Terms
--VOR very high-frequency omni range
--VORTAC is collocated VOR and TACAN
--VOR-DME is VOR with DME
--CDI is course deviation (deflection) indicator
--OBS is Omni bearing selector
--Course index is top of VOR display
--Reciprocal course index is bottom of VOR display
--Ambiguity is the TO/FROM window
--Region of uncertainty is where needle swings back and forth.
Reports:
1. requested
2. compulsory when not on radar
3. un-forecast weather
4. emergency or equipment failure
5. markers
6. missed approach
7. reaching end of clearance
8. changing altitude or airspeed
Radio Failure
When do you begin approach? ETA or ATA whichever is later
When can MOCA be used? When within 22 NM of VOR
When is ceiling and visibility not on ATIS? Over 5000’ and 10 miles
Know the static system (draw diagram)
Subjects Covered:
--Primary and Secondary instruments
--Weight and balance
--Weather symbols or abbreviations
--Approach plates
--Charts
Flight Test
--Important! Assume the entire flight test is conducted during actual IFR conditions. Do not, for example, climb up to VFR pattern altitude after "breaking out" for a circling approach at 600’ in clear weather.
--Always know your position and expect to be asked where you are.
--Expect to fly your flight plan as planned with minor changes.
-As soon as established on an airway, be ready to give an ETA for some checkpoint ahead.
--Know and use standard reporting procedure sequence. Position, time, altitude, next position, etc.
--Only one published hold for one orbit following a missed approach which gave little time to think about it.
--No request to demonstrate specific airspeed changes or rate/airspeed climbs or descents except as required during normal approaches.
--Only one 45 degree 360 degree turn required
--Examiner simulated ATC during most phases of flight exam except during actual approaches
--All altitudes must be held within 100 ft or less except when established on final approach. Then it is -0 to + 100.
--Circle to land approach must be to a landing that keeps the airport in sight.
--Although it was not spoken, the criteria for an acceptable NDB approach seems to be if you can find the runway after breaking out.
--Failure to ident any nav aid used will conclude the test. If you are not sure if you did, ident it twice.
--Approaches are not a best two out of three situation. The applicant has one shot and can either do it or cannot. If asked to repeat an approach assume the first one was marginal and the next one had better be much better.
--If the applicant does anything that would be dangerous in actual IFR conditions or if the examiner must intervene at any time during the flight, the test is over for that day.
Oral Exam
Know AIM part 1 and portions of part 61 and 91 (mostly) that pertain to IFR flight
Icing
Icing system on aircraft, carb heat, pitot heat, defroster
--Option on encountering ice
--Where to first see ice.
--Flight into known ice
--Preventing prop ice
--About SIGMETS and AIRMETS
Checkrides Failures
IFR checkride failures are in order the NDB approach, the VOR approach, en route procedures and partial-panel emergencies. In an emergency where the HI is lost you should resort only to timed-turns not compass-turns. Use time for larger turns and a count for small heading changes. Caution: Some turn coordinators have not been correctly calibrated.
Checkride
When I got there, the examiner was out flying but he had left an IFR XC to flight plan, with a specified destination weather (guaranteed to make me flight plan an alternate). I sat down, pulled the Jepps and a flight plan sheet, identified the most obvious route and called the FSS for a weather briefing.
In actuality, the visibilities and ceilings along the route were pretty nice, but the killer was forecast showers combined with freezing levels SFC to 4000'. SIGMETS were out for heavy rime ice. The conditions were prevailing, not just local, so no alternate route was any better. I went ahead and did the flight plan including alternate, but I noted down that the flight was a no-go as far as I was concerned.
While I was working it out, the examiner stuck his head in to make sure that I had gotten started and then went to his office with my application, flight log, aircraft logs, and other paperwork. I finished fairly quickly as the route was familiar from the IFR XC I had actually flown. While I was working, he had reviewed all the paperwork (He was very meticulous in double-checking that all the requirements had been met.) He then took a look at the flight plan and asked me various questions about the route, fuel, alternate, etc; pretty much as expected. I pointed out that I would not fly that plan today for the reasons stated, and he was satisfied with that.
He then had me open up the enroute chart and made sure that I knew the various symbols. He did the same for a sample approach plate. The oral then skipped on to some miscellaneous questions about requirements to maintain instrument currency, VOR check methods, instruments required for IFR flight, etc. My guess is that my written test score created a pretty good initial impression and he was skimming a variety of subject areas quickly and making sure that my knowledge was commensurate with the score. Satisfied with that, he cut the oral exam off after about 30 minutes and told me to go file an IFR flight plan for our departure with a destination at CNO. He advised me that he intended to fly the ILS and NDB at CNO, then come back on the VOR approach to CCB. I called and filed, then pulled the plates.
Now that it was flying time, I got a little bit more anxious, but I tried to follow instructor's advice to me before the checkride, "Slow down, keep the scan up, and 7T's. So, I began following his advice by taking some deep breaths and deliberately slowed my walk to the plane. I did a simplified pre-flight, but emphasized flight controls, engine oil, and instrument checks, and indicated to the examiner that the initial pre-flight had been more thorough, but these checks on a second flight of the day should catch any real problems and he seemed to accept that.
We taxied to the runup area and called for our IFR clearance and release. After being advised of a 5 minute delay, I took the opportunity to double-check the radios, OBS settings, and ID'ing the stations. Since the stations came in on the ground, that saved a task that would have been done in the air. I also had the ILS approach to CNO up on the yoke clip and the CCB VOR approach topmost on my clipboard in the event of an emergency return. These were all organizational nuances that I had been taught and I think the examiner noted them.
We got our release and we took off. He had me put the hood on at 50' and we proceeded to our transition point. Along the way, we got a couple of altitude amendments, a heading amendment, and finally radar vectors to the approach course. The air was a lot bumpier than when I had first arrived, but not as bad as the day I was all over the place. I was really focusing on keeping the scan up, managing airspeed, and using the attitude indicator and the climb and headings were being held well within tolerance.
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