As I started going through the familiar routine of my pre-start checklist, I started to feel more at ease. I remembered that the reason I started taking lessons in the first place was that I love to fly, and besides being a check ride, this flight was also another opportunity to soar in the wild blue yonder. I felt the same excitement I always do when I start to taxi. I was supposed to treat her as a passenger, albeit one with the authority to tell the pilot what to do, so I just concentrated on the airplane. All of the scouting reports indicated that she always declined a passenger briefing, so I was surprised when she accepted my offer. Uh, here's your seat belt and there's the door. Any questions? She seemed ok with that Russ always had me contact ground control right after taxiing out of the parking area and I was about to do that when she asked, "Have we called ground yet?" I replied that I was just about to do that and made my call. She probably thought I had forgotten. What a way to start this flight!  (Gene Says: At controlled airports there are movement and non-movement areas deliniated by a broken double yellow line.  Communications are voluntary but recommended inside the non-movement area.)

After completing my run up she asked for a soft field takeoff. The tower told me to cross runway 31 right and takeoff on 31 left, so I taxied across the parallel runway with the yoke all the way back in the soft field takeoff configuration. My soft field takeoff was average, but I was happy that I didn't forget anything and that I managed to keep the airplane 6 feet off the runway until I accelerated to best angle of climb, which doesn't take very long in a 172SP. As my Grandpa used to say, "And we're off, in a cloud of hen turds!"

As I was climbing towards my cruise altitude, she started firing questions at me. This must be one of those famous distractions I heard about! She first asked me what kind of airspace we were in, to which I replied, "Class E under the San Francisco class B shelf and just outside of the San Jose class C." I wanted to add, "which means it's very busy here and I need to pay attention to my flying, so quit asking me questions!" but I refrained.  G.W. Shoulld have.

She then asked for the VFR weather minimums for class E airspace and the requirements for entering the class B airspace. After the initial barrage of questions, I noticed that I had missed my first checkpoint and was approaching my second checkpoint. I called out the second checkpoint, pointed out that the needles on the two VOR's were centering, and noted the time. Russ had warned me against putting in too many checkpoints close together since there was already so much to keep track of (the first checkpoint was only 7 minutes into the flight), and he was right. She either didn't notice, or ignored it. (G.W. She noticed.)

As we approached Livermore (KLVK, class D), she asked what the vertical limits were for that class D airspace and what I would do if I lost my radios right now. The also asked where the registration and airworthiness certificates were for this airplane and as I pointed to the pockets down near my feet, I dropped my pencil. As Murphy would have it, when I bent down to pick it up, I leaned into the yoke causing the nose of the airplane to dip. I recovered my pencil and then recovered my level attitude and listened for her to tell me I failed, but she said nothing.

Then the divert order came, and lo and behold, it was to Tracy, where I had practiced yesterday! Of course, I was at a different point in my flight plan, so the course was different. I plotted a radial off of a nearby VOR so I could intercept it and fly right to the airport, but I failed to notice that that radial extended right over a restricted area west of the airport. I knew about that restricted area, but I didn't realize I was right over it until she asked me to show her where we were on the chart. Then she asked me what the vertical limits were for the restricted area. I had been looking at the chart the night before, so I happened to know off the top of my head that it was 4000 feet. I then glanced at my altimeter and noticed that I was descending through 4200 feet, so I quickly leveled off. I dodged a bullet on that one! Since I was high because of the restricted area, I began a rapid descent towards the Tracy traffic pattern altitude after clearing the restricted area. She said, "What you are doing is OK, *but* for the comfort of your passengers you might consider circling to lose altitude rather than dive-bombing the airport." Good advice. She asked for a soft-field landing, but when we were just a few hundred feet off the ground she ordered a go around.

Without landing at Tracy, she asked me to climb to 2500 feet where she handed me the hood. With the outside world blocked from view, she asked me to climb to 3500 at best rate of climb while holding a specific heading. After leveling off, she had me to several turns to specific headings while holding altitude. I think all my simulator time really paid off here, these were easy. Then she had me close my eyes and I expected her to put the airplane in an unusual attitude, but she just told me to keep flying the plane with my eyes closed, trying to maintain straight and level flight. I knew that my sensations could deceive me and I had trimmed for straight and level, so I just took my hand off the yoke and listened for engine RPM changes. After a minute or two, she told me to open my eyes and recover and I saw that I was in a 15-degree bank and had lost a few hundred feet of altitude. I think I would have been worse if I had actually tried to fly the plane.

The hood came off and she told me to "transition to slow flight after you are sure the area is clear." I made my clearing turns and slowed down to the point where the stall horn was blaring constantly with full flaps and zero vertical speed. She had me do several turns while maintaining altitude, and then had me do a stall. I recovered and got back into cruise flight, where she asked for 360-degree steep turns, one to the left and one to the right. The first one went ok, but as I leveled out the air got very bumpy since we were passing over some hills. She told me I could wait to clear the hills before doing the other turns since it was so bumpy and I tried to make a joke by saying "Is it bumpy?" She replied, "Or you could do it right here if you want." I shut up and waited for more stable air to do my other turn. After that she told me to return to Reid-Hillview via any route I wanted, at any altitude. We hadn't even done a landing yet! Did that mean I had failed? She then pulled my power and told me I had lost my engine, so I pulled out my checklist and went through the engine loss procedure. At 3000 feet my engine miraculously recovered and again she told me to head back to KRHV.

It was a long twenty minutes as we flew back to my home airport. I had to keep reminding myself that no news is good news. Once we were back in the pattern, she asked for a soft field landing. At one point on final she said, "Let's keep it above the VASI please" because I was below glide slope. Required by FAR, G.W. The landing was ok, but I hope it was simulated dry grass and not simulated mud because it was not a greaser. The tower handed me off to ground as she told me that we needed to takeoff again. I taxied back and she asked for a short field takeoff. This one I did well, holding the airspeed right on best angle of climb until we cleared the imaginary obstacle where I transitioned to best rate of climb. Next she asked for a short field landing. Uneven heating of the ground from the parking lots and the mall made for a bumpy final so it was difficult to hold a constant airspeed, but I managed to get the airplane down, using about a third of the 3000-foot runway before coming to a stop.

She told me to terminate, but there was a traffic jam on the taxiways, so we had to hold our position for several minutes before taxiing back to parking. I pulled power, mixture to lean to kill the engine, shut off the master switch and awaited the verdict. She said, "When did we stop using checklists?" My heart sank. I searched my memory trying to figure out where I had failed and what I had missed. I meekly replied that I didn't think I had. Then she pointed out that I hadn't yet removed the key from the ignition. She said, "Other than that, your checkride was excellent. Congratulations!" Whew!

I was now a real pilot, after 48.2 total hours in almost three months of training. Of those hours, 37.8 were dual, 10.4 were solo, 4 were night, and 11.3 were cross-country. I had logged a total of 149 landings. Check ride successfully completed, I am now officially licensed to learn.
Todd PP-ASEL(!)

 Passed checkride today
I took my private checkride toaday and passed. I'm posting this because I know that I had a million questions before I took mine.

I've been extremely nervous about the checkride the past several days. I went up with a couple instructors over the week to make sure that I was ready. To be honest I really wasn't sure. My instructors are very strict on everything (which is good for me) and I've been getting airsick every time while doing steep turns. I took my written two days ago and passed with a 95%. I did home study ground school supplemented with my instructor for a few hours. I found that the public library has the King ground school video tapes so I checked them out. Even if you took a regular ground school class I still suggest you check with your public library, it saves you about $350. I also spent several hours on the ground yesterday while a few instructors quizzed me.

The examiner gave me weight and balance data and cross country requirements a week earlier so I had plenty of time to prepare. Generally he quizzed me on one aspect of each area of flight. I didn't know the answer to what is the minimum requirement for VFR flight, but I was able to look it up in the FAR's which was ok with him. He didn't really look at my cross country log, though he did quiz me on all the various airspaces I would be in. I suggest that you make your first cross country check point within 6-10 mi. of your departure point. This will make it very easy to be there within the 5 minute ETA time frame. He pretty much had me do something in each area of the PTS, including all types of takeoffs and landings. He did ask me to do a couple things that I didn't totally understand, he was very good about explaining them to me when I asked. The only distraction was during a constant airspeed climb he asked what the outside temp was. Generally speaking my check ride went great, I never got the feeling that he was out to get me on something. I did a couple of procedures lousy and asked if he would like me to do them again. He said they were fine.

So to wrap up this long post here are a couple suggestions.
- Spend the days before the checkride doing mock checkrides with an instructor, also spend time on the ground with instructors quizzing you.
- Get the weight & balance and the cross country info before the checkride and have your instructor look it over.
- Check your local library for the King school videos.
- While on the checkride ask questions anytime your aren't totally sure what the examiner wants to see. For example, between stalls I'd ask if he would like to see more clearing turns.
- If you feel like you really messed something up, offer to do it over.
- Most important thing is TAKE YOUR TIME.. Don't rush anything. Between each thing that is asked of your wait before you act. Stabilize the plane, then think out the entire procedure, when you are good and ready, go for it! He didn't mind waiting for me between each procedure.
Erik

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