Class 4 Ride

chewsta · Post by **chewsta** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 5:58 pm

Everyone,

I have my class 4 ride coming up in two weeks and was wondering if anyone would like to share some advice or thoughts on the subject.

Thanks,
Chewsta

clubzed · Post by **clubzed** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 6:30 pm

Hey Chewsta,

My advice would be "keep it simple". During the instructional portion of your flight test, don't assume that the 'pretend student' knows more than they really do. You won't get marked down for teaching it simple to complex. Don't talk to the 'student' in the air without first taking control of the aircraft. Give the 'student' room to make mistakes - don't be too eager to reach for the controls or else you won't be able to give a full analysis of 'student' performance during the post flight de-brief (did they recognise what was going wrong and attempt to correct it?). Fully understand the power/drag curves and be able to explain them.

Other than that, get your briefing notes and chalkboard plans in order. Be confident and play the TC game - we all know that training is varied according to student abilities and you do what you have to to get the point across. TC seems to think that one method (theirs!) is appropriate all of the time. So, give 'em hell, you can do it! You can fly an aeroplane so the rest is only words, right?

Best of luck and let us know how you make out.

Clubzed

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 6:52 pm

And remember, no matter how idiotic the Inspectors thoughts, suggestions and opinions may seem to be, you just pretend that he is God and agree with him...

They just love ass kissers so pretend to be one and you will do just fine.

Once you are free of the TC crap and have your license you can revert to becoming a thinking rational human being and teach using that method.

Good luck and let us know how it went.

Hell you may even get a good inspector.............If you do please let us know that also.

Cat

ScurvyDog · Post by **ScurvyDog** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 5:09 am

chewsta Just pretend the TC inspector is a moron. He or she knows nothing about a/c and flying. In the air, don't overload the student with info and take control before talking(instructing). Play the game and you will do just fine! Good luck!!

imfsub12 · Post by **imfsub12** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 9:11 am

if you normaly fly in you local area and ATC don't really care if you read back every lilttle think they say like when you fly IFR, but we are VFR. do it for you ride as my examiner tore the book off me when i didnt' tell the tower is was on a stright aproach and so on and so on and so on, oh and when taxing give what taxie way you are going to and from that tower gives you.... i know our tower hates it as can get very busy at the a/p but TC made me do so..... what a pain

mcrit · Post by **mcrit** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 8:09 pm

If you are doing the ride at YHM expect to do a forced approach as a skills demo. (You might get two, one in the practice area and one in the circuit)

KAG · Post by **KAG** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 11:01 pm

If you screw up a deminstration (IE miss the field in a forced) look over and say "that was a poor deminstration, lets do it again" he/she can't fail you. Also, don't BS if you do make a mistake, owe up to it, talk about what went wrong and how to improve it - turn your screwup into a little lession.

md · Post by md » Mon Apr 12, 2004 9:57 am

I agree with King Air Guy.
I know a guy that did his ride and botched the forced demo and turned it in to a learning process for the "student" - he got very good feedback about it in the de-brief.
I got Slow Flight on mine - know your theory and the lessons. I started going through the theory on it for about 20 seconds then the examiner cut me off and told me to move on. They just want to know you have the understanding.
He also picked up a PTR of a student and got me to look through it and asked me what I'd do with the student next. After that he gave me a scenario "student been in the circuit for 20 hours, not progressing, what would you do?" Just think about it, and back up your answers if he doesn't seem to agree. "This is what I would do but I'd also check with my supervising instructor to see if they had any suggestions as well.. blah blah blah" you get my drift.
Plus, if you get the flight test later in the day they're more in a hurry to get home to the wife and kids and breeze right through it.
Just relax, and don't be intimidated. The ride was more relaxing than the Class 1 that did my rating ripping me up every lesson I did.

chewsta · Post by **chewsta** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 1:10 pm

All good tips guys.

The ride went today without any major glitches. As far as the forced approach: I was asked to do one into a 1200' grass strip with trees at the threshold. It ended up being a bit high. During the debrief I took the opportunity to address field selection (weighing a long farmers field with a short established grass runway) and it went well.

Cat,
No major problems with TC out of YHM. Inspector seemed to have a few quirks but overall wanted to see me succeed and gave a couple of extra opportunities to do so. That said, "ass kissing certain theories and pretending like they're a moron"....

Thanks again for the tips.

Right Seat Captain · Post by **Right Seat Captain** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 3:25 pm

Congrats chewsta!