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Memories from primary training

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Rush:
Found this buried in a box today.  Something I had written long ago about a lesson:

Dual cross country with the CFI today in gusty bumpy conditions.  He put the foggles on me and had me fly on instruments the whole $#%&@ two hours!  Four airports and four landings in gusty, wind shear conditions. VOR tracking with wind corrections.  And he's talking the entire time: 

Him:  "HOLD THAT ALTITUDE!"

Me:  "It's the thermals, Sir."

Him:  "YOU'RE WAY OFF HEADING AGAIN!"

Me:  "Oh... so I am.  I was trying to hold altitude."

Him:  "SCAN! DON'T FIXATE ON ONE INSTRUMENT!"

Me:  "This is hard!"

Him:  "If it were easy, everyone would be a pilot and there'd be even more idiots up here than there are now."

Anthony:
That's great Rush. I love when they try to distract you.  My DE on my check ride dropped his pen which rolled under my seat. He asked me to get it and when I bent over he put the plane into a 60 degree bank, very nose high attitude going into a stall and watched how I recovered the airplane.  Lol.

President-Elect Bob Noel:
During my primary training, looking out the right side, my instructor mentioned "oh look, there's Plum Island"

A moment later she reaches over, pulls power, and declares a simulated engine failure.

I do the usual engine-out stuff... setting up for the long empty parking lot along the coast.

My instructor said I did ok, but pointed out that there was a better location than the parking lot...  we had just flown by the Plum Island AIRPORT when she declared the simulated emergency.

After that, I made sure to always check to the right rear of the airplane to see if there was something she had seen before pulling power.

EppyGA - White Christian Domestic Terrorist:
Trim for best glide and do a 360.  Best place may be behind you

nddons:
I did my private pilot training at Monroe, NC (KEQY) but has to fly to Rowan County airport (KRUQ) for my checkride.

It was an unusually cold morning on Dec. 7, 2005, so the plane (an OMF Symphony, N380MF) climbed like never before. The problem was it was a 38nm trip underneath Charlotte’ Class Bravo airspace and through the Class Delta airspace of Concord Airport. I believe I briefly busted the Bravo airspace of 3,600’, and was certain I would get a call from someone about that. Perfect way to start a checkride thinking I broke the Bravo airspace. Smdh.

It was a nerve wracking oral exam - so much that the examiner stopped the exam to show me his handmade Turkey calls, obviously to settle me down and get me to relax.

So I completed the oral, and completed the flying portion, and got the Temporary Airman’s Certificate!!! 

As I left, I was sitting in the Symphony and called my wife and instructor (in that order) to tell them I passed.

I was getting ready to start up the Symphony and fly back to Monroe when two Sheriff’s deputies came up to the plane. They were wearing black flight suits and carrying weapons. One came up to the door and said “We’re conducting a ramp check.” 

I think they could tell by my face, after the stress and then relief of passing my checkride, that I was in NO MOOD for the stress of a ramp check. So the first deputy said “Just kidding. We haven’t seen this kind of plane before, can you show it to us?”  I almost shit my pants.  I told them I literally just passed my checkride, and they knew it as they heard it from my DPE a few minutes before. So we all had a good laugh about that.

Apparently, Rowan County airport was the home to the county’s helicopter fleet. Thus the black flight suits.

I think the 38nm flight back to Monroe was the best flight of my 550 hours.

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