Thursday, January 12, 2006

A Commercial pilot!

Today was mostly a day of waiting.  I waited for my flight instructor to show up so we could fly in the morning, he was only half an hour late.  We did almost a whole practice checkride and I had some of my better landings so I was in a good mood.  I was supposed to go on the ride at 3pm, but the examiner finally got there and we were ready to go at 4.  Started the ride off with the landings.  I did a normal landing, then a soft field landing, then a short field(had to land within 100 ft), then a no-power landing(200ft).  After that I started the cross country part and headed north over streetsboro.  We broke off from that, and started the manuevers.  Steep turns followed by Minimun controllable airspeed, then power off stall, power on stall, 1 lazy eight, 3 chandelles, a steep spiral, eights-on-pylons, an engine failure at 1000 feet (very low), followed by a simulated gear failure, alternator failure, and wing fire.  After this, we headed back to the airport at 3000 feet, had the engine “failed” and did a steep spiral to land on the runway.  The last one was a very ugly landing, but I got it down.  1.5 hours after I started, he held out his hand, I had passed!  It was very nerve wracking and I was sweating a lot (he was cold) but now I am KSU’s newest commercial pilot.  Very much happiness!  I feel awesome about this because he said he was never in doubt and that I had excellent control of the airplane at all times.  He complimented my landings even though some were kinda close to the limit.  The best part about all of it is that I earned it.  Flight team felt good because we all came together as a team to win, but this is mine.  I worked hard to do well in this and I succeeded!  I wish I could write a better summary than this, but I am hyped up on adrenaline and exhausted at the same time.  Maybe tomorrow.