27
May
Author: John Kelly | Category:
flight school,
ground school
Well, I have that on top of the world feeling once again. I just passed my Private Multi-Engine Land checkride! It felt so good to log my first few hours of PIC multi time! Instead of paying all that money for non-PIC multi time.
I learned something from this multi-engine training experience. I am better at learning knowledge as apposed to learning a skill. This is the first checkride (since my private) that I had to learn a new airplane. And not just a new airplane, but brand new concepts to the plane. So what I took away from this was that I could learn the concepts of how things worked on the plane, and why the plane moved and operated the way it did. But actually flying the airplane was more tough. I felt like I was back at square one when I learned to fly the Cessna 172. I was an infant learning to walk with new legs.
Having said all that, my next step, my commercial multi-engine rating, will be a very challenging one. As I basically have to do the same checkride, but with stricter margins. For example I have to do a short field landing on a point +100 feet, -0 feet. As opposed to a short field landing on a point +200 feet, -0 feet.
I also have to study for my knowledge test. I’ve gotten above 90% on all my other knowledge tests, and I would love to keep that streak going. However, I have heard the commercial knowledge test is much harder than the Instrument and Private knowledge tests that I have already taken. I guess that means I just have to study all that much harder. Again, my strength, I believe, is in the knowledge, so I’m not sweating it too much. I am more concerned about learning to fly the airplane to these stricter standards without paying an arm and a leg in aircraft rental (and instructor) fees.
So begins the Commercial Knowledge Test studying. Back to the King Videos. 
07
May
Author: John Kelly | Category:
flight school,
ground school
I must say, I’m a little disappointed with the King Multi-Engine ground school course. Definitely not up-to-par with their other courses I have used (namely, the Private and Instrument courses). But I don’t think King is completely to blame, as a Multi-Engine add-on is one of those ratings that is pretty specific to the airplane you are flying. So they are not able to go into the intricate details of how the landing gear system works, or how the fuel system works. From my little experience, it seems that their are some pretty major differences with these systems amongst light twins. So that leaves a fairly large portion of the ground school up to you to figure out (with the help of your instructor of course).
These are things that I have found useful in studying for my Multi-Engine Oral Exam:
- Everything Explained for the Professional Pilot: Excruciatingly Detailed Explanations of Everything Essential for Every Pilot
– This is a great book that will benefit you throughout your entire training. It’s got a very informative section on Vmc as well as some other, otherwise hard to understand, concepts. If you don’t have this book, and you plan on continuing your education towards a Professional Pilot career, check it out.
- Of course the POH (Pilots Operating Handbook) – This is an ABSOLUTE for getting your rating. I had to read through the systems section at least twice. There is so much information their, and sometimes it can be overwhelming, so read it again a few days later. Also, highlight key terms, so that IF you need to reference something on your oral exam, you can quickly.
- And last but, absolutely not least, is your instructor! – I’m the kind of guy, that if I don’t know something, I like to find the answer myself. But if I can’t find the answer, or don’t even know where to start looking for the answer. Your instructor can be your biggest resource. Not only will he most likely know the answer, but if he doesn’t, he will probably want to know the answer just as badly as you do, and will find it. Also, on this note. I HIGHLY recommend you take at least 2-3 hours to sit down with your instructor and fill in the gaps of anything that you don’t know. Allow him to start prodding and probing for what you know. My bet is you will find stuff you don’t know, and LEARN it! I also recommend, if you have the opportunity, to sit down with a different instructor than your main instructor. There are a lot of reasons for this. One is it keeps your instructor in check and make sure he hasn’t missed anything. Second, it gives you a HUGE confidence boost that, “Hey, not only does my instructor that I have been flying with the last few weeks think I can pass my checkride, but this guy does too. “
If you notice, I didn’t put the King Multi-Engine course in that list. To be totally honest, if I were to redo my Multi-Engine education, I would take the $280 bucks that it costs and spend it on an instructor AFTER I have studyed on my own to fill in the gaps. But that’s just me, and this post isn’t meant to be a review of the King video course.
I hope some have found this post helpful, and if you have any questions or things to add to this list, shoot a comment below.
02
May
Author: John Kelly | Category:
flight school,
time building
Hey Everyone,
Well here’s the lowdown on what’s been happening. I’ve been polishing my skills in the Seminole to a point where I am comfortable taking a stage check (practice checkride pretty much). My normal instructor was out of town last weekend, so I was placed with another instructor, and I don’t know if it was the nerves or just not my day, but I wasn’t flying so well… Little mistakes here and there. So I opted to do one more lesson with my instructor before taking my stage check, just to at least bring back up my confidence. Well we did that and I felt really good about it. So next step…Stage check. Hoping to get that scheduled this Monday or Tuesday. It’s been a little difficult considering they were running all the Seminoles they had pretty hard, and just recently, they got one taken out of commission. You can read about it here. Kind of a scary story considering I’ve flown that plane a few times.
On the time-building side of things. I have gotten to fly all over the place in order to just increase my total time. I’ve flown to North Bend (KOTH) a few times. I like North Bend, because usually it has the opposite weather as Salem. If Salem’s got crappy weather, North Bend is usually nice. If Salem has nice weather, I can usually find crappy weather at North Bend to practice approaches. It also has some fun approaches to do, however there are a couple of approaches that take you a few miles out into the ocean. And I don’t know about everyone else, but flying a single engine piston airplane 5 miles out into the ocean at 2000 feet, is just unnecessary. I don’t think I could swim 5 miles in 40 degree water(or 70 for that matter). I’ve also flown to Astoria and Tacoma-Narrows. I REALLY like Tacoma-Narrows. Just an insanely beautiful flight. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t bring my camera on that one. However, I did see the Les Scwab jet there (I believe it was a Cessna Citation). For those of you who are in the area, Tacoma-Narrows has a fantastic restaurant on the field. I’ve only had their burgers, but those were amazing.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
