Some seriously scary thoughts

A couple of lessons ago Bob made the kind of throw away comment that seems fairly innocuous at the time but the more I think about it, the kinda scarier it gets.

We were briefing for our lesson, talking about steep turns, something I struggled with on my last lesson. We discussed the flight test standards, easy to remember; all the 10s:

 ±10° angle of bank

± 10 knots airspeed

±100 ft of altitude

Bob asked me if I had a copy of the “Flight Test Notes.” I indicated that I had (I stole all of RTH’s stuff when he passed!) Bob then passed on his request that before each lesson now I should be reviewing the test standards for each of the manoeuvres we do. It seemed a reasonable enough request so I agreed and thought no more of it.

Until later, maybe a few days after.

What’s all this talk of flight tests? Oh hell we’ve moved on, a lot, haven’t we. Oh how stuff changes in a year. Bob’s moved on from trying to make sure that I don’t ding up the plane too badly, to trying to get me to comply with Transport Canada standards.

Even more surreally, I found myself chatting to RTH about the flight test, I’d read the flight test guide and was expressing the opinion that I just didn’t see how they fitted it all in to an hour and a half flight. RTH went through the general format and how it all came together. He also gave me a few insider tips about how you can control proceedings to a certain degree.  

I had some questions, actually some fairly specific ones, like what power settings he used for his power-on stall and if the examiner specified them or you were meant to “just know”. I asked about how you define the boundary between effective use of cockpit resources and actively seeking assistance. To give an example, when I’m taxiing in, I know it is my responsibility not to hit anything but I might ask Bob “Am I clear your side?” Is this allowed on the flight test or not?*

Which suddenly made me realise, whether I knew it or not. I have actually been thinking about my flight test, maybe subconsciously but yeah obviously my mind has been working on this one.

This has come as a tiny bit of a shock to be honest. What happened to the girl who bordered on a panic attack at the thought of even getting in that plane?

 

 

* yes this is the kind of random stuff I worry about, just to give you an idea!