A big thank you to my flight instructor Barry who helped me get to this point. He spent a lot of time answering my questions and made himself available on phone and e-mail.
Disclaimer: Always check with your flight instructor before following anything in this blog. There is a lot of technical IFR language, so I assume you are doing an instrument rating and familiar with the jargon and acronyms.
Below is an overview of the test...
I had my Garmin 405 watch turned on during the check ride so that the GPS track can be later downloaded and analyzed. Below is the track that was downloaded (click on the image below to make it larger)... we flight planned for 5000 feet east and 4000 feet west.
Background:
The test was held at Peterborough (CYPQ) airport, so I flew the flight test plane there to meet the examiner. I was told ahead to flight plan CYPQ to CYTR (for approach and missed on ILS 24) to YPQ NDB for hold, and NDB 09 procedure turn and approach.
What I needed to take with me:
- Aircraft journey log and documents
- Pilot License
- Completed forms from my instructor recommending me for the flight test
- Fees for examiner and fees to transport Canada
- Flight Plan
- Weight and Balance
- Completed Flight Plan form
- Current Charts
- Current CFS
- Current CAP
- GFAs, NOTAMS, METAR and TAFs, Upper Winds, etc.
- Hood
Ground Portion:
Permissions: I had to call Trenton military airbase for permission for the approach and then get a Flow number (which is required for all training flights within 100 NM of Toronto).
Filing Flight Plan: I then filed the IFR flight plan under my name (as I was with an examiner - it was in my name... I wonder if they would have allowed me to file if it was an actual IFR weather day) Note that you'll need estimated approach and landing times ahead of time to get the Flow number and permission for approach at the Trenton.
Questions I remember the examiner asking:
- Give a weather briefing for the route, along with NOTAMS
- What are the limitations for departure at Peterborough and show where it says that
- What governs take-off- What are the conditions the take-off must satisfy
- What if there was no RVR and tower observation? How would you judge (Hint: use runway lights that are 200 ft. apart... look for 2600 ft. or ability to see 13 lights)
- What are the rules for alternates?
- What governs landing (just the MDA / MA)
- What governs approach
- (the aircraft GPS had gotten removed for servicing... so there were no GPS questions; otherwise I suspect there would have been a lot of GPS related questions)
- Review of the Journey Log to ensure that all IFR equipment requirements are met
(nothing on comm failures to my surprise!)
The ground portion wasn't all that long since I was very well prepared (with all the documents and paperwork in a clipboard), and likely because I made a good first impression.
The flight briefing after the ground portion went something like this... that we would fly to Trenton for the ILS 24, fly back to YPQ for the hold and then commence a procedure turn for NDB 09. Also, there would be three emergencies I'll be tested on in the flight, if a real emergency were to happen we'll deal with it together, and no simulated emergencies will happen at or under 500 AGL. There would be no passenger briefing necessary.
With that, he said he'll meet me at the plane... likely so I could catch my breath a bit.
What to pay attention to:
- know runway marker distances
- plan to be above MEA altitude, even if the flight is a short distance
Departure:
I had already completed a walk around, so I organized the cockpit with maps, charts, flight plan, CFS and a hood within reach. I got in with the examiner, started the plane, asked for radio check at CYPQ UNICOM, did the run up, switched over to Toronto Center (on the ground... as it was an uncontrolled airport) asked for and copied my clearance which went something like:
- " xxxx cleared to CYTR, direct to YTR, direct to YPQ, climb 5000, squak NNNN and call Toronto Center xxx.xxx clear of the Peterborough zone."
Read the above back word for word, switched back over to Peterborough for the UNICOM advisories, taxied and departed. It was great that there was no traffic at Peterborough (thanks to the weather that was coming in!).
What to pay attention to:
- I could have held runway heading better. Once I got the hood on during the climbout it clicked this was a test and I was letting the slipstream turn the plane away from the intended heading, but that was all corrected before it got too bad
-I had forgotten to set the transponder code I got during my clearance - I had made a mental note to enter it while copying clearance, but didn't end up entering it while I did the PTILT check (Pitot Heat, Transponder - don't just check its on: but look at the transponder code entered, Instruments, Lights, Time)
En-Route:
(It goes without saying that you should always check your compass and correct your Direction Indicator, especially before turns.)
Leaving the zone: When I was four minutes away (about 5 miles away from Peterborough) I made radio calls to say leaving zone and contacted Toronto Center. Toronto Centered asked me to enter the Transponder code before they identified me on the radar; I thought I had screwed up big time as the examiner was making a note of it, but later on the ground the examiner mentioned it and didn't think that was all that big of a deal.
Turning towards flight planned route: I turned towards my flight planned heading and wanted to line up with the NDB heading towards YTR (tuned and tested ok). I turned towards the NDB but the needle was stubborn continuing to show 10 degrees to the left even when I turned towards it, so decided to get back to my flight planned heading and decided to continue at planned heading until I was able to pick up the NDB signal better.
Navigation was going to be tricky as I had expected without GPS and with unimpressive equipment onboard. Being able to navigation without any outside visual clues to ensure I am on track was a challenge. Luckily I was switched over to the Trenton Center which approved the ILS 24 approach with radar vectoring and radar vectored me all the way to the approach! Phew! Otherwise I would have had to sweat a bit more until I was getting closer to the Trenton NDB, or would have had to think of something on the fly like dialing in the Cambellford VOR and following a radial out with necessary permissions from ATC to do so. I should have flight planned to navigate using the Cambellford VOR from the start even with though this would have added to the flight times.
(You'll see in the downloaded GPS track below that I was attempting to get to the NDB track, but even though the NDB signal could be heard (with the 90 degree deflection testing showing properly), it wasn't tracking.)
I think that the examiner was happy that I wasn't just sitting there following vectors but actively getting the radio ready for the next expected frequency, and had already the localizer tuned and identified. I also demonstrated situational awareness by giving him a ETA for the approach (based on the flight planned times)
What to pay attention to:
- Turn towards flight planned heading as soon as permissible
- Have a backup plan in case nav equipment isn't up to par
- Turn NDB switch to Receive to identify (makes it easier to listen to signal)
Approach:
More Equipment Issues: The approach was tricky because the NAV 2 (as NAV 1 which was part of the GPS was removed) didn't pick up the glidescope signal until I got to the fix (YTR). If the ILS hadn't worked I would have had to do a localizer approach and reschedule the flight test... so I was happy that worked, and so was the examiner.
When I was cleared to the approach I got missed clearance which had to be copied down and read back. It was something like "climb runway heading and turn right direct to YPQ climbing to 4000". The examiner had taken over the radio work, so that saved me workload.
I was supposed to keep the hood on all the way down to the MH and go missed with it still on... so I wasn't able to see if the runway was lined up or not. According to the LOC, I did a good job centering it all the way, but towards the end I did a slight bit of needle chasing... it worked out anyway. The downloaded GPS track shows that I was right on the money... like someone drew a straight line!
What to pay attention to:
- Don't needle chase at the end where its super-sensitive
- I didn't hesitate at DH to go missed, and knew exactly what the missed procedures were, but I hear people would just sit there at DH fumbling with charts
Missed and En Route back to Peterborough:
Heading back to Peterborough was straight forward. The flight planned heading worked out exactly as calculated! I picked up the Peterborough NDB along the way (tuned and tested ok) and tracked to it. I left the NDB signal on throughout the flight so that I know its working. I was switched over to Toronto Center which had me climb to 5000 as there was someone at 4000 at the NDB, and had me hold there (and gave me an expected clearance time) - so this was no simulated hold, it was an actual hold!
Uncontrolled Airport Procedures: As we were entering an uncontrolled airport, we advised Toronto Center that we are going to switch over to CYPQ and radio our plans (as CYPQ is uncontrolled); we did that and switched back to Toronto center saying that we were back with them. Based on your ground speed, distance to zone and time, you should know when to do this 5-10 minutes prior entering zone, as ATC may not tell you to switchover to the uncontrolled or MF zone and advise.
Simulated Emergencies: On the way to YPQ the examiner asked me three emergency questions which I answered well:
- Electrical Fire in cockpit (smoke coming out) (I said the procedures correctly, but thinking back I should have said something more practical saying that I won't panic and I will ensure that the flight is flying straight and level and advise ATC that there is an emergency... although the examiner wasn't looking for me to say this - looked like he just wanted the usual stuff like master off, use fire extinguisher, check fuses, turn one equipment on at a time, terminate flight as soon as possible)
- Alternator Failure
- Pitot blockage; how will I do the ILS approach without the airspeed indicator?
Hold: By the time I got to YPQ Toronto Center told me that the hold was optional - but I asked for the hold since I was going to be tested on it. I entered the hold correctly (it was a straight forward direct entry). As soon as I entered the hold and correctly started the timing for the hold, the examiner said I can head back to the NDB for the procedure turn. He radioed intentions to Toronto Center which cleared me for the approach NDB 09, and told me to contact them from the ground.
Approach and Landing:
Procedure turn outbound: I did the turn outbound with a radio call - keeping it to 1.35 min and not 2 min because of the 15-20 kt tail winds, did the hockey stick procedure turn and turned inbound with a radio call getting my speed down to 90 kts and did the landing checklist.
Procedure turn inbound: The examiner hinted to track to NDB as I was blown out by a bit. I wasn't allowed to descend to the fix altitude till I was on the procedure turn inbound track. I got on the inbound, started descending to the fix altitude, and had made it just in time.
Final NDB approach: I radioed intentions to Peterborough traffic, kept correcting to be on course (I had to keep the correction until the needle was opening the other way) and descended until I got to MDA (I was counting down and actually started to level off 100 ft. above afraid to bust the minimums)... but the examiner prompted me to keep going another 100 ft. I told him that I'd look 2 miles back, but I wasn't allowed to look until I was at the MDA at which point the examiner had me remove my hood. It was nice to go visual again after more than an hour and 45 minutes staring at the instruments . It was a bigger relief to see the runway ahead.
Landing: I did a great landing at which point the examiner said he is going to sign my license! I asked "I passed?!" ( I hope I wasn't sounding too surprised :) ) He said, yes - I did very well and we were going to have a post-flight briefing.
Once down we contacted Toronto Center to close the flight plan. I got a post-briefing, the examiner signed off my license. I filed IFR and flew back home!
What to pay attention to for Turn Procedure:
- Be at Safe Altitude UNTIL you are on the procedure turn
- Get down to Procedure Turn Altitude when you are ON THE procedure turn outbound heading
- Get down to the Fix altitude only when you are ON THE procedure turn inbound heading TRACKING the correct track inbound
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