From: rogersmf@eplrx7.es.duPont.com (Mark Rogers)
Subject: YADCRR (Yet another @#%! Check-Ride Report)
Organization: Cimtek America 
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 11:54:26 GMT

                             CHECK RIDE REPORT

	Monday afternoon, the FAA came and took my student license away.
They replaced it with a little white slip that says "Temporary Airman
Certificate".  Guess this means I'm an official Temporary Airman!

	As some people have indicated, the check ride can be a terrific
learning experience.  I got the last word on some topics which my instructors
were not sure about.  I also got the undivided attention of a very experienced
pilot (Joe) for three flights.  Not a bad deal at all!

	The oral portion was not overly rigorous.  It may have been because
I did really well on the written, or it may have been that orals for glider
pilots are not too rigorous.  At any rate, it only lasted about an hour,
including Joe's in-depth explanation of the difference between a 100-hour
inspection and an annual inspection (good information for anyone who intends
to rent a ship elsewhere - always check maintenance logs).

	The pre-flight was uneventful.  Joe asked for explanations along the
way, but mostly just let me do my thing.  When I was all done, we strapped
in and took a tow to 3000'.  I did pretty well on tow (the weather was so
calm I think my dog could have done it), and I boxed the wake reasonably well,
albeit slowly.  I followed the tow plane for a few lazy turns and we released
at 3000'.

	As soon as we got off, we did some slow flight, some turns at MCA,
and of course, a couple of stalls.  After I finished my last turning stall,
we were facing south, toward the Chesapeake Bay.  Even though it was
relatively early (about 3:00 in the afternoon), clouds moving in from the
southwest gave the sky some gorgeous colors, and there was pure gold
reflecting off the bay.  Joe asked me to pick a point on the horizon and do
some steep 360's.  This was something I'd never been terribly good at, but
I realized that as long as I didn't undershoot or overshoot by more than
20 degrees or so, I'd probably be ok.  I picked a piece of the bay and
started my left turn, taking care to watch my attitude on the horizon.  As we
came around and the glow of the bay caught my peripheral vision, I slowly
unwound the turn.  When I finished, I realized I had managed to dead flat
nail it!  Then I made a 360 to the right and nailed it again!  I wanted
to say something like, "Holy S**t!  I've NEVER done THAT before!", but
I managed to restrain myself :-).

	Joe put us into a spiral dive for me to recover, and then we
returned to the pattern.  At this point I remembered that one of us was
supposed to pick a spot on the ground, and I was to touch down and stop
within 200' of it.  We chose a spot on the runway, and I managed to
touch down within a couple of feet of it (easy enough to do in a glider,
but that was a better-than-average landing for me).

	The second flight was pretty much a non-event.  We released at 2000'
and did some slow flight, seeing if I could make the wings buffet constantly
without stalling.  (I could hold it for a little, but then we'd hit lift or
sink and I'd lose the buffet.)  As I entered the pattern, Joe asked me for
a slip to a landing, which I did, but it wasn't as smooth as I would have
liked.

	The third flight was supposed to be a tow to 1500', but Joe pulled
the release at 600' and said, "Oops."  (Everybody's a comedian.)  I decided
my safest option was our cross runway, since I knew there was traffic in the
pattern and a downwind landing might be dangerous.  Besides, I wasn't
certain we had enough altitude to get in a reasonable position for the main
runway.  Getting to the cross-runway required a MASSIVE slip, but I managed 
to get us down safely.  After we stopped, Joe said it might have been
better to do an S-turn or a 360 to avoid the massive slip, but other than that
he had no complaints.

	We went back to the office and he filled out a TAC and took away
my student license.  Then he and his friend who had come down to see the
airport regaled us with some war stories.  I think we all could have sat
there for hours, but it was late and getting dark, and we all had families
to go home to.

	Here are my cost figures for you numbers hounds:

        Club Initiation Fee    $ 300
        Dues (18 months)       $ 486  ($27/month)
        Tows (94 flights)      $1504
        Written exam           $  35
        Check ride             $ 125
        Books                  $ 138
        SSA Membership (2 yrs) $  90
                               -----
        Total                  $2678

	I have to thank the participants in the rec.aviation newsgroups.
The in-depth discussions of how a plane flies, what a stall REALLY is, and
how to interpret regulations have made me a more knowledgeable pilot, and
I am sure it showed during my check ride.  It sure is nice to come in first
thing in the morning and do a little hangar flying, network-style!  

	So... anybody want a ride in a sailplane?  :-)

-- 

Mark Rogers, PP-G (rogersmf@eplrx7.es.dupont.com)

Newsgroups: rec.aviation.misc,rec.aviation