Friday I motored on down to the airport to take my stage check test. The test consists of 1 hour of oral testing and 1 hour (or so) of flying. This test is to demonstrate if a student is ready for solo flight.
So, I got there and Sammy, the check ride instructor, took me downstairs for the knowledge test. I think I did really well, but he found one item (power curves) that I hadn't reviewed since I first studied the material. That really sucked but I nailed everything else so I'm not too worried.
Then we looked at the weather. The automated weather monitor was reported 10 knots gusting to 20 knots. Now, it was coming straight down the runway, but even a gust from directly ahead will cause the plane to balloon. I preflighted the plane and stood outside for a moment, and it didn't seem to be gusting much. The wind sock was pretty steady so I told Sammy that I'd be ok flying. He said that he's more lenient if the weather is challenging, and to be honest, the first half of my training has been in gusty weather.
We fired up the old 152 and taxied out to the runway. She seemed to be running well but then....the oil temp gauge was fluctuating and not giving a good reading so we had to abort.
In a way, it's ok because I got to break up the test and possibly have better weather, so I'm not too bothered by it. If the weather is good this week I should be able to complete the flight test and then solo. I'm excited but a little nervous about the solo. Updates to follow!
3 comments:
Damn planes sound a lot like snowmobiles. Always something to be fixed.
Yeah these are old machines, 30 years old. The engines are pretty sound as they must be completely overhauled on a regular basis but other things break over time.
You should definitely not rename this blog.
Sounds like the rest of the stage check is just a formality and you'll be soloing in no time.
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