After two years of working on it---not counting my previous go ten years ago---today I finally got my private pilot's license.
The checkride really wasn't that big a deal. The oral exam was far less rigorous that what I'd prepared for, just a sprinkling of easy questions. And the flight itself wasn't too big a deal either.
Did a soft-field takeoff from Manassas, then flew to Culpepper airport at 2500 MSL. Following the flight plan I'd laid out we then turned southeast towards Newport News. However, we were never going to go anywhere near that far----the examiner told me to divert to Orange County airport due to simulated bad weather ahead. No real problems despite never having landed there before, even with a light crosswind. Short field landing and takeoff there.
I had forgotten I'd need to bring a view-limiting device for simulated instrument flying, so the examiner had me strap the sectional chart over my face as a make-shift. We did a bit of navigation that way and then some "unusual attitudes", where I put my head down and the examiner did some strange things to the plane to disorient me, then left it pointing at the ground or the sky and had me recover it to straight-and-level using only the instruments. That's easier than it might sound.
Next up was stalls and slow flight. I almost forgot to do the clearing turns first, but the examiner prompted me that I was forgetting something, and I remembered. The power-on stall went fine, for once. Usually that's the one I have trouble with. The power-off stall, which I'm usually fine on, I actually messed up a little bit but the examiner let me do it again, and I got it that time. To top that off and get us down to lower altitudes, we did a simulated engine failure. It wasn't my best ever, but I managed to get us lined up on a field. We aborted the maneuver higher than I was expecting, at 1500 MSL, which in that area was about 1100 AGL. Usually you take that one all the way down to 500 feet AGL.
Lastly he had me do S-turns over some railroad tracks. I wasn't *entirely* perpendicular to them in the middle of the turn, but I guess I was close enough for his satisfaction. Then we flew back to Manassas and did a soft-field landing, no big deal.
Now I just have to figure out what the heck I'm going to do with it.
The checkride really wasn't that big a deal. The oral exam was far less rigorous that what I'd prepared for, just a sprinkling of easy questions. And the flight itself wasn't too big a deal either.
Did a soft-field takeoff from Manassas, then flew to Culpepper airport at 2500 MSL. Following the flight plan I'd laid out we then turned southeast towards Newport News. However, we were never going to go anywhere near that far----the examiner told me to divert to Orange County airport due to simulated bad weather ahead. No real problems despite never having landed there before, even with a light crosswind. Short field landing and takeoff there.
I had forgotten I'd need to bring a view-limiting device for simulated instrument flying, so the examiner had me strap the sectional chart over my face as a make-shift. We did a bit of navigation that way and then some "unusual attitudes", where I put my head down and the examiner did some strange things to the plane to disorient me, then left it pointing at the ground or the sky and had me recover it to straight-and-level using only the instruments. That's easier than it might sound.
Next up was stalls and slow flight. I almost forgot to do the clearing turns first, but the examiner prompted me that I was forgetting something, and I remembered. The power-on stall went fine, for once. Usually that's the one I have trouble with. The power-off stall, which I'm usually fine on, I actually messed up a little bit but the examiner let me do it again, and I got it that time. To top that off and get us down to lower altitudes, we did a simulated engine failure. It wasn't my best ever, but I managed to get us lined up on a field. We aborted the maneuver higher than I was expecting, at 1500 MSL, which in that area was about 1100 AGL. Usually you take that one all the way down to 500 feet AGL.
Lastly he had me do S-turns over some railroad tracks. I wasn't *entirely* perpendicular to them in the middle of the turn, but I guess I was close enough for his satisfaction. Then we flew back to Manassas and did a soft-field landing, no big deal.
Now I just have to figure out what the heck I'm going to do with it.
Now you just need to find an old cargo plane, hire a group of eccentric misfits and start taking on questionable jobs. 
