Flight #: 142 Commercial VFR61
Aircraft: Robinson R22 Beta II
Aircraft ID: N956SH
Duration, as PIC: 1.1hrs
Cumulative Time: 184.40hrs
WooHoo! Passed my Check Ride today! So it is official, I'm a FAA Certified Commercial Helicopter Pilot as of 1:00pm today.
Oral test went very well... definitely was prepared. Actually, it was pretty easy. My Check Ride 
for Private was a bear. Not only cause it was the first time I've done a test like that but my examiner, Dale, was one tough dude. This one was with Mark H, and while they both are required to follow the same PTS (Practical Test Standards), the oral exam is all about presentation. Mark was friendly throughout the whole process... not easy, friendly. I did not feel like I was in a battle, but a conversation with someone who knows a hell of a lot more than me. Mark was very much by the book. He had an interesting way of asking questions. He would start with an FAA approved/required question. Then follow it up with a related question that was not necessarily in the PTS. Something that required a little extra knowledge, discussion or interpolation. I learned a few things out of the whole event.
The flight itself was equally as rewarding. Really by the book. One bit that I found particularly interesting was the off airport portion. We flew west, out to the WPA (West Practice Area) and picked out a clear-cut logging peak. I actually started an approach, downhill, but did a "go around" when I realized that was not the best of my options even though it was directly in to the wind. Got to watch that tail-rotor you know.
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Anyway, other than that... I'd say I was spot on for the flight.
Damn, feels good to have that under my belt.
Down:
- HAI Written Exam : Pass : 97%
- FAA Written Exam: Pass : 96%
- HAI Commercial Oral Exam : Pass
- HAI Commercial Flight : Pass
- FAA Commercial Oral Exam : Pass
- FAA Commercial Check Ride Flight : Pass
Commercial Pilot Certificate:
FAA Exam: Name: Commercial Pilot Rotorcraft Helicopter (CRH)
Date: 2009-04-10
Expires: 2011-04-30
Site: LAS97101
Score: 96 / Pass / 1st Take
'aint nuthin' wrong with that!
...or so the FAA says.
I passed my Class II FAA Medical exam today. Which means that I'm technically allowed to fly.
I suppose it makes sense, since the pilot is a single point of failure, but this was a pretty serious physical. They checked:
- height / weight
- distance and closeup vision
- color perception
- focus and eye movement
- urine protein and sugar
- heart
- breathing
- reflexes
- balance
- hernia
- medical history
- previous prescriptions
I dunno what I expected, honestly, something less "turn your head and cough-y", I guess.
Interestingly, my previous history of migraines was a big deal. The FAA form asked quite a lot of questions along the lines of "Have you ever had any heart disease?", "Have you ever been treated for depression?", "Have you ever has a substance abuse problem?" and "Have you ever had frequent or severe headaches?". I used to get migraine headaches quite often in college and graduate school... so I answered truthfully... "Yes".
Well, apparently there is a whole different scale I was not aware of in defining migraine headaches. It turns out I did not have "severe" headaches at all... but "moderate" ones. Could have fooled me! Anyway, "severe" is defined as prevents all activities. In my case, I would have preferred not to have been doing anything and just gone to bed... but if I had to do something, I could. And that is the definition of "moderate migraines" - inhibits, but does not wholly prevent usual activities.
After a bit of further explanation on the severity and infrequent nature of my headaches the doc cleared me.
So, I'm cleared. Classes start the week of October 8th. I've been reading the books... I'm ready to go.
Scheduled the Class II medical exam that is needed before I actually start training. October 3rd - so a few days to wait.
for Private was a bear. Not only cause it was the first time I've done a test like that but my examiner, Dale, was one tough dude. This one was with Mark H, and while they both are required to follow the same PTS (Practical Test Standards), the oral exam is all about presentation. Mark was friendly throughout the whole process... not easy, friendly. I did not feel like I was in a battle, but a conversation with someone who knows a hell of a lot more than me. Mark was very much by the book. He had an interesting way of asking questions. He would start with an FAA approved/required question. Then follow it up with a related question that was not necessarily in the PTS. Something that required a little extra knowledge, discussion or interpolation. I learned a few things out of the whole event.
