...cuz I got my PPL(A) SEP license! W00t, I r teh pil0t!
But the check ride was REALLY different from other checkrides I had heard about...
1) I had to choose from a list of examiners... all the french speaking ones were booked full or not available (holidays...). So I had to pick a dutch speaking one. I speak dutch passably but still... He asked me to prepare a navigation to EHAM (Amsterdam-Schipol)... First I looked up the airport approach maps on the net... YIKES!!! 12 runways and class A airspaces all around, with a tight corridor for us pesky VFRs. Then I found a Jeppesen map of the Netherlands and the fun continued: military reserved areas, bird protection areas galore, 3000ft transition altitude (4500ft in Belgium)... It took me 3 days to find a route which wouldn't get the plane shot down or covered with seagull's feathers and gore... (knowing full well that I wouldn't cross the border during the checkride!).
2) Checkride was planned for tuesday but the examiner called me on monday to tell me that he couldn't be there and suggested wednesday. I needed to take another plane as the Beech Skipper that flies well was already booked... My only choice, the hangar queen (now I know why: funky radio reception and a huge deadzone in the aileron-yoke link... soon to be fixed).
3) Today around 1100 local (the check ride is planned at 1500), I'm finishing my performance and navigation calculations with the t°, pressure and wind of the day when I get a new call. The examiner fears to be very late and asks me if I can meet him in Antwerp (EBAW). I'm "based" in Charleroi (EBCI), another controlled AD in a class C CTR but EBAW is a bit intimidating to low time pilots because there are a lot of different "crooked" approaches with multiple reporting points. Not wanting to lose the day off helps me not to chicken out. I quickly plot a flight to EBAW using VORs and a FI signs my solo nav to EBAW.
4) I take-off at 1300 and 10 mins later (thanks to the FIC) I see a couple of Alpha-Jets thundering 1000 ft under me. Then another call from the FIC and I have to avoid a GA plane flying on the same radial, same altitude as me but opposite course... To be honest, I would have skipped this un-needed excitement just before the checkride.
5) I arrive at EBAW and manage to pass the reporting points without attracting attention. Then I have a major brain fart and almost put myself on the wrong base (RWY 11 instead of 29). I still would be kicking myself in the groin for that if my legs allowed it. Fortunately, I made a not-compulsory base call and the ATC put me back on the right track (they actually took my hand to bring me on final but I can't blame them, it was a gross mistake). I apologized for the f***k-up while vacating the runway (the landing was a bit ugly to add insult to injury).
6) Fortunately, the examiner wasn't listening to the ATC chatter nor was he watching my landing. It was hard not too lose too much confidence after this episode. All my flight plan to EHAM wasn't valid anymore since the departure AD was supposed to be EBCI and he just glanced a few seconds on the planning that took me so much hours...
7) The checkride was a bit shorter than usual but he quickly spotted my strong points (navigation, basic instrument flying, off-field landing (thanks AH for those countless deadstick landings to save the perk points!!!!)) to focus on what I need to improve: gusty cross-wind T/G...
Finally, he gave me a pass. We talked a bit afterwards and he's a fascinating guy: 72 yrs old, 50+ yrs of experience, still professional pilot flying private jets, flies a restored spitfire and SV4s and does aerobatics in them...
7+1) Then, after paying 100 landing fees (2 full-stops and 3 T/G
) and finding 1/2L of oil for the surprisingly oil-thirsty engine (the examiner, already gone, called a BP truck to help me out, kudos to him or it would have taken me twice as long), I had an unevent flight back to EBCI where I made my nicest kiss-landing ever! Go figure...
