Pre Skills Test Nightmare

[Maxflyer]

I am booked in to take my PPL Skills test in just over a week's time. Yesterday I did some revision flying and pretty much satisfied my instructor’s requirements. That was until I had to do a glide approach to my home airfield. I fly out of Sywell in Northampton and belong to a really good club. I have done this exercise before with no trouble at all. Yesterday I made six attempts and had to go around on three, touch and go on two and finally managed to land, albeit way down the runway. Conditions were favorable, yet no matter what I did I just couldn't get it right. It has really sapped my confidence about the forthcoming test. I intend to book a lesson just to get through this exercise, but I really feel down after yesterday.

This posting is a cathartic way for me to deal with poor flying on my part. I just wondered if anyone else out there has suffered a major confidence crisis like this too.

Tim

[FNG]

Don't beat yourself up, everyone can have a bad day (remember mock exams, dress rehearsals etc). Suppose that your glide approaches had been real forced landings with no power. In two of them (the touch and goes) you would have landed, even if the rollout had gone wrong. In your long landing, you would have been down, and it is proverbially better to crash into the upwind hedge whilst decelerating than to stall and spin into the undershoot. Imagining this to be a real emergency, you might be looking at: aircraft broken, crew alive, which counts as a success. Presumaby your go arounds were caused by being too low on the approach. If too high, maybe try a session on side slipping. Overall, if your instructor says you are ready for the test, he/sahe is probably right. Good luck.

[Evo]

Yeah, with PFLs. Did exactly the same thing as you - had a revision lesson and screwed up the PFL in every possible way. Booked another lesson, spent a couple of hours on them, got there eventually. Not much to say other than keep trying - it may just have been a bad day at the 'office'.

If I remember correctly (and BEagle will probably correct me on this), glide approaches are usually assessed during your skills test PFL. Get that right and you wont be asked to do one in the circuits part of the exam.

[topcat450]

My glide approaches weren't the greatest when I did my skills test. However, try not to get too hung up on it. If like me you'll do the nav section first and will have been concentrating that much doing nav etc that the circuits at the end are the easy bit.

Besides, if the glide approach is the only bit making you nervous then remember they do have partial-passes. It's not the end of the world if you cock that bit up, all you'd have to do is re-do the circuits section in a week or so- not the whole thing.

[FlyingForFun]

Agree with everything all the other posters have said. Getting one thing slightly wrong on what wasn't even your real test is not the end of the world, so relax, go over it again with your instructor, and you'll be fine.

Just one thought - are you actually thinking about how you do a PFL while you're doing it? I don't know what method you've been taught, there are several. I was taught the "1000' point" method - pick somewhere which you want to be the start of a base leg, and aim to be over it at 1000'. If I screw up a PFL, there's a good chance that it's because I've forgotten to do this, and either just headed for that point without paying any attention to how high I am, or not even picked a point. Whatever method you've been taught, make sure you actively think about it as you're flying.

Good luck! And let us know how it goes!

FFF
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[FNG]

I haven't heard of that technique FFF. To me it sounds a bit odd to be flying by reference to a point which is probably outside your target field, but if it works, fair enough. I was taught "high key-low key" straight from the RAF Bulldog manual, where the reference point is in the field you aim to land in.

As for the glide approach in a skills test, I believe that the examiner has the option to test this in the circuit and might decide not to if he is happy with the open country PFL. My examiner did give me a glide to land in the last of my three circuits, but my PFL had been only just OK, so it was worth the extra check.

[PilotOnline]

I hate glide approaches, probably because I don't practice them enough. On my Skills test I landed very long on my flapless landing. The examiner was fine with this and as other posters have said if you were in a real emergency the main thing is that you got down ok, same goes for the glide approach. Don't be afraid to go around if you are going to mess it up, just go around but tell your examiner that you are going to and why, and you should be fine! I think the main thing that has always helped me with the this type of approach is keeping the runway threshold in a constant aspect as you turn in that way you won't end up (depending on your speed) way too high or too low.

[High Wing Drifter]

Not generally had any problms with glides as it is easy to get the drag flaps deployed at the 100' point and get a nice firm landing as a result. With flapless just remember to widen your base leg slightly to account for the shallower faster approach path.

FNG,

The 1000' method is described in the Thom blue book. It is what I was taught and works very well indeed. However, the Thom suggests the Key Point method has advantages. The key points being 2500' on crosswind and 1500' late downwind. The advantages being it is harder to lose orientation with your chosen field and you naturally develop a good approach earlier on in the process. Not tried it though.

[Kingy]

Don't get too hung up about flying a 'proper' curcuit (im talking PFLs here) I tend to fly quite close downwind the field then make a curved, constant aspect approach with the landing spot nailed in the right spot in the windscreen - it it goes up in the screen - turn in tighter or lose some drag . If it goes down, either extend, fishtail, slip or add more flaps. I'm a glider pilot too and this is the method I was taught. The high-low key point thing never worked for me and I used 'my' method on test with good results.

That said things can still go wrong - I remember floating nearly the whole lenth of a 1000m runway after arriving just right over the numbers off a flapless glide approach in a Katana on a sweltering 85C day - the bloody thing just would not go down!

Best of luck - believe me after the Nav/diversion it will seen like a walk in the park!

Kingy :D

[pulse1]

Having done a reasonable PFL I was given 3 or 4 attempts at a glide approach and screwed up every one ( I hadn't been taught how to do them at a large, busy airfield.

However, getting it wrong gives you a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate that you can recognise when to abandon it and safely do a go around.

My examiner eventually gave up, recognised that I was getting very tired, said that at least I was safe, and passed me.

[Tall_guy_in_a_152]

I fluffed my first attempt at a PFL (open field) in my Skills Test. I committed the sin of losing visual contact with my chosen field halfway through the 'circuit'. I generally talk my way through PFLs out loud ("bit too high", "bit too fast", "where the f@*$ is that field" etc etc) and I think this was enough to convince the examiner I was safe enough to have another go, which went fine and I passed.

I was taught the 'key' method by my PPL instructor, but later learned the 1000' method described by FFF above, which I find much more effective and use now whenever I practice PFLs. Obviously neither of these methods should be necessary at a familiar airfield.

Another tip that I didn't figure out until the day before my test is that if you trim a C152 up to the endstop it should be nicely setup for best glide range. Knowing that, you can be thinking about other things while spinning the trim wheel and save a few seconds.

One last thing - always remember AVIATE, NAVIGATE, COMMUNICATE. Always in that order. I was always in a rush to get my Mayday call out of the way, but it should be a low priority compared to flying safely down to ground.

[BEagle]

Hi Evo!

I would never assess a PPL Skill Test glide approach during the off-aerodrome PFL alone. The reason being both stress for the applicant and possible Rule 5 problems.

The PFL is invariably the worst PPL Skill Test element. If the applicant would have survived, a Pass will result. But the efforts made by some even when I 'fail' the engine in an area as flat as a witch's are pretty dire. Hence when we return to the aerodrome I definitely want to see a 'glide approach' flown successfully!

[jonnys]

Just remember, the examiner's looking for safety, not so much accuracy. Go over the whole procedure in your head, time and time again, and remember when doing a PFL or a simulated glide landing to treat your examiner as a passenger who has never flown before! If you ensure that he/she is safe and aware of the brace position etc, then that will impress the examiner and show him/her that you are aware of what flying is all about: Safety and passenger care.

You'll be fine. Agree also that after the nav and div, you'll welcome the circuits!

All the best mate, let us know how you get on.

[oli carley]

just keep your eyes out of the cockpit 90% of the time.
remember VFR

Good luck mate

[witchdoctor]

tmybr

Don't lose too much sleep about it. Remember that glide approaches are non-standard manouevres which you would only ever have to carry out if you lost an engine, and your sole objective is to make sure that you and your pax can walk away afterwards. It's not a spot landing competition, so don't get hung up too much on the kind of accuracy you would be looking for from a 'normal' approach.

I used to screw up glide approaches all the time, but the majority were considered safe and therefore acceptable. I even managed to carry out a glide approach in a Seneca from what should have been an assymetric approach - I was way too high on base leg and ended up throttling the remaining good engine back to idle just so we could make the threshold (doh!). I still passed the flight test (with a rather sever b*llocking) and now earn my living in the air. Does that frighten anyone else?

Examiners want you to pass and aren't looking for excuses to fail you. The best advice I ever got from an examiner was this:

"I'm looking for 3 things;

1. Did you fly as briefed.
2. Were you safe.
3. Would I have been comfortable as a passenger.

If I can answer yes to those, you pass. Everything else just determines you grade."