skills test thursday

[paulryan1990]

hi all

i have my skills test for my CAA JAR PPL on thursday. just done 4 weeks of intensive training, went solo at 17 hours and have 47 hours flown now with all the boxes ticked.

i am very nervous about the test so would love to here from felow pilots and pilots who have recently done the skills test.


paul

[AndoniP]

Hi Paul,

Don't be nervous at all. The examiner just wants to see that:

a) you can plan - plog, weight + balance etc
b) you can navigate - timekeeping, airmanship, following headings etc
c) you can communicate - radio work
d) you won't get him/her lost
e) you can divert
f) you know your emergency procedures - stalls, spins etc
g) you know how to land the aircraft in different configurations

I think it's this document outlines what the examiner will want to see:

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/Standards%20Documents_srg_fcl_19_A%20v6_.pdf

although your flying school will probably have its' own version.

Most of all be relaxed. Think of it as another long flight, not a test. You basically need to prove to your instructor that you won't get them lost, and the familiar phrase regarding would you be trusted to fly their children will get trotted out as well.

I was so nervous when I did my test I was sick. After landing I thought, "what the hell was I so worried about?". The examiner ended up being brilliant.

Watch out for any tricks, like the examiner pulling out the breaker for the stall warner when bringing the aircraft into a stall. Look out often. Check your timings. Always tell the instructor what you intend to do or why you did it, just in case they think you've forgotten to check this instrument or that altitude.

If you come across a difficult controller (like I kind-of did over the Benson MATZ), then stay calm. Remember your calls and the order in which you give your information. You've done your FRTOL so this should be good.

As you've done your PPL training intensively all this should still be fresh in the mind. Relax and treat it as a nice jaunt around the sky, you only need to show the examiner your skills. He or she will explain to you how the whole test will be conducted and put your mind at ease beforehand, they've seen thousands of worried students before.

Good luck!

[paulryan1990]

thanks so much for your reply. it has put me at ease a bit. luckliy the breakers on the c172 are under my control colum so hopefully i will spot him if he tries it :)

i am most nervous about the nav and diverts. but my instructor keeps telling me ill be fine, i did 2 hours solo today to get the solo hours up to scrach and flew badly. poor pfl's , poor trimming, landings were awful. i was so nervous knowing the test was only 2 days away,
i just hope i can calm myself down for the exam:hmm:

[JOE-FBS]

I would add, be prepared to be exhausted. I had booked a morning test and thought I would save half a day holiday by going to work in the afternoon. No chance. I went home and sat there recovering for a couple of hours!

Then again, I was 44 and you are 21 so maybe you'll survive it in better shape!

[Lagentium]

I know how you feel mate, mines on Sunday! I just keep running through it in my head and want to get it over and done with:ok:

[Pilot.Lyons]

Hi paul,

I did mine in June and spent hours trying to get answers on what to expect etc etc

The long and short of it is.... If you prepared well you will walk it
If your instructor says you will be fine then you WILL be fine remember he/she prepares people everyday for this and most certainly would NOT send someone who isnt ready!

Relax and enjoy the experience it will definately be one you will never forget!
My examiner had a can of coke on my test and it was bumpy as usual and he had real trouble drinking it.... When it was over and we got out he did the biggest burp i have ever heard! (he apologised and said he had been holding it in for a long time Haha) makes you realise they are humans!
Passed and had a bloody good laugh for days after.

It is a bit long, i did nav first then stalls etc it was so choppy and hard to keep height (sometimes jumping 100feet!) By the time i finished the nav i was considering asking to stop and do it in two halves... I carried on regardless and was glad i did.

Good luck mate... Im sure you really will be fine

[ec155mech]

did mine in July. its not bad at all. way to go on the low hours :) if your instructor thinks you're ready, Im sure you'll be fine.

my instructor sent me up with the CFI before my actual skill test just to see if something needed a polish ;-)

good luck and enjoy. it will be a day you'll never forget

[AndoniP]

i was exactly the same. i had a couple of revision flights beforehand so i could practice PFLs and diversions as they were what I was weakest at.

navigation should be fine, make sure you check your time and tell the examiner that you're a bit quick / slow on this leg etc. you fill out your plog and during the last leg you'll do a diversion, so just make sure you have rough wind calculations in mind (i.e. max drift figures) for that leg, and apply them. even a rough calculation is fine, it doesn't need to be spot on, and you don't need to end up spot on top of the place you need to divert to, as long as you can follow where you are on the map.

when it came to the test my examiner was excellent and told me exactly what he wanted me to do. it was a great help - he won't just leave it to you, he may give you a pointer or two, i'm not sure what yours will be like but i imagine he'll generally look to pass you unless you really really f*ck up royally, which i doubt will happen.

i was bad at PFL's too in practice, luckily for me, there was no wind whatsoever when I did my test, so it was a bit easier. you'll do fine, it comes at the end of the test and the landings take about 30-45 mins, you'll do those circuits in no time, all the while the examiner will tell you what he wants you to do. don't worry about it.

the test is about 3 hours long as joe says. drink lots of water and maybe a lucozade sport to raise your sugar level a bit. feel free to take a bottle into the aircraft as well. so many times i've not eaten anything the whole day of the flight and i've got out of the aircraft feeling drained and faint.

when you look back after the exam, you'll see that it was just going over what you've learnt in the syllabus. it's not a strict exam at all. they just need to see that you're generally good at what you've been trained and can handle yourself and are decent at flying. if your instructor didn't think you were ready for your test he wouldn't have recommended you do it yet.

[Claverley04]

Hi Paul,

I did my skills test one month ago, and like you was very nervous about the whole thing. The night before my test I did not sleep a wink, and nearly scrubbed it just for that reason alone.
However I went ahead with it at about 1pm on 23rd September.
Whilst I flew my nav section very well, the general handling went (in my opinion) very badly indeed, some of the worst flying I have done in recent months.
I knew I had passed the nav section as my examiner told me this as we commenced general handling, but on landing and shutting down I honestly expected him to tell me I had failed/partialed due to my poor general handling performance.

That was not the case, I had passed.

The best advice I can give you is this:

1. Your examiner does not want you to fail, and will expect you to make mistakes. The key is to move on immediately to the next task and dont worry about it, because it probably wont matter. After all this is a PPL skills test not a 'perfect pilot' skills test!
2. Unlike me, try not to stay awake all night long stressing, get a good nights sleep, you will feel so much better and well prepared on the day.
3. From the moment you meet the FE, carry yourself with confidence as much as you can, this will set a very positive first impression to the examiner of someone who is competent and going to pass.
4. Easier said than done - try to enjoy the flight, I found myself actually enjoying parts of the test during the nav section, which in turn relaxed me, improved my flying and above all boosted my confidence.
5. Finally, dont fear failure, the worst that can happen is you fail and have to re-take the test again, it is not the end of the world (easy for me to say this I know) This is unlikely to happen, so dont worry about it. To be going for Skills test at 47 hours must mean you are a competent pilot who learns quickly or your instructor would not have put you forward yet.

Good luck for Thursday, rest assured you wont need it though!:ok:

[Genghis the Engineer]

Some years since mine, but a thought or three...

(1) Relax and try and enjoy it

(2) Just do everything exactly as you've been taught: neither more nor less.

(3) You won't fail for making mistakes, unless they are massive howlers. The way to fail is to not spot and correct your mistakes in a timely manner.

(4) After you've passed - and remember that your instructor wouldn't put you forward unless he or she believes that you will, remember that the PPL skills test is the lowest standard you want to show afterwards, not the highest. Try and treat it as the start point for improvement in years to come.

G

[paulryan1990]

thanks everyone for all your replys. i have a mock test in the morning and going to do some more pfl's and stalls etc.
im going to do my best to stay calm and get a good night sleep the night before.

i shall post back on thursday with the results. so in the mean time fingers crossed the weather will be cavok with light winds:)


thanks again for all the kind words has put me at ease some bit.

paul

[andre1990]

Can't offer you any valuable advice, but i wish you all the best :ok:

[Pilot.Lyons]

You will have to do something pretty stupid to fail mate. They are not really bothered about mistake more about "can this guy handle one of these if he gets lost or in sh*t street" if you can, you will pass.
I alredy know you can or your instructor wouldnt let you go!
Good luck mate, look forward to hearing your experience and how you passed!

[thing]

Hi Paul, did mine in July, was just the same as you. I knew I could do everything well enough, but it didn't stop me being apprehensive, plus I'd already cancelled two that week because of the weather, which is something you have to think about and is part of the test really.

Come the day and I wondered what I'd been bothered about. Everything went well, not swimmingly well, I made a slight nav error which I recovered from and I was so knackered at the end that my glide circuit wasn't brilliant but I passed no problem. You will be tired when you get out, don't plan on doing anything for the rest of the day! Well, other than the obligatory celebration beers.

Good luck and let us know how you got on.!

[paulryan1990]

went down to the airfield this morning to do a mock test and brush up on a few things. we were greeted by thunderstorms, and heavy rain :ugh:

if by some miracle the weather improves by the morning ill be even less prepeared. but ill give it a shot fingers crossed. hopeful for a clear calm day for the south of the uk tomorrow

[GeeWhizz]

The weather in GA flying is usually less than perfect, it's always different, everyday. The key is not to worry about it. Easier said than done huh?

I did my PPL 6 months ago and the weather was less than perfect, in fact due to the wind strength I nearly cancelled it myself! The examiner however, given these conditions, used his discretion. I didn't pass the test easily and remember thinking around the end of the nav phase that I'd call it a day and RTB. Glad I didn't, the rest went well, I learned some new things from the examiner; after all it's a different persons perspective and attitude to flying.

All you can do now is prepare well, sleep well, work hard to correct anything that goes awry tomorrow, and expect to learn something new even though it's a 'flight test'.

Good luck although you won't need it and be sure to let us know how you get on :ok:

[paulryan1990]

thanks for your reply. all systems go for tomorrow by the looks of it. got a text to say he is happy with the forcasted weather and has commited to the test as long as the weather man is not telling porkies:)

nervous as hell probally wont sleep tonight but i will do my best. will report good or bad tomorrow evening

thanks again

Paul

[EastMids]

Your flying school and instructor already trust your flying enough to allow you to take one of their aeroplanes, go flying in it, land at some other airfield, and bring the aeroplane back again - without damaging either yourself or the aeroplane - and without an instructor sitting next to you. You've already demonstrated that you can deal with normal flying, and with things that might go wrong - they wouldn't allow you to fly solo otherwise. You don't know it all (a PPL is just one step in the learning process), but you're not going to be asked to do anything you haven't done before. So there's really nothing special with the skills test - it's just that last tick in the box that will allow you to do what you've been doing already, but without an instructor looking over your shoulder each time.

Best wishes - I hope it goes well.

[Pilot.Lyons]

Well put east mids,
I agree all the way
Good luck paul cant wait to hear how you got on... A red bull or lucozade may be needed and a quick mars bar before you head out oh and dont forget to have a pee! Its a long time to hold it especially if you load up on lucozade :)

[paulryan1990]

thanks all. good point eastmids. im off to atempt to get a nights sleep. thanks again for all the kind words and ill report back tomorrow touch wood with good news

paul

[AndoniP]

after all those spins and stalls his stomach will be all over the place, especially if he's had a big breakfast! :E

[paulryan1990]

hi all,
back from airfield with bad news, weather was not great so we decided not to do the test. biggest issue now is the next slot he has is tuesday. and the weather next week looks poor.
i am over from ireland and every extra day i spend in the uk is costing me money( time ome off work, accomidation food etc)

so on the hunt for a exaimner who has a slot on tomorrow,saturday,sunday( weather looks good ) and hopefully would travel to isle of wight. :hmm:

[paulryan1990]

just to update this, managed to get a test booked for today (sunday) but weather was not suitable :-( rebooked for tuesday so fingers crossed

[AndoniP]

Hey Paul,

Don't worry about it, my test was postponed many times. Hopefully it won't cost you too much.

As mentioed before, spend your time on the ground brushing up on the content of the test, procedures (HASELL, FREDA, emergencies etc). You'll feel more prepared.

Most of all, relax and don't get too anxious, the test will come eventually.

Andoni

[paulryan1990]

very true, ive spent the last few days going over and over the route and my checks, so touch wood all will be good for tomorrow

[Pilot.Lyons]

You will fly through it mate trust me!

Good luck weathers looking good for midlands anyway so hope it works out for ya

[paulryan1990]

passed test. delighted the weight off my shoulders is unbelivable:ok: thanks for all the help and advice over the last few months. now off to the pub....

[thing]

Well done that man!! A qualified pilot!! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D

[Cusco]

Great stuff: Now the learning really starts.

Welcome to penury.

Cusco

[AndoniP]

congratulations! :ok: