CP-ASEL-IA

After four scheduling attempts, I passed my commercial pilot check ride today. In so doing, I exchanged my private pilot certificate for a commercial pilot certificate. I can now (almost) get paid to fly. There is the matter of obtaining a second class medical certificate vs. my current third class medical certificate.

Started at 4:00 am this morning in order to print out the weather information required for my simulated cross country flight, fill in the navigation log for said cross country flight, make sure I had everything I'd need for the day, and fly for a bit before the check ride.

Arrived at the airport around 8:00 where the temperature was a balmy -1c. With such cold temps (ok, cold for Northern CA) I saw 2000 feet/minute climb rate for the first time. Impressive for a 200 HP Arrow.

The oral exam went well and took a bit over three hours to complete. Nothing really unexpected and very much conversational vs. being asked question after question. I had several opportunities to relate my answers to real world flying experiences. As expected, I had to look up a couple of items in the FARs and the FAA Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. As with my private pilot check ride and instrument rating check ride, things were no different in that if you didn't know an answer but knew where to find it, life was good.

A quick break for lunch and we launched on the flying portion of the check ride. This took 1.8 hours. We started with the simulated cross country and shortly after hitting the first check point, the examiner had me perform the diversion. Unfortunately, I miscalculated my heading based on a position error where I thought we were. Mistake #1, completely my fault and I've since determined what I'd do differently next time.

Next up was air work. Conditions were pretty hazy so visual landmarks like mountain peaks, etc. were not as easy to see as usual. This bit me during the first steep turn as I rolled out on the incorrect peak in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Fortunately, altitude and airspeed were right on for this steep turn (to the left) so the examiner had me do one to the right and I nailed the proper heading when rolling out. Had to repeat the first chandelle as I didn't hold constant pitch during the last 90 degrees of the turn. Did one to the right and another one to the left than it was on to lazy 8s. These had been giving me fits and I've found them to be the most difficult of the maneuvers. I managed to perform one each direction within tolerances though. Next was slow flight and turning power on and power off stalls which went well. Descended to 2500 ft for a simulated engine failure/forced landing. Next was 8s on pylons which went fine. By this time, it's near sunset so we headed back to the airport for landings. Short field landing, short field takeoff, soft field landing, taxi back for soft field takeoff, then the power 0ff 180 spot landing then heard those wonderful words "If you can taxi back to parking without hitting anything, you can have your commercial certificate". Phew, done.

I'm spent...and for some reason, don't feel like flying for a bit. Go figure :-)