Lesson 18 - Checkride Prep

Today's flight was my first dress rehearsal of my checkride. We took off out of Boeing Field towards Bremerton, where we started with instrument flight. We then headed south towards Tacoma, practicing steep turns, slow flight, and stalls. My steep turns were much better, but I had a hard time getting a good stall going in my power on stalls today, so I did a few extra for the practice.

That was followed up with turns around a point, S-turns and an emergency landing over McNeil Island.

We then flew to Tacoma Narrows (KTIW) for a soft field and short field landings, as well as one go-around. This go-around, which I'll have to do on my check ride, wasn't just for demostration. The tower called me as I was on final and asked me to go around because a coyote was crossing the runway. Wildlife was all over the place today, and before getting to Tacoma, we saw quite a few eagles and hawks up close.

Other pilots were also out in large numbers, obviously drawn by the first really nice day we've had in a while. After leaving Tacoma, we flew back towards Bremerton to practice a few more emergency landings. I had to call off two landings because of nearby planes that practicing or flying too close to where we were, but was able to go through the steps on my third attempt. My final approach was a little bit to low, so I had to call it off early, but I think I would have made it in a real emergency if my power really had been out.

We went in after just 1.7 hours in the air, and Ed and I parted ways with plans to meet a few hours later to prepare for my night cross country.