Sport Pilot Talk

So, the local DPE has been avoiding me. Not returning my calls or e-mails. My instructor is still out of town. Plan B hit a snag as another DPE that was recommended apparently does do sport pilot check rides. He knows someone who does so I'm waiting on that info. Meanwhile I hope to swap out my battery soon and maybe get some flying in this weekend.

eyeflygps wrote:Maybe you should go somewhere and get checked out in a SLSA for your checkride.

That would be the last resort, mainly because I'd have to do transition training and not sure how many hours/$$ it would take to be comfortable taking the check ride in a different plane.

I'm pretty dure the DPE that I use would do the checkride in your airplane. The down side is he is in Southern Illinois.

3Dreaming wrote:I'm pretty dure the DPE that I use would do the checkride in your airplane. The down side is he is in Southern Illinois.

Well I wouldn't rule that out if nothing else comes through. After all, my list of solutions includes going to Paul Hamilton. Besides being a DPE, his school has a factory Zenith 650 which is essentially the same as my plane so transition training should be quicker.

What about flying Paul to your location?

dstclair wrote:What about flying Paul to your location?

Don't DPE's have a sort of "turf" that they have to stay within? At least the area of their FSDO? I have no idea, which is why I'm asking.

Merlinspop wrote:

dstclair wrote:What about flying Paul to your location?

Don't DPE's have a sort of "turf" that they have to stay within? At least the area of their FSDO? I have no idea, which is why I'm asking.

Yes, but I think the FSDO where the checkride is being given can extend privileges if needed. For example I don't think there is a glider DPE in our FSDO's area, so they allow one from a neighboring FSDO to come to our area and do checkrides.

So yesterday I swapped out my battery. Too windy in the morning to fly but I ran the engine and other than taking a bit to get going(hey it was mid 30's) it fired up. Warmed it up and then buttoned everything back up. The winds died down in the afternoon so I took it up. Still searching for an E-AB friendly DPE. Going to talk with my instructor tomorrow to see what he thinks about me transitioning to the Skycatcher if we can't find anyone to give me the test in my plane.

Things are looking up. My instructor contacted another DPE he knows in CT. He's willing to give me the test even to come down to my home base of HWV. As an added plus, apparently he's familiar with my plane so my instructor won't need to take him up. I called him and he told me what to expect, gave me the location to plan my x-country and his weight for my W&B. Having a final refresher on Friday with my instructor then it's all on me.

Kingston(20N). He told me to "draw a straight line" which actually takes me through the Islip class C from the looks of it so that might be a bit interesting.

rcpilot wrote:Kingston(20N). He told me to "draw a straight line" which actually takes me through the Islip class C from the looks of it so that might be a bit interesting.

I'm not sure how far away it is, but you likely will not travel far enough to get there before he has you move on to something else.
Also remember that you can't fly through the class C airspace without an endorsement, and the planned cross country could be a test to make sure you know that.

It's just on the edge so technically I could fly under it at 1400'. My biggest concern would be watching out for traffic. Depending on which runway we take off from I might have enough time to climb out over the class C or just tell him I'll make a circle to climb out to my cruising altitude.

Remember this is a test of your knowledge and skill. His objective with this trip is that you can follow a course line, establish your groundspeed, and that you know the airspace and rules that pertain to it.

Well, had my last evaluation by my instructor before my check ride. We pretty much covered everything and it looks good. Good thing we went up early because it got a bit windy afterwards. If I perform next week like I did today I should do well. Looking forward to the fulfillment of a life long dream.

In my experience when the examiner does the check ride he is expecting you to pass. You have to do something really wrong for that to not happen.