I reached another milestone yesterday, passing my commercial checkride. I took the ride at 150 hours. Relief is the word - but I can't rest yet. I have the CFI ride on Tuesday.

For those working towards the commercial rating, and any one else who may be interested, I'll give some of the details and my thoughts.

I had a good breakfast (NB), and got to the airport at 8:30. The ride was for 9:00, but I always like to have a bit of time to ensure that things go smoothly. I started by checking the logbooks, and getting a weather report. My paperwork was ready the day before, so I sat and chatted to other pilots. I was far calmer on this ride than I was on the private. When the examiner arrived I was sitting in the checkride room, reading. very relaxed. The paperwork was good, and that always puts an examiner in good spirits. I've seen examiners who have to correct paperwork get a bit frazzled, and then the applicant really has to prove his/her worth.

I did not jump at any of his questions, even though I knew my stuff pretty well. First, you want to think about the question, and make sure you understand it, and give a comprehensive reply. Second, you know that a checkride is a finite thing, and if you snap back the answers in haste, you will give him/her plenty of time to cover more material, in depth. You can't know everything, and with enough time they will find weaknesses. So don't rush your answers.

We had lunch together at the local chihuahua (taco's), and then finished up the ground. Things were going well.

If you get a good score on the written, and then have a smooth oral, you will almost certainly get more slack on the flight. You will still have to perform the manoeuvers within limits, but you are off on the right foot. Conversely, if you scrape through the written, and don't impress the person in the oral, I believe you are more likely to get nailed on something up there.

We flew out to the hills, and did a pinacle landing. I try to recon on one circuit, but generally take two. I took two this time. On the hill we did two slopes. These should be done very very slowly. All the muscles in my body tense up (almost all) on slope landings. We departed, and he pointed out a confined area. I saw some cows near the area on the high recon, and asked him to pick another spot. He did, and I set up for it with two circuits. I was on final when it just didn't look/feel right. I did a go-around, and came in again. No problem. Better safe that overarc with a steep approach, and risk the associated hazards (settling w/power, not enough power to arrest descent etc). It was tight, but we got in with no problem, and it felt good. With pinnacles and confined areas, and probably any other landing, especially autos, I think you make or break it on the set up and on the base leg.

I find that there is a sweet spot on approaches. Most of my approaches are flown with tiny, but perceptable, adjustments to them. Some just seem to hit a sweet spot, where almost no adjustment is needed, and things seem quieter, calmer, and somewhat surreal on the way down. (I wonder if others experience this?)

A max performance take off got us out of the area, and he had me turn downwind to demonstrate settling w/power. He distracted me with something, and chopped the throttle. It was instinctive to enter the auto, and I picked a dirt road through a field to land. If you are over a suburbia, remember that newer neighbourhoods put most of their cables underground. Older ones invariably have them running above ground. Power recovery to a hover, and then off to demonstrate settling with power. I lost about 150 feet recovering from the first one, and he said I may have crashed had I been on final. I castigated myself inwardly. We were at about 2000' AGL, so I did not notice the altitude loss immediately. The second one was far better, with about 50 feet lost.

We went back to the airport, and on the way in I asked for a specific spot in the pattern. (we only have 3 spots for helicopter patterns, and the 1000' markers is best for running landings. The controller said she would hold it for me, and I did the running landing. He took the controls, and taxied over to let me do a quick stop. He handed me the controls, and then chopped the throttle on me just as I was checking the gauges and lights etc. I find that a small amount of forward cyclic (in the 300CB) give a very gently hover-auto. Try touch the toes down first. Then I did the quick stop. A crosswind max performance t/o was next, and the 180 auto (I've been doing full downs in prep for the CFI, and I had the urge to hold it in detent, and put it down.)

When I got back to parking and set it down, I felt good, but apprehensive. One spends one's life savings (and some go deep into debt) to do the training, and it boils down to one ride on a specific day. If you fail it, the school may not want to hire you on. Other schools may take a guy who passed on his first try, all other things being equal. Many things run through the mind at the end on the ride (and building up to it). I had made one or two errors, and it was not a perfect flight, but it was good.

I shut down, and he put out his hand. Man was I relieved. I had passed the commercial, and it was over. He even threw in a good word about airmanship and conservatism to my instructor and the owner of the school.

I felt on top of the world, and my head must have grown a few sizes. My wife topped it off by taking me out to dinner, and showering me with praise. I think she still thinks that we will move to Alaska, and live a fairy tale life in the wilderness. I just want a job. Maybe as an Ag apprentice :)

I'll just take the opportunity to thank all those who are constructive in their rantings. I really enjoy reading this group.

Joel

I hope you didn't get this far if you were bored on the way. :)