CPL Flight Test Blind spots.

[Spinwmts]

Hey Folks, I'm gearing up to take my CPL flight test in couple of weeks. Just wondering what areas gave you the most problems or blind spots that caught you off guard? I hear the Pwr-off 180 messes a lot of people up.

Thanks for sharing!

[FreelanceInstructor]

In my opinion there isn't much for blind spots or problem areas. The CPL is basically a PPL flight test, just to a higher standard and a few different exercises(spin entry, precision-180, CPL standard steep turn, radio nav). Honestly, I would put your efforts into the 2 areas most commonly failed on any ride. IE. forced approach & slow flight. The forced approach is simple procedurally, however none of that extra cockpit management stuff will mean anything if you don't make your field....under all circumstances, if you give a passenger briefing, make the field and don't let the aircraft go near the stall, you can't fail it. Slow flight is one of the least understood exercises, and most new instructors don't fully understand it either. If your instructor gives you a specific power setting and airspeed to ballpark, find a new instructor and tell the old one to change careers. Remember that slow flight is a range of speeds between flight for max endurance and the stall. Get the aircraft set up for max endurance, pitch up ever so slightly, and be ready on the power to maintain altitude when it starts to fall on you.

At the end of the day, I wouldn't worry or stress much about the flight test. You would have passed the written exam, and as long as you retained most of your studying, the ground potion is simple. In the air, know your flight test standard limits, which for the most part is roughly a factor of 10(+-100 ft, +- 10 degrees, -5/+10 knots airspeed, etc), and under no circumstances allow yourself to go beyond double of that limit. Get plenty of rest, know your aircraft, and have fun. You are about to get into the start of your professional career as a pilot, enjoy the ride.

[Spinwmts]

Honestly, I would put your efforts into the 2 areas most commonly failed on any ride. IE. forced approach & slow flight.

Yeah I'll have to touch base with my instructor about Forced Approaches. He rarely bring them up since my PPL.

Thanks for the tips!

[GoinVertical]

Honestly, I would put your efforts into the 2 areas most commonly failed on any ride. IE. forced approach & slow flight.

Yeah I'll have to touch base with my instructor about Forced Approaches. He rarely bring them up since my PPL.

Thanks for the tips!

Tell him to smarten up or get a new instructor. When I was instructing CPL students we did a power off exercise (Forced approach or power-off 180) every flight. You should WANT to be practising these for your own safety.

[FreelanceInstructor]

Honestly, I would put your efforts into the 2 areas most commonly failed on any ride. IE. forced approach & slow flight.

Yeah I'll have to touch base with my instructor about Forced Approaches. He rarely bring them up since my PPL.

Thanks for the tips!

Tell him to smarten up or get a new instructor. When I was instructing CPL students we did a power off exercise (Forced approach or power-off 180) every flight. You should WANT to be practising these for your own safety.

Agreed 110%. I wholeheartedly believe that the successes/failures of a student is a direct reflection of the teaching that is given to them. In otherwords, if someone is a shitty pilot, it's because they had a shitty instructor. Sorry to say it dude, your instructor doesn't want to be caught with his pants around his ankles by showing you a precision-180 or a forced approach practice and not willing to take a hit to his ego if he can't do a perfect demonstration on the first attempt(learning factor of primacy). Please, for the sake of my sanity, have a chat with your instructor about WHY ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH! he isn't practicing more forced approaches. In fact, while you are at it, I would be willing to bet that if you told him to show you the shuttle descent/circling approach(in my opinion, this method is far superior to the bowtie/figure-8 method), he would get into a fit. I've been through the period of paying for training, GoingVertical has gone through it, we've all been through it. If you are dropping 10's of thousands of dollars to a PPL/CPL, you expect the best. For comparison, you don't buy a lemon Lincoln just for the purpose of having a Lincoln. You expect nothing but quality, and so should an instructor.