Finally on September 12th 2012.. I had my last checkride with Mr. Fred Houston.. my CFI single engine add-on.. I did my best checkride ever and even the examiner noticed that I probably had more time than the other ACPP guys because my maneuvers were flawless.. That was a very nice compliment and I felt very excited.
We went up and I did chandelles (both right and left), lazy eights, slow flight, accelerated stall, power-off stall, he simulated to be a student and asked me to guide him to a power-off 180 to the 1000 footers. We also did all landings, eights on pylons, etc..
It was a very fun flight.. I really enjoyed it and I felt more confident than any other checkride. It is not easy and you need to be focused on what you are going to teach your student. The guy who took this checkride before me failed and that really made me focus on the game.. exchange of controls, detailed pre-flight, use of checklists, I was talking and talking every single thought that I had and explaining every movement that I did. That is what CFI checkrides are all about.
I'm happy to be done now.. Next step is to take a small brake, I need to take care of some personal and some work stuff and probably by the end of the year I will be applying to flight schools or looking for SIC opportunities on Charters or Part 91 operators.. Right now I feel amazing because I have accomplished the hardest part of the dream; but the journey continues.
3 comments:
Abe,
My name is Mike and I stumbled across a link to your blog in a Jetcareers.com forum. Firstly let me congratulate you on your recent huge achievement of completing the ATP ACPP.... and with NO busted check rides. Impressive.
I intended on reading a few pages of your blog a day for the next few days...but after your first few posts, it became evident that our situations are eerily similar. I ended up reading your entire blog in one sitting....very interesting stuff. Thank you for keeping a public log of for current and prospective students to read.
I am essentially doing the exact (almost) same thing as you, one year later. I currently have my PPL with about 85hrs . I start the self-paced ACPP through ATP on 1/17/2013 at their KRIC (Richmond, Va) location.
It has been more than a year and a half long battle to get everything to fall into the right place just to be able to go to school. it was a nightmare, but I worked very hard and didn't give up. Now that chasing my dream has become a reality, the battle has shifted to preparing myself as best I can for the intense bombardment of training/information I must absorb in the near future.
I would love to bounce some things off you and talk to you about your experiences in the program. As I stated above, our situations while attending school appear to be very very similar. My email is mkirk40@gmail.com. If you wouldn't mind shooting me a message.
Thanks again for your detailed posts about the program and I look forward to a response. Best of luck in you search for the next move in your new career as a professional pilot.
Sincerely,
Mike
Fly high. Fly safe.
Congratulations captain! I'm very happy and proud of you. I've loved reading all your post and progression from your start to finish. Please keep the blog going, I'd like to see how you continue to develop.
Thanks for your comments guys! I am happy it is all over now.. Mike, I sent you an e-mail!
Cheers!
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