stuff, he was just looking for "one has a decision height, one has a missed approach point in space" which he even said, "I know you know it but need to get you to say the right thing."

The other one that tripped me up was his question about using GPS as a substitute for VOR approaches - you can do it, (and in fact later in the day we did exactly this) but you can't use GPS to intercept a localizer course (in hindsight, I think he asked these things to ensure I thought about it before we got in the air, because otherwise there was a risk that I might either bust the checkride on the localizer intercept for KSNS ILS 31, or get confused when flying the VOR approach into Watsonville with PFD dimmed.)

By far the trickiest part of the oral and where I came closest to failing, was the discussion on lost comms procedures. For this scenario, he gave me a clearance to KFAT which I copied down and read back, the clearance was to fly the Watsonville 4 departure to Salinas, V230, AMEER, then direct.. 3000, expect 7000 after 10. The question was, simply: at 500 feet on the WVI4, you stop receiving NorCal on the radios. What do you do, how do you fly?  

First I said I would confirm whether I'm actually NORDO - check the plugs, do I hear others, ask NorCal if they can hear me, try 133.0, etc. He confirmed we were really lost comms. So, onto my answer:

For some reason I organized my answer around the route first and altitudes second. AVEF, we had an Assigned route which was identical to our Filed route, and we weren't on Vectors or given anything to Expect. So that was simple enough. Now onto altitudes -- I said highest of MEA (9000), expected (7000), and assigned (3000), so 9000. Done.

He said.. Hold on, so at 500 feet you're NORDO and you immediately climb to 9000 feet? Why do you think they might have put you at 3000 feet for 10 minutes? I thought about it and said ok, 3000 until 10 minutes have passed, then 7k, then whatever the route requires. He really helped me out here. He was like.. slow down. Take it one step at a time. When do you climb, when do you leave each point. You can look up the procedures again if you need to. 

I looked it up and thought harder. At this point I finally figured it out, with an embarrassing amount of nudging from him:

Climb 3000, enter the hold over Salinas, climb in hold to 6000 (the MCA for SNS on V230). I was going to wait in the hold till the 10 minute mark and only leave when I could climb to 7000, he pointed out there's no need for that and I should leave the hold as soon as I'm at the MCA. After 10 minutes, up to 7000. Then 8k for the PXN crossing altitude, then 9k for the MEA, then I said I stay at 9k until I start an approach. 

He said what do you do when you get to the clearance limit (KFAT)? Reading the regulation, I said if the clearance limit is not the origin of an instrument approach, you navigate to the nearest one and begin an approach (at the ETA). So, I choose the RNAV because I just need to get on the ground, fly the approach and land.

Finally, he said I missed one critical thing. He nudged me to reread the first part of 14 CFR 91.185. Oh yeah... If in VFR conditions, just land visually as soon as possible and don't bother with all the other stuff!  

He said good... See how this is more complex than you thought? I really appreciated the walk through.

We went over the charts ("what's this little t bar at the end of the airway line? What's this number mean?" Etc, easy stuff) and then he said great, oral is done, you can put most of this stuff away and plan the following approaches, we'll meet in an hour to fly. 

He let me plan the approaches ahead of time and preflight the plane, etc. This was a relief because I thought he would grill me on every last detail of the plane, micromanage my preflight, etc -- none of it. He assumed (correctly, I'll add) that I knew my way around the plane and how to operate it.

The flight plan:

- Climb 500ft on the WVI4
- View limiting goggles on
- There would be no emergencies on the flight other than "no gyro" - dimming the PFD and he even said, when we do this you'll fly off the MFD and standby instruments. 
- When established, fly VOR 13 into KSNS, go missed, hold over MARNA, then
- ILS 31 w/ 22 DME arc, go missed again, then
- Cancel flight following, fly out over the Bay, unusual attitudes, compass turns, and finally
- Dim the PFD, and fly the LOC 2 into KWVI circle to land.

Here's how it went:

Taxi, run-up, takeoff were unremarkable. On the takeoff roll he asked me about the engine horsepower and I said sterile cockpit, please and he quieted. He didn't test that again.

  

Right after the goggles went on, he gave me some random headings to fly (ostensibly to stay clear of clouds as this flight was VFR) and then said, great, get back on the WVI4 departure. I tried a few times to use the G1000 to activate the departure, couldn't figure it out, he was interrupting me saying are you on the departure? What are you doing? You're about to bust Monterey airspace, turn right heading blah... Why aren't you on the departure yet... And really stressing me out. Meanwhile I'm hand flying and trying to stay on heading and altitude, while diagnosing a navigation issue.. Not great 5 minutes into the checkride flight. 

  

I hit direct SNS and started going inbound. He said you're still not on the departure. At this point I was really worried I had already failed or was about to. I said, no, I know, I need to be intercepting the 293 radial... I finally put it in and we intercepted it.

  

He said, do you see what happened there? I quickly said yes, I understand the mistake and should have immediately intercepted that radial. From this point until the end of the flight, I had no idea if I had already failed and would have to repeat the departure procedure another time, though I was pretty sure DPs weren't on the test standards. (I double checked and, if he wanted to, he could have absolutely failed me on IR.V.B.S5 & S6.)

  

The rest of the flight was extremely, borderline awkwardly quiet. Partially because I flew everything else absolutely perfectly out of heart-pounding anxiety! I kept announcing things like approach briefed, checklist complete, gotta correct that altitude... Etc so that he would know I'm aware of and fixing things even if something instantaneously looked wrong. He didn't respond to any of it but I think it was good that I did it.

  

From SNS, rather than fly the VOR 13 as published with the procedure turn, he gave me vectors to final and we were very quickly descending into the approach. I was extremely clear with my use of checklists to ensure he couldn't bust me on forgetting some checklist item. We went missed and did the hold, easy, no comments. I announced entering the hold (I think I forgot to announce leaving the hold, but he didn't comment). 

  

He let me turn on autopilot on the outbound feeder leg to the DME arc, which was the main long quiet awkward part where I just kind of wondered whether I had failed or was doing fine. I throttled up to max forward speed to keep things moving... DME arc, localizer intercept, glideslope intercept were done by hand and perfectly. Then turned on autopilot and rode down to minimums. Halfway down the approach I called Tower and asked if they could confirm I'm cleared to land.. Tower said aren't you going missed? And I said, oh yeah nevermind... No comment from DPE luckily. 

  

Went missed, cancelled flight following, unusual attitudes were super simple, then he started giving me vectors to final for LOC 2 into Watsonville. I got confused about why the G1000 wasn't giving an option to activate leg, I tried several times, meanwhile trying not to bust altitude while partial panel... Turns out I had loaded but not activated the approach, and after 30 awkward seconds I realized I could just "activate vectors to final" which immediately led to him saying, "All right! Now fly heading 040..."

  

We intercepted the final approach course, took off my hood at pattern attitude, and I entered the busiest VFR pattern I've ever seen in my life. There must have been 5 or 6 airplanes in the pattern, parachute activity, helicopters.. and barely room to get a word in edgewise. I asked someone on the upwind to extend and give me room to enter, I'd be number 3 for landing,.. he said sure, so I followed the other 2 guys in.. on short final, the plane in front of me was still on the runway.. I started getting worried - should I go around, but what if they're doing a touch and go, did I do this wrong and I'm going to fail literally at the end... 

  

What I did do, was slow myself down as much as possible to give them time, and watched them turn off the runway.... Finally when runway was clear I put in LDG flaps and touched down. (I was vocal to the examiner about what I was thinking and doing, which hopefully helped).

  

Taxied back, he silently got out and walked into the office, I had no idea at this point if I failed or not.. got to the office, he walked me through the errors in the departure and the vectors to final moment.. then said remember, this is a license to learn.. Congratulations, you're an instrument rated pilot. I was overjoyed, of course.

  

I planned an IFR flight home, flew back to Hayward feeling like a boss, landed and postflighted the plane... And then realized I still had the rental car keys. Facepalm. So, back in the plane, and I got my ass to Watsonville and dropped the keys in the lockbox at the airport parking lot, and flew right back home. Stupid me.. 😁