Passed my check ride this morning! Part 141 school, 42 hours. 2.5 hours of ground and a 1.1 hour flight. Drinks will be had tonight!

Right on man.   Congrats!

Congrats on the license.

You did you give a ride to first?

I haven't yet. Will probably be the wife, though.

Congrats!  

Well done!  Congratulations.  I still remember the feeling of passing mine many moons ago, felt like I was on top of the world.

Passing my instrument ride was when I went full throttle. For whatever reason the leading up to it was a complete cluster. Everything went wrong. My DPE wasn’t there on time, my 8710 wasn’t completed correctly, my plane had a MX issue.

But once we actually went up, it was like I wasn’t even doing checkride. It was just natural. Just....flying and actually enjoying myself.

It was after that when I got seriously committed to flying. I thought to myself I can actually do this.

The CFI part was a complete pain in the ass but that a different story

What he said!

I hope to be posting something similar very shortly....  It might be the next flight that I take.

How did you feel before, during, and after the checkride?  What type of airplane, how is it equipped, and what nav equipment did you use in the checkride?

I did a mock checkride and felt like it was an absolute mess, but the CFI's said I did well.  I have been studying and chair flying all week.  I think I am feeling better about the next flight.

Congrats! Now on to Instrument training...

I felt tired! Was up till after midnight cramming the last night. Then got up at 5 for my 6am check ride. Also fighting off a cold, so that didn't help. But it felt a lot more laid back than I thought it would be. No stress, just 2+ hour discussion about aircraft followed by a flight consisting of maneuvers I've done plenty of times before. Went really well. Airplane is a C152, basic equipment. Used VOR during the check ride.

Don't stress about it too much. Just study the ACS closely and you'll be fine.

Ugh.  I'm just got a head cold this morning.  Hope it burns off in a day or so.

Thanks for the info, it's much appreciated!  Did you ever come close to blowing a standard (airspeed or 100'+/- altitude), and if so how did the DPE react?  100' is a lot of altitude, but if things start going the wrong way on the backside of a steep 360' that 100' can go quickly.  I feel pretty good about those but don't know if it is a hard fail or not if you correct right away.

Congrats again!  Let us know what your biggest learning points are in the coming months.  I am presuming that once I start flying a lot on my own, and with pax, that there will a be whole new level of real world learning beyond the practice area and controlled XC solos (weather, limitations, fuel management, flight planning, etc.).

Congratulations!

I came a little close to blowing the altitude standard on turns around a point. Mainly because we were up high for slow flight and stalls, then we used an emergency decent to get down to do some ground reference maneuvers. So I went straight from an emergency decent to turns around a point without getting stabilized first. Made it harder than it needed to be. Anyway, I recognized my altitude was slipping and corrected it so there was no issue.

Don't worry so much about being smooth, worry about staying within your margins. If you are getting close to busting a margin, correct for it. In steep turns, if you see you're losing altitude, shallow the turn a little. If you're gaining altitude, steepen the turn a little. Don't stress about making the bank angle perfect, just stay within the margins. It's a private pilot checkride. You're still brand new to flying, they aren't expecting an ace.

Check out this video, guy didn't even know what a slip is an still passed.

Way to go Arlen!