IR Revalidation - What to expect?
I sat my IR skills test almost 12 months ago and so the time has come for a revalidation. I am attending a UK based school next week and hope to achieve this in a single day - I've planned 1.5 hours with an instructor followed by my test (all in an ALSIM FNPTII).
Being my first revalidation, I am looking for some tips on what to expect and how to maximize my chance of a pass?
I have not flown a single hour since passing my skills test because I am based abroad with my job and opportunities are few and far between. I am therefore quite nervous for several reasons:
- All of my IR training was on "real" aircraft due to no approved simulators in my based country. I'm therefore not particularly familiar with a sim environment.
- I lack currency except a bit of messing around on Microsoft Flight Sim practicing hold entries and NDB/VOR tracking.
- I can only schedule to return back to the UK for 1 day. So if I mess up, I've wasted a tonne of money and my IR will expire the week after. I believe after that expiry date I will then need to renew my IR, which will be much more costly?
Any advice would be much appreciated. I also have a few other questions bugging me:
- In a sim test environment, will I be expected to make fake ATC calls to the examiner?
- Will the FNPTII be set up to resemble a particular aircraft type, and if so will be I be expected to learn the POH numbers for various phases of flight, flap extension speeds, etc?
- Will the examiner understand a bit of rustiness based on my lack of currency, or is that my problem rather than his?
FWIW, I sat my skills test in a DA42.
Thank you!