CFI Checkride, Part 2 (10 APR 08)

The weather looked marginal today and tomorrow, but when I called the FAA Inspector at 9 he said, "Let's go" so I raced to VVS, preflighted the A36, flew up to FWQ, and was on the ramp by 10.

He was waiting for me, so he probably saw the short field landing and short roll out despite the 70 degree 12 knot x-wind.

Good.

After some preliminaries -- 8710, logbooks, etc, he hopped in the left seat. I said, "I'm going to treat you like a low time pilot moving up to a Bonanza -- you tell me when to stop."

I then went over the entire panel, safety and egress, gear, and various systems. He hadn't flown and A36 so he wasn't pretending -- he really wanted to know the stuff.

Then we did startup and taxied to the end of 26. I went through the entire runup procedure, explaing each step (and why in some cases). We were ready to go and he said, "Are we ready to go?" I did a second check and said, "Yes."

He said, "No we're not.. check again."

Finally I saw the vent window was open. is aid "The vent window is open, but as long as you keep the airspeed under 125 KIAS that's fine..." and then I pointed out the little placard under the vent.

He said OK, closed it, said "You need to check things like that with yoru students" and then he kept control of the a/c and took off, with me talking him through the procedure.

We climbed to 3500 and headed south into the open airspace well clear of the Class B and any other airports. He had me demonstrate 720 power turns, a Lazy 8, and Approach to landing stall and slow flight. I did all the required clearing turns, etc and talked him through the steep turns.

He had me close my eyes and then after a while I heard the gear horn -- I said, "That's the gear horn -- since you're low power with gear up."

I kept my eyes closed for a few more gyrations and then he said, "OK"

Nose down, airspeed increasing, banked -- level the wings, pull out from the bank.

"Good -- now get us headed to Morgantown."

I showed him the river and the powerplants and said, "head that way" as I punched MGW direct into the 430.

We headed towards MGW and he took the landing there. I talked him through it, and he landed somewhat flat, but passable.

We taxied over to the ramp, I picked up the CAP a/c book, and we walked over to that hangar. I looked the a/c over and it was in good condition. he found two missing screws but those had been noted in the log (missing inserts deferred to next 100 hour).

I talked him through startup and then he taxied. Winds were 220 at 12-16, at the tower offered us 23, but he said, "Let's use 18."

I talked him through runup and then he had me demonstrate a normal t/o and landing. I leveled off at pattern altitude and then set up for 80 KIAS, 1500 RPM, 10 degrees flaps, 500' FPM descent, turned base, then final, slowed to 70 and we got jostled quite a bit (MGW is on a hill and after you fly there a while you learn to anticipate the wind shear).

I did a passable landing wing low, no side load, on the centerline. He had me taxi back to 18 for the next t/o. He took this one and I talked him through it. We had a little side skip on t/o (not enough x-wind correction -- and I said so -- and lifted off a bit early -- hold it on with a x-wind).

He took the landing and on short final aid, "I can see why you were having trouble holding airspeed -- some shear going on here."

A decent wing low landing and then taxi back.

I demonstrated soft and then short fld t/o and landings -- all were good considering the varying winds and gusts and rain and t-storm just southeast of the field.

He said, "That's good -- lets get back in the good airplane.."

We put the 172 away and then i checked to see if we needed to file to get back. It was MVFR but still legal VFR all around so I said we didn't need to. He took off and flew back and even landed as i coached him through the different phases.

Another flat landing at FWQ and then shutdown. HE took my 8710 and test reports, filled out the temp certificate, and now I'm a CFI!

He said I was very well prepared and that I would be a good instructor, and to call him when I was ready for the double I.

Whew! It's good to have that done!!!