CFI-A Stage Check (Oral)

Today marked the third time I went to the flight line ready for the oral part of my stage check. This time, however, I was truly prepared. All of my 'ducks' were in a row, all of my paperwork was in order, and I had my license and logbook handy.

The exam started a bit after 1:00 and continued until about 4:30. The very first question was on a subject that I had quickly skimmed earlier. Doh, why didn't I read that closer? I worked my way through it, stumbling now and again, but came up with a decent answer. After that shot of terror-to-triumph confidence, the rest went pretty smooth. Most questions were scenario-based, which I prefer to pure, raw, regurgitation of facts. One particular example was a student being transferred to me with various entries in his logbook. I had to figure out exactly what he needed to complete his training for the private pilot certificate. It took about 15 minutes to come up with all the missing-or expired-items. He was missing ALL of his endorsements, plus his medical and written exam had both expired. He pretty much had to start over from zero time.

At the end, I was asked to present a ground brief on my favorite maneuver. Wow, what a bone I was given. I was totally expecting to have a task assigned. The first thing that popped into my head was Steep Turns, so that's what I presented. I made one pretty noteworthy mistake while discussing how disorientation can affect the maneuver. I said something like, "While in the 45 degree banked turn, the load factor will be nearly 2 Gs, so you will feel heavy in the seat, and when you look out the window, it will appear that you are diving towards the ground." Ouch. I must retract that comment-and any other similar dooseys-completely from my vocabulary.

Next up-flight test.