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June 24, 2002 - More Polish Please
Today was pretty simple. My CFI - Michael - is getting ready to leave.
He's starting with an internship out East in the next couple of weeks.
Pete - the training manager - has been trying to get a hold of me to arrange for
me to orient with a new instructor. But I am really close to being done
and even 1 or 2 lessons to orient is probably more than I need dual to just
finish.
On Saturday morning after talking with Pete and Mike I decided to just go for
it and do my Stage III check. If that goes well I'll get set and scheduled
for my real FAA check ride. So the Stage III check is now scheduled for
this coming Saturday which gives me a week to get ready. Basically a Stage
III check is a full simulated check-ride. If I pass I get endorsed for my
FAA check ride and I get to schedule that and actually be done and get a
license. So today was all about practice and the "PTS" - Pilot Training
Standards. These are the standards that I have to meet when doing my check
ride. We went back and practiced stalls from a turn (which was new on our
last check ride). We also tried to practice ground reference maneuvers but
there just wasn't enough wind to make it real - so we went back to practices
short and soft field techniques. It was a pretty short session (1.2 hours).
I've got a local solo on Thursday which will be my real practice. I'm at
the end of the day so I should have enough wind to make it a more useful
practice. The Stage III check also means I need to go back and review all of
my knowledge material because the oral's are just as challenging. I don't
feel I did as good on my Stage II orals as my Stage I just because it wasn't as
current and I honestly hadn't put much time and effort into re-reading and
reviewing all of the material. So this week I'm reading through my review
guides and notes. I really want to nail that Stage III check so that I can
go into the checkride with a lot of confidence and be relaxed. But I'm getting
close... |
