The Painless Checkout

[Big Pistons Forever]

There has been much recent discussion which either directly or indirectly has to do with issues around the club checkout. At the (very great:ouch:) risk of continuing this I thought I would throw in a few ideas, from an instructor point of view, on how to make this process easier for all concerned.

These points are primarily intended for a relatively low time PPL checkout at a new club in a new airport and/or new type.

1) Do your homework. Before you show up for your lesson get and study the map, aerodrome layout and procedures, the aircraft POH, the checklist used by the operator and the club/business policies and procedures. Write down questions on anything in the above you do not fully understand or want more information on.

2) When you show up make a point of introducing yourself to all the staff and especially whoever is dispatching. If possible speak to the Chief Flying Instructor as well.

3) Start the lesson by requesting a though briefing on the route of flight and what manoevers will be conducted. Go over your question list with your instructor. Part of this briefing must cover in a clear and unambigous, way how an actual inflight emergency will be dealt with.

4) When you get to the plane take your time. You are going to be a little bit nervous so give yourself a bit of extra time to do things right the first time.

5) The flight will probably not be operated the exact way you are used to so go with the flow, there is no one universal way to safely pilot an aircraft. If operational procedures confuse or concern you make a quick note and bring them up on the debrief.

6) If the instructor does anything that you truely think is dangerous demand the flight return to the airport ASAP and land immediately. See the CFI at once.

7) Insist on a debrief at the end of the flight as you will almost certainly have some questions. You may wish to ask the instuctor if their is any area of your flying that could use some improvement as you are in effect getting a second opinion on how you are doing.

This post represents a sample size of one. It is not intended to be comprehensive or authoritive and if it is of some value to anyone than it was worth the five minutes it took to write. If not at least I was able to procrastinate for 5 more minutes on the project I amworking on :ok:

[Pace]

Thanks for that I will add a few more.

Never regard your examiner as some sort of God to cower in front of detach yourself, have confidence in yourself and your abilities without being arrogant.
(well maybe a touch of arrogance wont do any harm ;)

Act as a commander and show you can make your own descisions and have your own thought patterns.

If you mess up be positive about it and take control by saying I would like to do that again. Get angry with yourself and dig into those depths which exist and you might surprise yourself at what you can achieve.

Carry a certain sense of humour into the cockpit as in any test situation you can stiffen the atmosphere and hence the test by being too rigid in yourself.

Tell yourself that you are going to enjoy yourself and the test.

Tell yourself what is the worst that can happen? Ok you can die so what ;)

Above all have confidence and belief in yourself and that will shine through to the examiner.

ADDENDUM Reading Fujis comments (mine were more at required tests ;) its your money paying for the shooting match not his so keep that in mind as it also helps reduce the nerves ie your paying his wages not he yours ;) and as you are paying for it all in the club invironment. Sing with some changes the BeachBoy SONG "for I will have fun, fun, fun, till the wheels go and kiss the ground" ;)

Pace

[Keygrip]

Interesting move there.

The title says "check out", message one says "lesson" and message two says "test" and "examiner".

I would say; chill out - fly it as the captain with a friendly passenger; do a mass and balance and enquire if there are any local procedures (noise abatement/book out/zone entry-exits etc) that you need to be aware of.

Enjoy it - you are paying for it.

[Big Pistons Forever]

Keygrip

Not quite sure what you are getting at.

The "lesson" type is a "checkout" (In addition to proving your flying skills you will also be tought the local procedures) which is conducted by a person examining your prowess (the "examiner") and it is a "test" because you have to meet a standard otherwise you will not have completed the exercise.

Excellent point about adopting the attitude of "flying as the Captain with a friendly passsenger"

[modelman]

My examiner for my skills tests told me to regard him as though he was a savvy neighbour that I had taken up for a flight.Have a bit of light conversation,ask him to hold your chart etc,make it interesting for him also.During my training,I did regard him as some sort of sky god but I have subsequently always enjoyed flying with him.His attitude is although flying is a serious business try to have some fun as well.
MM

[Fuji Abound]

I can see you are approaching this from the club / indtructors side.

Take a look at the other side of the coin for a moment - the customer, the person who is paying you.

1. It is far from entirely the responsibility of the customer to do his homework. The club should brief the customer on their procedures or better still give the customer a written guide.

2. Why would you want to introduce yourself to all and sundry. It is up to the relevant people to introduce themselves to you. If you are the customer that usually the way things work - other than perhaps in this business. ;)

3. Why should you have to request a brief. It is up to the instructor to brief you. If I had to ask for the brief I might be better spending my time finding another club.

7. See 3 - although by then it might be too late to find another club!

Sorry, but if that is the way things went, I'd call that the painful checkout.

From the customers point of view a good club / school should welcome you, take time to explain their procedures and introduce you to the key club officials. A good club should ensure you are aware of what is expected of you during the club checkout, how the checkout will be conducted, and on its conclusion brief you on your performance.

On your part you should ensure you are familair with the aircraft you are being checked on and review any local procedures. You should try and relax and make sure you are in the best mental state for the check. In short you should do exactly what would be expected of any qualified pilot flying from a new airfield (assuming this to be the case) in a different aircraft (once again assuming this is the first time in a new type).

If you have to ask too many questions about how the club operates and what is expected of you during the check I would suggest it is the club, not you, that needs to examine its performance.

[Say again s l o w l y]

Why do I get the "here we go again" feeling!!!!

Checkouts do fall into two categories. The first one is the initial check out where club rules and regs would be explained. The second one would obviously be the proficiency check of which there are reams of argument on here about!

I've got to take a bit of exception to your point 1 Fuji. Most clubs will have a Flying Order Book with all relevant info in it. You generally can't expect people to memorise stuff from a pre-flight brief, I would expect the FOB to be have been read and digested BEFORE someone comes in for a checkout.
I don't know any clubs without an FOB and most have the ability to send you a copy electronically, so there is no reason not to have read it.

The onus is on the person wishing to hire the aircraft to ensure they are au fait with the "rules". Hopefully the checkout should be just that. A check not a training flight. Hard to do if the person being checked hasn't done any homework!

There is a need for both parties to make eachother welcome. The new member should ask questions about how a club works and the club should make them feel welcome and try and pass on as much info as possible.

Just because all questions or possibilities aren't dealt with on a first visit doesn't make a club a bad one. It takes time to build up a relationship in both directions and no-one is perfect. As long as the major things are dealt with and you feel comfortable and welcome, there is plenty of time to sort out the minutiae as time goes on, especially on those crappy days when there is nothing to do but drink coffee and talk nonsense about flying!

[eharding]

I do wonder what would happen if:

a) Hertz did aircraft rental

and

b) Hertz did aircraft rental in the UK in the same way they did car rental in the US.

You'd have people throwing a hissy fit at the Hertz desk, turning down a complementary Spitfire Mk9 upgrade from the PA28 they'd booked because they couldn't fit the luggage in the Spit, and anyway it made their eyes water starting the engine when they were given a Spitfire because the Hertz outlet had run out of PA28s.

Of course, Hertz don't do aircraft rental because it is an entirely different risk proposition.

Hardly suprising then that if you walk in off the street, waving an easily-forged set of papers wishing to rent an easily-bent asset in the £50K-£250K range, that the people who to a large degree have their nads on the line are more than keen to ensure that the potential hirer isn't a muppet or a headcase.

The customer, eventually, is of course what keeps the business alive. However, this is a business where you have you distinguish between a customer, and an accident looking for a grid-reference.

[Final 3 Greens]

You'd have people throwing a hissy fit at the Hertz desk, turning down a complementary Spitfire Mk9 upgrade from the PA28

The biggest upgrade I ever got was from a medium size Toyota to a larger size Toyota, more like a PA28 to a PA32.

Funnily enough, if I was offered a Ferrari instead of a Toyota, I too would turn it down as it wouldn't be fit for purpose with a family of 4 and luggage.

You make an interesting point about the (non) secure nature of a PPL, as it is not even photo ID.

I like Big Pistons checklist and think it will be helpful to newish pilots in preparing to fly at a new place and agree with SAS that a degree of pilot proactivity is required.

I also believe that many flying clubs could do with polishing up their act in regards to customer service.

The two concepts are not mutually exclusive.

[S-Works]

Hardly suprising then that if you walk in off the street, waving an easily-forged set of papers wishing to rent an easily-bent asset in the £50K-£250K range, that the people who to a large degree have their nads on the line are more than keen to ensure that the potential hirer isn't a muppet or a headcase.

You make an interesting point about the (non) secure nature of a PPL, as it is not even photo ID.

OK, now we have moved into the realms of fantasy. Show me a proven case of someone using forged papers.

We hear of idiots with no licence nicking aircraft while drunk and crashing. But going to the effort of FORGING a pilots licence?

[DavidHoul52]

On my PPL is written:

"A document containing a photo shall be carried for the purposes of identification of the licence holder."

[Fuji Abound]

SAS

I agree with your point regarding the Flying Order Book. It is as well the club member takes time to read it.

I also agree with many of the other comments made.

As I said, I was giving the other side of the coin. Customer service and the customer doing a good job of making sure he is receptive, friendly and well prepared are not mutually exclusive.

[betterfromabove]

Bose - there's a case of it, in fact several, being talked about in Rumour & News this very day.

Yes, it's silly, considering all the checks & balances this profession/activity puts in our way, we still have documents that are stuck in the 19th century.

BFA

[Contacttower]

Are there any plans to introduce photo ID licences?

My South African Foreign Licence Validation has a photo of me in it (albeit a rather fuzzy, probably easy to forge one).

The FAA perhaps missed a trick when going over to the credit card style licence by not having photo ID included.....although maybe there isn't enough space for it.