This is a write-up and review of my experience for my Private Pilot Checkride/Flight Test and FAA Oral Exam.

After three months of intense training and studying, I am now a Private Pilot! This has been super fun and I can't imagine not having done this in my lifetime. There is nothing quite like the feeling of flight. I know that I used to make the comparison, as do a lot of other non-pilots, that you've been flying if you've flown in a commercial airliner. The difference is substantial. Imagine, that as a pilot, you fly like a bird with a bird's point of view. As a commercial passenger, you fly like an ingested worm sitting in the stomach of the bird looking out of a tiny hole, only to be dumped upon landing... yea, that's as poetic as it gets. : )

I'll be continuing my training and getting my instrument rating this summer, so I'll have a greater repertoire of skill to use in keeping me safe in the air.

Here is a summary of my FAA checkride and oral exam that took place on 05/08/2008 at SQL. My FAA examiner's name is Tom.

Preparation: I had logged 65 hours of flying time before this checkride, of which 11.7 hours was solo and PIC time, 3.2 hours were night flying, 3.9 hours were instrument flying, and 7 hours of cross-country flights. Outside of that, I spent about 20 hours in one-on-one ground instruction, and 80 hours or more studying on my own. My self-study included using the Jeppesen Private Pilot textbook, other Jeppesen Materials, Sporty's Private Pilot DVD Course, and general reading both online and on hard copy. I did most of my studying on my dining room table, although there were quite a few afternoons where I would camp at the library hitting the books hard, or filling out flight plans and imagining the entire flight in my head, like a simulated trip.

The Format: There are three FAA exams as far as the final tests of getting your Private Pilot's license. First was the FAA Written for Private Pilot. I completed this about two weeks before my checkride date, and scored a 97%. On checkride day, there is an oral exam before the flight (of which some portions continued into the flight), and the flight test.

The FAA Examiner: Tom was very nice and cheerful and did not at all come across as someone who was there to test you or make you sweat. The first thing he said after we said down was, "This is not a test. Think of yourself as an actor, and that I'm a film director. You're here today to audition on stage to show off your stuff that you can already do." While this didn't necessarily make me feel any less nervous, and I did end up making myself sweat, I had confidence that my preparation and the excellent CFIs who trained me should yield a reasonable performance. Tom briefed me on the flight and said he was only there as a passenger and that I am the Pilot in Command (PIC). I can deviate from any instruction he gives me in flight if I deem it appropriate, or cancel the flight altogether at any point if I find reasons that warrant a safe termination of flight.

The Oral Exam: Tom is actually the guy who wrote one of the manuals on oral exams for the FAA. He made a computer-based program to help the examiner and the student get the most out of the oral portion of the test. He presented me with a laptop screen with four circular buttons on it. They were colored Yellow, Blue, Green, and Red. He asked me to choose one to which I replied, "What are the consequences of choosing a particular color?" Apparently, each color would lead me down a different path of questions. It appears that you could technically get more than one line of questioning if the examiner wanted to drill down more on you but I can't confirm this. The questions were not trick questions, but reasonable ones, and included:

- Situation question: "You and your non-pilot friends want to go flying at night, and you haven't flown in a while but you head to the airport with friends in tow anyway. That evening, there happens to be an FAA inspector on the field taking a look at the ramps as part of his routine inspections and he walks over to your plane. He wants you to show that the aircraft and the pilot is legally allowed to fly tonight with his friends. What do you have to show the inspector?"

- There were a whole bunch of questions regarding all the key items from Part 61 and Part 91 of the FARs, pretty standard stuff if you've studied the material.

- There were some specific questions that check if you've gotten to know your aircraft/POH very well. My question was could I fly with the VSI disabled? I went to confirm this in my Aircraft Information Manual since a C172 does not have a minimum equipment list by regulations. It is not a required item for flight. He then asked what would I have to do to fly with it in that condition (label it inoperative!).

- He then went through the flight plan that I had prepared, checked to make sure it was done correctly, and then opened up my sectional chart with my course already drawn on it. He then proceeded to point at various spaces on the chart, asking me what airspace that is, what are the visibility and cloud clearance limitations, and what are the procedures for going through a particular area.

- He then reviewed my weights and balance data, the airplane maintenance logs (make sure you know how to find the Annual, the ELT, the Transponder, the 100 hr, and ALL the A/D's in the logs). He was very impressed that I had bookmarked every page of interest and highlighted as necessary so he cut this portion of the questioning short. I can't take credit for this though, my CFI went through the logs with me beforehand and recommended I highlight and bookmark everything I would need. It paid off.

In just under 30 minutes, he told me that I did very well and that the oral exam portion was over. He furthermore commented that this was the shortest oral exam he's ever given. He said that my ability to answer the questions comprehensively and fully the first time, without prompting led him to drill down less into the details. Apparently, for every listed question on the computer screen, he said that he usually has to ask 2-5 follow up questions to make sure the applicant really knows what they were talking about. My recommendation to future pilots is, study hard. Get the answers right and fully explain all your details the first time, and there will be less follow-up questions that invariably will get to a level of detail you won't know. C'mon, the examiner has 10,000 hours of flying time and knows the FARs inside and out- you can't compete with that as a student pilot. Study hard beforehand and make that first impression.

The Flight Test: My home base is San Carlos (KSQL), and I was asked to plan a cross-country flight to Pine Mountain Lake Yosemite (E45). He asked me if I pre-flighted the airplane and I said yes. I asked if he wanted me to show him step-by-step how I do my preflight and he indicated that it was not necessary since it appears I am meticulous so far in my preparation. This is what we did:

For a Chart of my flight area, click here: http://skyvector.com/#35-16-3-2436-2726

1) First take-off from SQL was a soft-field take-off with no obstacle. We then proceeded to fly the first two legs of my flight plan which used visual way-points (the last 3 legs used VOR navigation). I asked Tom if he wanted me to file my flight plan, and he said no. I asked if I should get VFR flight following from Norcal (which I always do no matter what my destination for safety), and he said I'm the PIC and I should do what I feel is necessary. I called up Norcal Departure after I got my frequency change from San Carlos Tower, and got my squawk code. Wow, I am glad I did. The visibility was 6-10 miles but with haze around 1500 ft. Because we are under the SFO Class B shelf and directly in front of the OAK Class C airspace, we had to stay low. ATC actually gave me instructions to do a 30 degree turn to the left to avoid traffic, and I did because I could not see the inbound traffic coming out of the haze in the hills. I resumed my own navigation when ATC cleared me, and I also adjusted my flight plan and times because of the small diversion and communicated this to Tom. I think my interaction with ATC and precise communication put my examiner at ease and demonstrated situational awareness. First impressions really set the tone for the flight. My first two way-points were VPSUN, and VPCOY. You can take a look at the San Francisco TAC or Sectional to get an idea of the distances flow and what to expect.

2) After we reached VPSUN, and he confirmed my cross-country planning skills were up to par as far as course and time calculations (with the ATC diversion for traffic included), he told me he would now have me do a diversion to a nearby airport. He chose Livermore (KLVK). This is a towered airport with parallel runways that I am familiar with. After he gave me my cross-country destination, my CFI and I flew out in that direction just to make sure I am familiar with the area and I have actually landed at all those airports out there during my training (KLVK, KTCY, C83, KSCK). I also took the time to include detailed Jeppesen airport diagrams in my kneeboard packet of every airport along the flight path to E45, my cross-country destination. I began my diversion by choosing an approximate heading on my chart and showed him the course with my pen on the chart. Even though the airport was only 11 miles away, and clearly in sight with the East Bay haze behind us, I wanted to show off my basic navigation skills. There was also a GPS on the plane, but I didn't use it because I wanted to show that I had all the layers of skill from pen and paper, to VOR (which would come later), and GPS (which I used to return home). I then calculated the distance to the airport, and fuel required. Then I got the necessary information using the F.A.R.S. acronym: (F)requencies, (A)Altitudes (TPA and Field Elev.), {R}unway information, and (S)pecial information like the LVK ATIS. I contacted tower when approaching the airspace, and complied with instructions for a straight-in approach as I chose an easterly course for my descent leg from 3500ft down to pattern altitude.

3) At LVK, we did a soft field landing, then a short-field take-off with an obstacle (Tom would tell me when I've cleared the imaginary obstacle), then a simulated engine-failure approach (he just pulled the throttle on me without notice in the downwind abeam position), then a regular take-off. I performed all of them very well. I think I could have been more on centerline for my soft-field landing, which drifted to the right because the wind sock showed a crosswind from the right. It turns out the crosswind was weaker than I thought so I was off-center a bit. It was within tolerance. For my emergency, power-off landing, I decided not to attempt a restart since I was only 1000ft AGL and so close to an airport. I established best glide, carb heat out, and immediately made plans to land on the runway next to me. I went directly to the If-Time-Permits but No-Restart checklist. He wanted me to use the checklist even though I was trained to do this from memory. I had been making the mistake of overshooting the landing spot during my practices, so this time I really overcorrected. Although I touched down barely on the pavement on the runway, I did make it and it was a very smooth landing. My examiner basically told me on downwind, that I need to do whatever it takes (without touching the power) to make the field. So, I maintained maximum glide, I cut the base corner short, and I left flaps up until 5 seconds before touchdown to extend my glide. It was almost short of the field, but it worked out!

4) After LVK, we climbed back to 3500ft and did some simulated-instrument work. He had me intercept and track a VOR, then do one unusual attitude recovery under the hood. Other maneuvers included a single-direction steep 360 turn (I was not asked to do the figure-eight steep turn which I actually preferred for demonstration of skill purposes), slow flight, and then a power off-stall that was tagged to the slow-flight maneuver.

5) Tom then told me to set course for home, and I did. He requested a short-field landing, with an obstacle. I came in slightly above the glide slope, and I choose my touch-down point as the second stripe after the numbers. He amended it to touching down on the numbers, and I complied. I made affirmative contact with the runway right on the spot, definitely the best one I've ever done (I was so excited!), and started to apply brakes. I did not retract the flaps. Afterwards, he asked me at what point am I supposed to retract the flaps for a short-field landing. I had the answer already wrapped up and ready to go in my head since my CFI and I discussed this. The Cessna 172 POH says to retract flaps after touch-down for maximum weight on the braking wheels. However, my instructor and I both feel that the aerodynamic braking from the full flaps gives a greater contribution to deceleration so that's why I kept the full flaps down. He was satisfied with my answer and I taxied to park.

6) After the shut down, he helped me push the plane back into my parking spot, and he said, "Well, how do you think you did?" Leaving me hanging like that was pretty funny but I was also told by my CFI that if I failed anything, the examiner is required to tell me right away so I knew I hadn't done anything outside of tolerance. I gave him a fair self-evaluation, including my off-centerline landing for my first soft-field. He then concluded that short conversation with and handshake and said, "You passed. I'll see you inside with some comments." But he said it in such a deadpan voice I had no idea what he meant by comments.

7) The post-checkride briefing was a surprise to me. Once we were inside, he sat me down and without a smile on his face (I think he meant to purposely keep me hanging for suspense!) told me that he was absolutely floored and in disbelief of my performance. He said that, "Pilots like you make examiners like me not necessary," and proceeded to ask if I was part of an FAA internal audit on him and that I'm actually an airline pilot posing as a student! I thought it was amusing and took the compliment. He also said that the central office won't believe the report he's about to turn in because it looks staged (he was referring to the scores for each maneuver I guess). I was super happy and that feeling of accomplishment will stay with me the rest of my life.

My oral exam lasted just about 30 minutes, and my flight on Hobbs time was only 1.2 hours. We met at SQL at 10:30am, and by 1:00pm, he had printed out a Pilot's Certificate with my name on it!! I was super excited and of course called my CFI's to thank them for bringing me from a guy standing on the tarmac, to becoming a pilot who can autonomously fly.

My CFI's were:
Mats Moberg (Bel-Air International)
Darryl Kalthof (West Valley Flying Club)