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Table of Contents:
by David Bradley
Every pilot has taken at least one, and possible many check rides in their flying career. The check ride, most often taken with an FAA Designated Examiner, is the practical flying test administered by the FAA to determine if the pilot applicant's flying skills meet standards.
I have been a pilot examiner for quite a few years and have given hundreds of check rides. The overwhelming percentage of those check rides ended with me issuing a temporary pilot certificate to the applicant. A few have ended in failure and the applicant was required to return another day for a retest.
While it may not seem like it to the applicant, the examiner must adhere to a rigid set of flight standards. These standards are set out in the Practical Test Standards (PTS) book which is usually included in the ground school set of books. The examiner is required by the FAA to vary the tests to the extent that the examiner does not ask the same questions on each test, or follow the same scenario. But the standards always remain the same....and the PTS lays out the subject areas to be covered. If it is not in the PTS you will not (or should not) be tested upon it.
Here are just a few tips for an applicant for a Private Pilot License.
1. A strong oral exam goes a long way toward a successful flight. We seldom see an applicant who is weak on the ground portion of the test dazzle the examiner with their flying abilities.
2. Know the PTS subject areas and be able to discuss any of them. "I don't know" is never an acceptable answer. If you do not know an answer to a specific question, be able to discuss the subject generally and then know where to find the answer in the appropriate book. Grab the book and point out the answer.
3. Know everything there is to know about the Sectional Charts. These maps are a tool, and you must know how to use them. This includes a thorough understanding of airspace and weather minimums in various kinds of airspace.
4. Know your airplane. Understand the performance section of the Pilot's Operating Handbook. If the examiner points to the TAS block on the flight plan and asks how you arrived at that number, don't tell the examiner that is just what your instructor said to use. Go to the cruise performance charts and point out the true airspeed for your selected altitude, power setting, and the temperature at that altitude.
5. Be able to procure and interpret the weather, making a good "go-no-go" decision. If you are not using DUATs to get your weather, you should be. DUATs will supply you with a complete weather brief, including NOTAMS. And you will have it neatly printed out instead of unreadable notes taken by hand. And for best results, back up your DUAT brief with a brief from Flight Service.
6. Once in the airplane, assume the role of Pilot in Command. You are. The examiner is your first legal passenger. Conduct the flight accordingly.
7. Use a check list. Do not start, taxi, run-up, without a checklist. Use the radio to communicate your intentions. But more importantly, get your head out of the cockpit and watch for traffic.
8. Fly like you were trained. Chances are your instructor trained you to practical test standards, so do not vary from your routine. If the examiner asks for a maneuver and you are not clear just what is expected, ask the examiner for an explanation. Just say: "I do not understand what you are asking for, please explain."
9. Hold your assigned altitude and heading. Make your stalls gentle, and recoveries crisp and sure. Stay aware of your location. Stay on top of your fuel management program....do not let one tank run low before switching.
10. Make every take off and every landing on the center line. If you are having trouble handling cross winds, get more training before meeting the examiner.
Nearly everyone passes the check ride the first time. But if it takes you a second try....do not despair. The examiner has flunked check rides, as have all pilots with any experience at all. Just get some extra training, and you will earn that pilot's license!
I look forward to seeing you in the air.
by David Bradley
I am at 6000 feet in IMC. Light to moderate
turbulence is turning this two hour flight into a real bear. The
heading indicator shows a I am in a slow turn to the right so
I correct with about ten degrees of left bank. But I continue
to see a right turn. The attitude indicator is showing wings level
and slightly nose up. More left aileron! Lower the nose! But no,
the airspeed is increasing and the VSI is showing 1200 feet a
minute down and increasing! I raise the nose but the airspeed
increases into the high yellow; VSI is pegged at 2000 feet a minute.
Turn coordinator! Get that scan going! Where are the bases of
these clouds? I can feel the "g" forces as I try to
raise the nose. Attitude indicator is still showing wings level,
but the turn coordinator is pegged to the left. Get that attitude
indicator out of my scan. I am losing control!
It is this exact nightmare for which we train our instrument customers.
We call it partial panel flying and it is a demanding task.Those
pilots that don't master it too often end up inside a smoking
black hole. Partial panel flying, sometimes called emergency panel,
is tested on the instrument rating certification flight test.
In fact the PTS labels it a special emphasis area. All instrument
syllabi devote considerable time to partial panel flying. Scan,
scan, turn coordinator, ball, airspeed, lead, lag, standard rate
turns, scan, scan, is the mantra of the instrument instructor
and has been for years. But the accidents continue.
There is much more we as flight instructors can do to equip our
instrument students with some additional tools for this emergency.
Althought the law of gravity and the law of averages have not
changed, there have been dramatic changes in aviation in recent
years. Foremost in those changes have been improvements in avionics
and redundancy of systems. Yet our pilot certification process,
and therefore our flight training programs, have not kept pace.
What I knew and taught as an instrument instructor just two years
ago is not near enough today. Yet the certification requirements
for an instrument ticket are little changed. As instructors, if
we are are provide a comprehensive training program we must go
beyond the requirements of the Practical Test Standards and most
instrument training syllabi.
Many single engine airplanes have back up vacuum systems installed.
This is great! It goes a long way toward preventing loss of control
while IMC. But the pilot must understand how the system operates.
I have had clients seeking instrument training who were operating
on the back up vacuum system and did not know it. Others do not
understand the capabilities or limitations of the system. In some
airplanes the proper placards are not installed or not understood.
We must teach them to fly partial panel, but first they must understand
the systems operating on the airplane.....otherwise how will they
use them in an emergency. So it is up to us as instructor's to
train the customer. A good place to start is a review, with the
customer, of the systems supplement in the POH.
And consider all these great new avionics! I have an instrument
customer that flies a Maule equipped with dual GNS 430's, HSI,
and a good S-TEC autopilot. I have another client that flies a
Bonanza with a Garmin 530, a KFC 200 auto pilot, and all the associated
niceties. And still another customer flying a Cirrus SR-22, with
dual GNS 430's; an S-TEC 55X autopilot; and a Sandel 3308 EHSI.
The SR-22 has dual electric systems. It does not have a vacuum
system. Those who do not have IFR certified RNAV systems, whether
it be GPS, LORAN, or VOR/DME usually have at least a yoke mounted
GPS or LORAN that is capable to taking us to most any nav aid,
airport or intersection in the northern hemisphere. Am I going
to teach these pilots, flying everything from high end flight
information systems to basic VFR GPS units the techniques of partial
panel flying? Of course I am. The attitude indicator is always
capable of failing independent of whatever source powers it. But
I must teach them so much more.
It is tough to realistically simulate a vacuum failure. You cannot
just turn the vacuum pump off, or pull a circuit breaker. Our
usual technique is to cover up the vacuum instruments, listen
to the student groan, and start the partial panel education. But
that is not the way it is going to happen. In most cases an "OFF"
flag is not going to appear on the attitude indicator announcing
the vacuum system failure. The attitude indicator will die a slow
and deceitful death.
Rather than covering the instruments every time, try turning the
heading indicator 50 degrees off (if it isn't a slaved) and tilting
the attitude indicator nose high or low. The pilot should be prepared
to cover up the attitude indicator and perhaps the heading indicator
and start the partial panel routine. But wait. Are we making use
of all our cockpit resources? Even though the heading indicator
is not working, is the HSI (if installed) still available for
navigation? It probably is.
Now to the magnetic compass. It does not take the instrument trainee
long to understand the basics of this system. He quickly learns
that every time he looks up to check the compass he gets a free
look at the outside world. And we all know that one peek is worth
a thousand cross-checks. Train them to use that compass....but
do more. Many GPS units have a screen with a heading indicator
displayed, completely independent of all other heading information.
That beats a magnetic compass in light chop any day of the week.
And even the low end yoke mounted "VFR ONLY" units will
provide "course to" vs "track" information.
Again, better information than the magnetic compass can give you.
Teach them to use the magnetic compass as a stand alone system.
But then, if so equipped show them how to use their yoke mounted
GPS or LORAN equipment in coordination with the compass. Suddenly
those partial panel non-precision approaches become much easier.
Even if it is a "VFR ONLY" GPS, a pilot would be foolish
not to use it in an emergency, as a back up, rather that relying
solely on the turn coordinator, airspeed and wet compass.
The longer I conduct instrument training the more important I
think it is that a pilot have available for instrument flight
at least a wing leveler autopilot. Many airplanes are equipped
with everything from the most basic wing leveler to full blown
three axis autopilots with flight directors. Is using the autopilot
cheating during instrument training? Absolutely not. But many
instrument rating applicants arrive with only rudimentary knowledge
of the auto pilot. They don't use the flight director; "get
that thing up and out of the way" they say. It is obvious
their flight instructor has not trained them to fly the approach
with a flight director deployed even though the autopilot is off.
We must train our instrument clients the proper use of whatever
equipment they have installed. An autopilot will make a well trained
pilot safer, but it will kill one that has not been taught how
to use it.
Can an autopilot help when critical flight instruments have been
lost, such as the attitude indicator? Maybe, maybe not. It is
difficult to learn much by looking at the Pilot Operating Handbook.
But a call to the avionics shop can usually shed some light on
a particular installation. Generally speaking, rate based autopilots
such as S-TECs and early Century models operate off the turn coordinator,
so the autopilot will work in case of a attitude indicator and
/ or a heading indicator failure. If it is not a rate based autopilot,
anything that disables the attitude indicator will disable the
autopilot. Again, this is not something you can routinely simulate
and check out. This is a question our instrument customers must
be able to answer. They must know their airplane's systems. And
if an auto pilot will keep the wings level, command standard rate
turns, or even more....that pilot would be foolish not to use
it.
Some of this stuff might seem heretical to instructors steeped
in the rigid instrument training of the past. There might even
be a question of legality of using VFR ONLY navigation equipment
during instrument flight. We all know the answer to this conundrum
and we know the right thing to do. But during an emergency there
is no such thing as cheating and we must teach our customers to
use everything available to them.
A big part of being a better instructor is to be sure our aviation
education is current and continuing. Many operator's manuals for
autopilots and GPS systems are available online. Download them,
print them out, study them and then put them in your reference
library. Consider purchasing some time in a simulator and let
a good instructor make you sweat over instrument related emergencies
and scenarios. You will gain valuable insight to improving your
teaching.
Just meeting the standards of the PTS does not guarantee our students
the knowledge they need to operate in today's aviation environment.
We must do better. Besides it makes instruction a lot more fun.
___________________________________________________________________
IFR Clearances
by David Bradley
When you file an IFR flight plan you are making a contract with Air Traffic Control as to how and where you will conduct your instrument flight. But that contract is just a piece of paper until it is "signed" by all parties..... that is until the clearance is received and accepted.
At towered fields prior to taxi, call ground control, or clearance delivery if one is available, requesting clearance. In most cases your clearance will be waiting and you can write it down and read it back while still in parking. Sometimes ground control will say "clearance is on request". This mean ground control is requesting the clearance from the ATC system, probably a departure control. When the clearance is received at ground control that controller will say: "November 12345 I have your clearance, are you ready to copy?" We receive and accept our clearance and the contract is now executed.
At non-towered airports you might be able to talk to the controlling ATC agency on the ground and in this case you receive your clearance much as you did at the towered airport. After you have read back the clearance the controller will tell you "hold for release" or "you are released, report airborne". At any rate do not take off until the controller releases you into the IFR system.
If you cannot talk to ATC on the ground there are two ways to get your IFR clearance. If the weather is good enough to allow you to remain VFR, you can take off, call ATC and request your IFR clearance. Remain VFR until receiving the clearance. Unless you agree with ATC to maintain your own obstruction and terrain clearance, you will not receive your clearance until in radar contact.
The second method is to get the clearance on the ground over the telephone. You might do this on a cell phone from your plane or inside the airport lobby on a hard line. Either way you will call flight service's clearance delivery on their toll free number. They will want to know what runway you are going to use and how soon you can be ready. Expect that you will need to be airborne within 10 to 15 minutes after receiving your clearance. So the preflight must already be done, the passengers loaded, and I would suggest having completed the pre take off check list, including a radio check. Flight Service's clearance delivery will call ATC and get the clearance and then deliver it to you. It will include a "clearance void if not off by" time and and a "time now is" time so you can reset your watch if necessary.
Now with the clearance in hand.....don't leave it in the lobby, go to the airplane and get it started. Set in the departure control frequency, put the squawk in the transponder, turn it to "ALT" and take off. Comply with the clearance with particular attention to the "enter controlled airspace heading" part. When you have the airplane established in the initial phases of the departure, contact ATC on the assigned frequency and report your heading and altitude. ATC will acknowledge and you are on your way.
Just remember. That ATC contract is not "signed" until you have received and accepted the clearance.
posted 3 August 2004
