As anyone who has done a flight test will tell you, there's a LOT going on on the day of the flight test as this is where it ALL comes together.
Air excercises go well if you get your ground stuff in order to boost your confidence.
My recommendation is to start preparing early with all the things you take for granted. eg. Weight & Balance (which you probably haven't done in years if you have been flying the same plane with the same operating envelope) and flight performance calculations.
Flight performance calculations will seem like a mountain of work if you haven't gone through those from scratch at least five times. It takes an hour (or more) the first two times you go through all the calculations (remember your private and commercial exam days!?).
You use up all your mental energy on the paperwork if you do it for the second time on the day of the test (who me?!) - this will affect your performance on the flight.
Tip: Do the entire paperwork just as you would for the flight test at least five times 2-3 weeks leading up to the flight test. This way, the calculations will be a breeze and you'd have freed up your energies for the flight test where it matters!
Day Before
You call the examiner to get a briefing on the meeting time (11 am), his/her weight (170 lbs), cost of the flight ($350) and what she/he expects (take off calculations for forecast winds, point of no return calculation, weight and balance and ceiling for the flight go/no-go (3500 ft) i.e. call the examiner if the ceiling is low to postpone the flight.
My instrutor told me to pay the $30 Transport Canada fee online and to send him the info for the application.
Day Of
You start the day as early as possible to get the calculations done. Here's where you can really speed things up if you've done the calculations lots of times before the flight test.
Flight Test
AROWJIL - you are expected to locate these in the paperwork
What's required to keep the airworthiness?
Where are the deferred items? (this journey book didn't have any - typically in the first few pages of the journey log)
Vso, Vsse, Vy and Vx (I thought he was asking for Vyse/Vxse), Va, Vmc, Vle , Vlo, Vfe...
Weight and Balance questions
ASDA what is it?
Is there a critical engine?
What is the service ceiling today (without looking at the charts - as you need to know if you are flying in mountains what happens if an engine fails)
What happens if you don't feather the failed engine?
What is the procedure for heater?
Would you get carb ice? How would you know?
What happens if both altimeter charge goes to zero? What's the process?
What would you do if there is an electrical fire?
When manufold pressure goes to high for the LEFT engine and you can't change it with the pitch - what would you do if you are 30 miles from the airport? (shut down the engine and terminate the flight - emergency landing as you might have a runaway prop)
What prevents the gear from accidently going up? (hint: it's not just the sensor - there is also a pitot tube speed sensor that's coupled to it for it to deactivate over a certain speed)
If you can't confirm your left gear is down, what's the process?
You need to shut down the L engine, what's the process (fuel off first)
A friend got asked these questions:
During flight test he asked about the accelerate and go distance. Definition +What is the
airspeed ?
Cruising speed ? How did you get that number?
A complete weight and balance with T/O, Zero fuel and Landing for 1 hour flight at 5500 PA.
If you have 2 PAX and a lot of luggage and you are overweight by 30 lbs , what would you do?
= drain 5 Gallons.
One engine operation theory:
Recall all the criteria for VMC calculation.
- bank angle into good engine not more than 5°
- Critical engine
- Maxi power on remaining engine
- Prop windmilling- Aft CoG
- T/O flaps
- Gear up
How the center of gravity affects the stability ?
Question (g) on section C. on the flight test guide. About the perf and Vmc with Gear and flaps position, prop windmilling.
Can we take off with one engine today ? Explain.
What is the one engine rate of climb? What is the shaded area showing in the graph ( = no climb possible in dark area )
Do we have critical engine? Why ?
On conventional multi what would be the critical engine? Why ? Can you explain?
What would you do if you lose one engine during the overshoot?
What is the maximum crosswind ? 25
If we taking off 25 and winds from 300 at 25kt , what is your X-wind component? Do not use the graph.
Do you know why it is that high compared to the C172?
because need to deal with one engine inop, Rudder and stabiliser on the Duchess are very big. The result is this aircraft has better performance on X-wind than a C172.
Which wing tank feed the heater? How many gallons per hour ?
How many pumps ?
Quantity of oil?
Why do we cross-feed? = endurance.
Emergencies:
Doors open at 50 feet after T/O what would you do?
Prop overspeed = he expects prop lever back, MP idle , Rpm same on both side , if still over- speeding pitch up!
Gear malfunction only 2 greens.
Oil loss, recall procedures.
Questions from written:
M 41 What is the aircraft’s zero fuel weight?
M 52 What is the best angle of climb speed single engine?
M 106 Does the Vmc speed ever change?
M 107 What is Vso?
M 108 Explain how the propeller system works; how does the governer system work?
M 109 Explain how the gear system works.
M 110 Explain the heater system
M 111 How would you be able to confirm proper fuel amount?
M 112 How would you perform an emergency extension?
M 113 What is the procedure for an engine fire?
M 114 How would you treat a cabin fire?
M 115 Your alternator failure light comes on - what would be your action?
M 116 The RPM starts to increase and by pulling back on the propeller back on the propeller lever and nothing happens - what is your next action?
M 117 State the engine feather shut down procedure, restart and un-feathering?s
Flight Test
Circuit for Full Stop (remember: instrument checks, px brief, departure brief)
I backtracked (slow afternoon at airport) (remember: px brief, entire departure checklist*)
4000 ft (ended up being 5000 feet due to clouds)
One engine failure in cruise including restart (not just calling it out - do all the procedures; execpt of course for the actual secure failed engine which you'd call out)
Single engine manuever - climb/descend/turn
Reduce Speed 80 kts, extend gear, flaps (the tip to prevent climbing when flaps come on helped)**
Approach to Stall and Recover
Stall in Clean Config
180 degree Steep Turn
Landing Config with Gear and Flaps
Overshoot
Engine Out during Overshoot***
Back to land with one engine (simulated feather position)
Learnings
Don't idle the the engines if you are descending (as you will get used to the gear warning sound - put the gear down)
***Engine Failure on Overshoot - remember to maintain climb speed after nose down to get back speed (speed comes quick - get that climb attitute right away as you add full power and power is coming back)
*Use the flow to check the critical components for pre-departure (do a GUMPS check so you don't forget the fuel pumps)
I thought I did HASEL with each air excercise, but apparently I missed it one of those times
Lookouts are very important - I did well with these
I did well maintaining altitute throughout - the instructor tip to stay on top of it helped
**Memorizing attitues and power really helps - what the climb picture should look like, what the clean stall / dirty stall recovery attitute should look like, what the 500 ft. descend / 100 kts approach with flaps attitute and power should look like.
Staying ahead of the airplane by calling downwind when you are turning from crosswind
Not riding the breaks (differential power instead)
Always give a pre-departure brief (even if it's only you in the plane) - after runway expiry: engine fail? mix/pitch/power/gear/flap while nose down for speed over Vmc to climb out at blue line
Conclusion
It's always a pleasure (and a privilege) to pickup a new skill. You learn a lot by flying with experienced instructors who you havn't flown with before (and with examiners who give you feedback!)
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