ATP Checkride
Pilot certificates fall into four basic levels: Student, the learning permit; Private, the basic license to fly that most pilots have; Commercial, required to fly for pay; and Airline Transport Pilot, needed to captain an airliner around the skies. The ATP has been my goal ever since I started flying, not because of any career goals (although it did cross my mind at times) but simply to have a target, get my proficiency as high as possible, and do something challenging.
Well, this April that goal came to pass - I'm an ATP! Not only that, but my particular certificate, endorsed for "single engine land" airplanes, is relatively rare, as most have multiengine privileges.
Before moving from Maryland I began studying for the written exam. Maybe I'm getting old and mentally feeble, but I thought that written was the most challenging of all FAA writtens I've taken, and it took a while to study for. (OK, maybe the job change, move, new house, etc. had something to do with it as distractions.) I took the test in the fall of 2005, did well, and when it thawed out I began working on it with Linda Dowdy in 55R between trips. As you might expect from a Master CFI, Linda's merciless in her simulator and in the plane, but that's good - I didn't want just the ticket but the skill and proficiency behind it, and each session got me that much better at instrument procedures, approaches, and airwork.
After a few months she declared me ready, and the scheduling game began. Our chosen examiner, Mike Andersen, had a tight schedule, as did I, and getting them to mesh was tough. We also went through a litany of problems with the plane, including an alternator failure on my pre-checkride flight with Linda, compass failure, directional gyro failure, and radio issues. For a plane that's been almost perfect in her reliability this sequence of events was troubling and most inconvenient to getting a checkride done.... Then winter set in, those subzero temperatures aren't good on airplanes or people, and we targeted the spring. In March everything came together, Linda signed me off for the ride, and we scheduled it. April 15th was the day.
Mike met me at Anoka, in Linda's sim room. The oral exam took about an hour and dug deep into the systems of the plane, along with regulatory issues about operating it. I had over 400 hours in that specific airplane by the time of the ride, had studied the systems thoroughly, and had, through troubleshooting problems over the prior 3 years, seen firsthand most of the equipment on board; that really helped, and there wasn't much Mike could find deficient, except for one area: electrical. I'm a physician, not an engineer, and as much as people try to say they're similar, physiology and electricity are totally different animals. Flow dynamics of blood aren't the same as electrical flow. I struggled a bit with the details, Mike said, "Electricity is funny, isn't it?" and we moved on.
In the plane, the ride was actually fun. Mr. Andersen has been called "Iron Mike" by many, but he was affable with me. But I thought I'd botched it from the first maneuver, a steep turn under the hood, when I mistook what heading he wanted me to roll out on and ended up 90 degrees off.... "We try to stay within ten degrees of heading, don't we?" he asked, I agreed, and we continued.
Linda had described it as an "instrument checkride on steroids," and that's exactly what it was: Basic maneuvers, including stalls, by instrument reference only; emergencies, including engine failure (where do you go when you're in the cloud, the clouds go to the ground, and you lose an engine without hope of gliding to a runway? - well, you go there, whatever "there" you pick); and four approaches, three at Airlake Airport south of the Twin Cities and one back at Anoka County Airport. Oh, and missed approach procedures, holds, circling approaches, the lot.
When we landed at Anoka, Mike gave me the best compliment I have ever gotten on a checkride, instructional flight, any flight whatsoever. That meant a lot to me. And doing the ride in 55R meant everything.
Next step: Multiengine ATP. Linda and I are already working on that. Stay tuned.
Well, this April that goal came to pass - I'm an ATP! Not only that, but my particular certificate, endorsed for "single engine land" airplanes, is relatively rare, as most have multiengine privileges.
Before moving from Maryland I began studying for the written exam. Maybe I'm getting old and mentally feeble, but I thought that written was the most challenging of all FAA writtens I've taken, and it took a while to study for. (OK, maybe the job change, move, new house, etc. had something to do with it as distractions.) I took the test in the fall of 2005, did well, and when it thawed out I began working on it with Linda Dowdy in 55R between trips. As you might expect from a Master CFI, Linda's merciless in her simulator and in the plane, but that's good - I didn't want just the ticket but the skill and proficiency behind it, and each session got me that much better at instrument procedures, approaches, and airwork.
After a few months she declared me ready, and the scheduling game began. Our chosen examiner, Mike Andersen, had a tight schedule, as did I, and getting them to mesh was tough. We also went through a litany of problems with the plane, including an alternator failure on my pre-checkride flight with Linda, compass failure, directional gyro failure, and radio issues. For a plane that's been almost perfect in her reliability this sequence of events was troubling and most inconvenient to getting a checkride done.... Then winter set in, those subzero temperatures aren't good on airplanes or people, and we targeted the spring. In March everything came together, Linda signed me off for the ride, and we scheduled it. April 15th was the day.
Mike met me at Anoka, in Linda's sim room. The oral exam took about an hour and dug deep into the systems of the plane, along with regulatory issues about operating it. I had over 400 hours in that specific airplane by the time of the ride, had studied the systems thoroughly, and had, through troubleshooting problems over the prior 3 years, seen firsthand most of the equipment on board; that really helped, and there wasn't much Mike could find deficient, except for one area: electrical. I'm a physician, not an engineer, and as much as people try to say they're similar, physiology and electricity are totally different animals. Flow dynamics of blood aren't the same as electrical flow. I struggled a bit with the details, Mike said, "Electricity is funny, isn't it?" and we moved on.
In the plane, the ride was actually fun. Mr. Andersen has been called "Iron Mike" by many, but he was affable with me. But I thought I'd botched it from the first maneuver, a steep turn under the hood, when I mistook what heading he wanted me to roll out on and ended up 90 degrees off.... "We try to stay within ten degrees of heading, don't we?" he asked, I agreed, and we continued.
Linda had described it as an "instrument checkride on steroids," and that's exactly what it was: Basic maneuvers, including stalls, by instrument reference only; emergencies, including engine failure (where do you go when you're in the cloud, the clouds go to the ground, and you lose an engine without hope of gliding to a runway? - well, you go there, whatever "there" you pick); and four approaches, three at Airlake Airport south of the Twin Cities and one back at Anoka County Airport. Oh, and missed approach procedures, holds, circling approaches, the lot.
When we landed at Anoka, Mike gave me the best compliment I have ever gotten on a checkride, instructional flight, any flight whatsoever. That meant a lot to me. And doing the ride in 55R meant everything.
Next step: Multiengine ATP. Linda and I are already working on that. Stay tuned.
posted by The Minnesota Sheltons at 5:53 AM
1 Comments:
Nice Artical! Good Luck on your ATP. From a fellow pilot and a native Texan, Blue Skies!
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