Hahaha, thanks for your enthusiasm! No beers here, I don't drink, but if I did, it would be a little bit of both. I wound up getting exam authority, so it wasn't a "real" check ride. Basically, because Quantum is a Part 141 school, they can authorize instructors to do the practical test (oral and flight portions), which is what happened with me. It was more of a stage check patterned after a check ride, if that makes sense.

Long story short, everything went super smooth except my straight-in autorotation. Even my 180-auto was dang near textbook, but I entered late and was a tad aggressive with applying aft cyclic in my straight-in entry, which caused my rotor RPM to climb a bit, which caused me to balloon a smidge, making my late entry even worse. Sooo, I was farther than 200' from my intended point of landing, which is out of standards. The instructor doing my 'ride commented that, based on how well I executed all the other maneuvers (including my "beautiful" 180), he could tell I allowed myself to get flustered by my late entry, and that threw everything else off. It wasn't unsafe at all, just not quite to standards.

So, I'll do a review flight tomorrow and we'll shoot a crap ton of autos, and I'll go back up Friday to more-or-less shoot one good auto and call it good, haha. But otherwise, it was a near-textbook ground and flight otherwise. I'm bummed a bit, but it's not the end of the world and it'll keep me humble. I'll be stoked after Friday when I get my temporary ticket, though!

Congrats! Sounds like you're enjoying it and have a great attitude for it.

OK, you're getting a

I didn't realize that a Part 141 checkride wasn't an all or nothing deal.

My understanding is that any check ride, if you fail a maneuver, is a fail. So technically, I failed. But like any other check ride, I only have to be retested on those portions I failed, so that's what's happening on Friday. But since I aced everything else, I'm not being too hard on myself. My review flight this morning went well, so I'm optimistic.

It's official, I'm a helicopter pilot! Woohoo! My autos today were almost right to my spot and went very well. :) I have to log another 10 hours before I can take up passengers (Quantum policy), but I'm greatly looking forward to it! :)

Congrats. I heard Quantum is closing it's doors. True?

That would be news to me, so I highly doubt it's true. I've heard nothing about it, and I interact with quite a few of the instructors regularly. They have quite the setup with Chinese students, which I don't see ending any time soon. Plenty of helis, no shortage of students, etc.  So in short, I'd say it's a false rumor. Where'd you hear it, and when?

Congratulations!

Thanks, gentlemen! It feels great to finally accomplish what I felt was impossible for quite some time. My dream of being a commercial heli pilot was shelved for a bit, but I'm not one to quit at anything, so I just kept at it. Dreams really do come true if you're willing to work at them! So one rating down, countless more to go, and a lifetime of learning ahead of me.

Congrats!

Congrats on getting your ticket you picked one of the better schools in AZ. If you want to keep chasing the ratings just remember its a pirates industry and you eat what you kill.
I would ditch the ditch the 141 program and fly 61 cutting costs wherever you can, being six figures in debt for a worthless piece of paper from a community college isn't going to open an doors.


Who you know is everything. And the pilot shortage is a huge steaming pile of crap. YMMV Heli CFII

The "Pilot Shortage" is quite real in the fixed wing world.    Doubtful it will reach the rotor world.  Completely different market, with a different supply and demand curve.

Is this thread not about helicopters? And even the fixed "shortage" is way overblown, they didn't just stop training pilots in the 70's. There are vacancies because people don't want to make 18k flying an 80 mil jet.