Finally a Private Pilot!

Hello everyone! So a lot has changed since my last post a few months ago. I am happy to announce that I am finally a Private Pilot! I took my oral exam on June 3rd and the flight portion on June 4th. The oral took me about two and a half to three hours total to complete, but it didn’t feel like it. Since Kent State is a Part 141 school, I get a grade for both my oral and practical parts of the checkride. I am proud to say that I received a 97% on both parts which I am very happy with!

The oral was pretty straightforward. My check instructor had me look through the maintenance logs for the aircraft to make sure it was airworthy while he filled out some of my paperwork. Once we were both complete with our parts, I was asked about preflight procedures, such as what documents is the plane required to have, or when do inspections need to be completed, and even some questions about human factors. After this, we then talked about my cross country that I had planned the night and morning before, how I chose my points, and how I calculated fuel burn, time, and other such factors by using my E6B. The next topic we discussed were some of the systems of the planes like the fuel, engine, and electrical systems. We then followed this by aeromedical factors, night illusions, and types of hazardous attitudes. Then came the fun part of the oral: airspace. This part of the oral was surprisingly way easier than I expected it to be. I guess the hours of review on airspace I’ve done with different instructors finally paid off! To finish the oral, we went over general weather items and also decision making based on the weather. I was asked to read METARs, TAFs, and a PIREP, and then we finished off the oral with reading a prog chart and talking about the types of fronts and some of the characteristics. I know I’m definitely forgetting some of the things we discussed, but there was nothing I was not prepared for, making the oral part fairly easy. 

We had to do the oral and the flight part separately because the weather was rainy and the cloud cover was low all of Thursday. The flight portion of the checkride went exactly as I expected it to. We first started by doing a walk around of the plane while I was asked about the different control surfaces, components, and lights. Once that was completed, we got into the plane, started it up and ran through the checklists, then taxied to the runup area. We decided to get the takeoff and landing portion of the checkride done before the winds picked up. We did 3 takeoffs and landings, one normal, one soft field, and then one short field. All of those went fairly well, but my short field landing was a little firmer than I would’ve liked. After the short field, we taxied back to the runup area so I could set up for my simulated cross country. We did the full xc procedures and flew the first 3 checkpoints, and then started the maneuvers. I was asked to perform a power on/off stall with the recovery, slow flight, steep turns, unusual attitude with the goggles, and then a sim engine out to land. After the sim engine out, we headed back to Kent where I demonstrated a forward slip and a no flap landing. The checkride was 1.7 hours in total, which was shorter than I expected. Overall, the flight part went very well, and I received only a few critiques which will be fixed with more time and experience. I completed my private certificate in 63.2 hours, which is more than I would have liked, but I did have to switch instructors back in February because my original instructor found a new job at another flight school.

Now that I have finished private, I will be starting our Commercial 1 course which introduces me to the 172R while building solo and cross country time for instrument. My goal is to complete Commercial 1 over the summer, which is very likely at this time, so I can start with my instrument training in the fall. In addition to flying this summer, I also started a job at Sky Quest at Cleveland Hopkins. Sky Quest is an aircraft management and charter company that was founded in 2001. The company manages 20 aircrafts while still continuing to grow. This job is a great learning experience for me. I am learning about every aspect of aviation from some maintenance, dispatch, and even ordering parts. My favorite part about working at Sky Quest so far is the opportunity to see planes that I would typically never get to see. I am looking forward to this summer to do some great flying with friends and family in addition to learning as much as I can about aviation!

I would also like to mention that the Gleim and Sporty’s Private Pilot Written Test Prep were great study tools that helped me pass the written test with flying colors.

Here are some pictures I took during my cross countries and from my new job!