Checkride Day

Long story short… I passed and so did my captain!

Despite incredible nerve going into the briefing and a few big fails on limitation numbers. The check pilot gave me a shot in the sim and I sat copilot for the first ride and I thought I did very well and the captain had a good ride and passed.

After quick break we returned to the sim and it was my turn to fly. I flew the departure and the upper air work maneuvers (steep turns and stalls) quite well. Then I got assigned a hold which I planned and briefed for well and then flew pretty well despite makin a small mistake as I started my initial turn.

I then got assigned a step down LOC approach which we briefed to fly as a SCDA approach to a circle to land. Leaving the hold, we had some troubles with switching from the GPS to the LOC and ended up being a fair bit off course at the final approach fix and had to go missed which led to an engine fire which I flew pretty well.  I then flew a single engine ILS to land and performed that well.  On the next takeoff, I had a reject and then a V1 cut, which I flew perfectly.

I then got my engine back and was given a visual 5 mile final to land and I flew the approach very well and touched down right on my numbers. Knowing that I had just put the plane back down on the runway successfully, I realized that I had completed the ride and likely passed. On the taxi into the ramp, I had a break failure which I caught and then transferred controls to my captain for the shutdown.

In the briefing I was told it was a pass for both my captain and I however I was pretty sternly instructed that I although licenses to fly the plane I still have lots of work to do to get competent.

Leaving the airport, we headed over to the check pilot’s hotel for lunch and beers – a welcome relief.

Although I really have no idea what’s next for my flying career, it’s been a hell of an experience the last 9 days and I have come a long way and am proud of the achievement. Tomorrow I’ll hopefully talk to the folks at Cariboo to see what’s possible.