Corey- don't be shocked if the DPE tell you your whiz-bang gadgets have died and you have to navigate to your divert airport with a chart, plotter and whiz-wheel. A DPE in my neck of the woods is famous for it.

About the divert exercise: the whole point is to simulate shit weather in front of you and you are escaping it- you don't ask permission to do that; you just do it.

On the divert, immediately turn toward the general area of the divert field (AVIATE), do the necessary calculations - course, distance, speed, time- (NAVIGATE), then talk to ATC if necessary (COMMUNICATE). If you're on an assigned heading, chances are the DPE won't give you the divert until you're told to "resume own navigation", but if he does, turn AND talk.

A tip: on initial contact with Approach, say "Archer 123EZ, checkride"; this clues ATC that you may need a little leeway in handling.

Good luck and report back successful!

I was told to verbalize what I was doing during the interior preflight checklist.  I have also been told that if you make a mistake, correct it because they want to see you recognizing mistakes and correcting them.

Thanks and I like that last tip!

Just got word- my checkride is scheduled for mid next month.

Man my local FSDO sucks for DPE manning.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

The DPE suckage might be one of the reasons the FAA lets them test outside their FSDO area now- kinda like have gun, will travel.

My flight school promised me a mid-nov DPE... then the guy went on vacation, screwing me over.  I know this stuff takes time, but having my PPL for the UPT board that meets starting tomorrow could make a big difference.  Too late now, I guess.

I feel for you.  I had a similar situation.  No feds available and the only 2 dpes anywhere within one fuel stop were booked waaaaay out.

And that's how guys take their checkride at 70 hours when they could have taken it and passed at 40-50 hours.

I presume you are going to keep flying a lot to stay on top of things, right?

Take your checkride endorsement to the board. Something is always better than nothing.

I did.  Board isn't in-person, paperwork only.  Updated my personal letter on the last update date, included a PCSM score update.  I can only hope they make something of it, but I'm more worried about the medical ETP which is winding its way through the bureaucracy.  I got the ETP last year, but that doesn't mean anything this go around...

The whole damn process is fucked.  Either way, I want it bad enough and I'm making it happen.  I'll be a pilot either way, big blue just gets to determine if I do it with them.

Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute the DPE is in the cockpit, he get stronger.

The past two months have been something else.  I can't seem to finish this thing and have been struggling to check boxes.

And now, it comes down to one box....  But I need to get it scheduled first.

I love the smell of 100LL in the morning....

OP, it sounds like you are having a great time!
Now that you almost have your ticket, it's time to think about the next step!
Field Morey, who used to own Morey Field (and signed my license many years ago) has an IFR course that is amazing.
You do your IFR training out west in the mountains. Back when I was flying out of Moreys, they had a map showing the route with pictures of the airstrips he had students land at. Some had warnings that they were emergency use only!
He really made sure his pilots were ready for anything!

https://ifrwest.com/index.php/northwest-mountain-adventure

Yeah, my frustration is that I have had a hard time scheduling these last "boxes."

I will think about IFR, but right now I want to get done and not have to worry about pushing flight lessons for a month or so.

2 more lessons under my belt. Both with the new CFI. Seems like a great guy and more 'by the book' which is helping fill in some gaps for me. Both flights, last Saturday and yesterday, looked like they would be cancelled due to weather but it cleared just in time and turned out to be spectacular conditions. Yesterday was great as most people opted to not fly due to the holiday so it was quiet in the practice area and at the field.

For whatever reason with the new instructor, I've changed how I'm looking at the lessons - more of an approach of 'let's go have a fun flight' instead of 'I hope I don't mess anything up'. Seems I turned a corner in the confidence area. Still not feeling the confidence I want/expect for my first solo, but I'm sure it will come with more lessons.

Still having issues with steep turns to the right and turns around a point with decent cross winds. More practice on those next lesson. Emergency procedures are still kind of sloppy for me still as I don't have the details firmly set in my head.

Great news!  Glad the new CFI is a good fit with you.  And you have the right idea now, just enjoy the flights and soak everything in.  There is so much to learn try to make this as low pressure as possible.

I can tell you that the early stage of flight training is the least stressful portion.  Once you start to get to solo and beyond, there will be performance benchmarks, stage checkrides, and the actual flights.  So the actual flying gets more stressful, your progress in training is on the line, and you will be up there having to work through things on your own during solo flights.

My next flight is going to be after a 2-3 hour long discussion with my first passenger, who has forgotten more about aviation than I will ever know.  Then a 2 hour long flight where all I have to do is meet the Airman Certification Standards and convince him to remove the word "student" from my certificate.  Yup, I have my checkride scheduled.  No pressure.  

I am going to go sit in the airplane and run over checklists and emergency procedures this morning.  The FAR AIM and Airman Certification Standards are always with me, and I am chair flying all the time.

When is your check ride scheduled? From your previous posts, it sounds like you are well prepared. I kind of feel like a slacker compared to you.

You are adding to my feeling that I need to find a pilot to ride along with in the right seat and see where all of this will take me over time. I'm kind of in a vacuum in that area as my CFI and this forum are my only source of stories/knowledge/etc. I think riding along would be enlightening for me.

The exact date I am going to keep to myself for now.  No sense adding any more pressure at this point.

I have a friend who is a 500-hour instrument-rated pilot.  I have flown with him many time over the years.  It wasn't until we took a trip halfway through my training where I was able to understand what he was doing and learn a ton just watching him from the right seat.  I also am lucky enough to have a number of other pilots to mentor me when I get through training.  So you are right to want to fly with other pilots.

I would highly suggest that you join some local flying groups to start to meet other pilots.  Heck, even if your local FBO has an "IFR club" like ours, start going to that as a VFR pilot to just absorb things and meet pilots.  In a very short period of time, my CFI will no longer be the one making the go/no-go calls on my flights.  I will be doing that.  And on long trips I will want to check the weather and my flight plan with someone who has more experience.

One more thing.  As your training builds, the dots will start to connect.  I would say when you are doing the XC work that is when you begin to realize that an airplane can take you to places other than the practice area and what it takes to transition to other airspaces.  

But what always sucked for me about the XC's was that I was flying 200+ NM and just doing touch and goes (don't get me wrong, flying is fun!).  It kind of became an exercise of sitting in the airplane for 2 hours just to end up back where I started.  When my CFI let me do a long XC solo to see family, it was the first time I ever parked the airplane at the destination airport and went to do something fun.

How many hours do you have and have you discussed with your CFI when he thinks you will solo and what you need to work on in the meantime?

I look forward to the XC part of the learning. I’m approaching 20 hours and my CFI is prepping me for the solo. I have the core concepts down but lack the confidence and smoothness/flow at this point. We both agree on that. I feel I need to be able to do a flight with less input from him before I will feel ready. He is reading me and not ready to pull the trigger until I talk more confidently about it. It’s nearing. What we need to work on in the mean time is just that. More seat time to build the confidence.

I enter into new things slow and cautious, that’s playing out here. I feel I need to be competent at each step. I appreciate him saying I’m doing great but I have to believe it myself. Next lesson will be practicing everything learned so far but we will start landing at other fields. I’ve been loving the landings and look forward to doing it at an unfamiliar field.

Well that worked out well. I'm part of an aviation FB group and posted a request for right seat time this morning. Just got back from 3 hours with a guy that is prepping for his commercial check ride tomorrow. He went through the usual maneuvers that I have been working on plus lazy eights, pilons, etc. Also got to visit an uncontrolled field for the first time. Good experience and allowed me to watch for traffic, sight see, listen to comms better than when I'm in control. I'll do that more over time.

ETA: More ramblings: We flew in a C182 which I got to control for a bit. Noticeable difference in control pressure needed between that and the C162s that I've been taking lessons in. Makes me think I'd like even more to try a Piper to see what they are like. Basically if I get the opportunity to buy a plane, I'd like a balance between what the 162 and 182 have to offer though I bet light and maneuverable and stable for cross country are mutually exclusive.

Lastly, as we were heading back we saw someone practicing aerobatics. That was unexpected for me and concerning at first. When we saw the plane at our 11:00 it was headed straight down in a spin. First thought was 'that's bad', but then realized what was going on. At this point, I'm not thinking that's on my bucket list.

That is great news, I'll bet you learned a ton!

I have some stick time (right seat) in a 182RG and you are right.  Definitely heavier controls than my Archer.

I look forward to hearing if that right seat time benefits you and transfers to the left seat.

Just remember that there are no bragging rights as to how many hours to solo, checkride, etc.  Take as much time as you need and it will benefit you in the long run.

I'd love to work my way into being a DPE someday.

I passed the oral portion of my checkride this morning and got a discontinuance on the flight portion due to low ceilings (1,800' broken).

I felt like I was well prepared for the oral, which was good because I spent a loy of time studying.

The DPE is a great guy.  He really put me at ease and it is clear that, while he will not pass an unsafe pilot, that he wants the applicant to succeed.  I have seen that as a consistent theme while reading about checkrides the past week or so -- the DPE's in general want to see successful, skilled, and safe pilots.

Now I just need to go up for a short flight and do what I have been training for.

Good luck, it's sure a crappy day here today. Ugh.

What he said.  It's been blowing over 25kts here for 2 straight weeks.  

The guy I flew with Sunday was supposed to have his commercial check ride yesterday but 50kts at 2000’ and strong shear warnings, so now it’s hopefully the 13th. Seems to be not surprising in the winter it seems.

Yeah, I’ve been through enough learning experiences that I value the knowledge and the experience more than checking boxes as early as I can. My first lessons led my to a bit of arrogance which has since been tempered. Now I’m back to focusing on the experience and learning all I can. The company I work for is in a weird transition and no one knows if they will have a job tomorrow. This endeavor could get a long pause in the middle if things don’t go my way so just trying to maximize every time up. Hell, that’s true for life in general, you never know. (It’s also providing a good distraction from thinking about the job, so bonus)

On my ride Sunday I feel that the uncontrolled airport definitely helped prepare me for when I first go to one. It also helped patten work at my home field make more sense. Being able to spend as much of my attention looking for traffic helped as well. I try to do that already but on some level leave some of the attention to the CFI since I’m so focused on just flying the plane well. I think I’ll be better at it now.

Have you talked with another airplane on CTAF yet?  Flying into uncontrolled airports is a lot different than a C or D.

The first time I talked to another airplane on CTAF I was on a taxiway taking my final lap during solo and a Citation was blazing into the field.  It was cool talking to a Citation pilot, and he didn't once refer to me as a bug smasher.  I have heard about GA pilots taking with FedEx 757's when Madison tower is shut down.  Good times!

And you will get through this!  We all are driven and want to see results as quickly as possible.  But this is one of those situations where cancelled flights actually teaches you something about aviation.  And the lessons learned are humbling..

We have a few guys at work that are DPE's.  These days, it's a very lucrative side gig.

I have not personally talked with another on CTAF yet, but listened to the pilot on Sunday coordinating with the other pilots doing pattern work. He was very informative and taught me how best to announce your intentions at each leg. (He's an interesting guy, a paramedic that is going through the aviation hoops more as a hobby and for a back up career. He's going commercial first, then CFI.) In the time we were there, there must have been about 8 planes either in the pattern or arriving/departing, so plenty of coordinating going on and all the better lesson for me.

I get what CTAF is in relation to an airport, but is the common channel for practice areas with no ATC coverage also considered CTAF, or just a common uncontrolled airspace channel? In our case, they were two different frequencies, curious if they fall under the same moniker.

On a different note, read a post about a guy in E. WA. that departed on a cross country trip at night. Overcast and broken clouds in the area but fine at the home airport and destination, plus seemed fine enough for the plan all around. Turns out there were clouds at lower altitudes in between and he flew into them and got disoriented. Quickly realized what was going on and then that he was banking left and descending. He corrected as quick as possible. VFR by the way. He  then contacted ATC and they got him sorted and headed back home. It was a sobering story for me having not done night flights yet. I had not considered that kind of scenario. There were a number of responses suggesting better approaches to how he could have handled it. All quite informative to me.

I may have related the story about a solo in the practice area where I stayed with Madison approach and with an assigned squawk code.  Two other airplanes were manuevering in the area and Madison called me to give traffic advisories.

If we were both on Madison, approach would call us each individually and give us the all clear when one pilot had a visual on the other airplane.

But in this case I have no idea what frequencies these other aircraft were on.  And as far as I know, there is no area CTAF (and if there were no standardized way of calling out position in an area).

I had both aircraft on TCAS (at the very least they had ADS-B).  But otherwise it was up to me to avoid them.

I have been trained that when leaving flight following in cruise flight, to stay on that approach frequency to get an idea what is going on around you.  Also I have seen pilots monitor CTAF when flying over uncontrolled airports, sometimes calling out position and course.

When I left KPDC on a solo back to KMSN I made a last call on the CTAF and stayed on that frequency for awhile, simply because there was no other frequency that I could monitor (too far from Madison).  As soon as I started picking up Madison I monitored that frequency and made the call to them probably 20NM before I was supposed to.  But you are right -- at one point I was purely VFR not talking to anyone.  Having done most all of my flying under Madison radar coverage, I did not like that feeling.

I could have called Chicago Center off of KPDC and asked for flight following back to Madison.  But that's not how I did it with my CFI on the long XC's.  Although when I have gotten flight following from Chicago Center they have been very helpful and talked to me the same way they talk to the commercial traffic.

I too am interested in the answer to these questions and what best practice would be.

Tons of money to be made as one, obviously.

I don’t even think they have to have a medical to perform the checkride

I've been doing a lot of my training south of Vegas out of KHND.  Once you get out from under the bravo and away from the KHND delta headed southbound, typically we tune into 0L7's CTAF and make position and altitude calls there.  Local pilots use it for practicing over the dry lakebeds in the area.  If you're one valley over most people tune into KBLD's CTAF.  Granted, this is all fairly close to airports, but that's some insight to you.  I'm lucky insofar that I got real comfortable with controlled and uncontrolled towers real quick, as I had both nearby to work with.

Pure VFR flying is pure freedom. No one to talk to and only YOU to take watch out for yourself.
I once flew a Rockwell Lark from Sidney, OH (KSCA) to Titusville, FL (X21) and did not spoke with a soul. I stayed out of controlled airspace. I didn't have much choice as the airplane didn't have comm radios- transponder only. I did have a handheld, but it was reserved for desperation, luckily unneeded.
Once you get your license, go out and try it.

That being said, monitoring a CTAF is a good idea- especially around a drop zone!-, but unless you are doing something at that airport... shut up. Don't congest the frequency with a position report- no one really gives a shit.

Lastly, if flight following makes you comfortable, ask for it, but be prepared for the day when the controller says, "Unable flight following; maintain VFR." You're on your own then and ATC only cares about you if you cause a conflict.

True dat- been that way for some years now. The DPE that did my Instrument ride didn't have a medical. They can also give rides outside their "home" FSDO now.

Neat.  I've got an hour in the 180 horse version and just did it's annual.  Stout airplane (understatement of the century).  Interesting handling with that laminar airfoil.

I get the pure freedom point, but as a student pilot (hopefully new pilot soon?) I am still learning how to deal with that freedom.  And I would rather error on the cautious side.  (EDIT to add that I have flown XC purely VFR, and it is a nice experience.)

On a side note, the airplane I fly (an Archer II) just had an alternator failure and is in maintenance and not available for the continued checkride tomorrow, so I had to reschedule.  (It was going to be shitty weather anyways.)

I did talk to the pilot who experienced the alternator failure and got a good debrief from him.  It was a successful outcome -- normal landing and everyone safe.  And I learned something from it.

The one I flew was a 160 HP. I thought that it would be like a 172 and was surprised it wasn't at all.
I thought it handled better in the air, but in slow flight and on the ground was a bit squirrelly compared to the 172.
Overall, I liked how it performed and wouldn't mind owning one, but finding a mechanic familiar with the type could be an issue.

I would hope that everything was normal and safe -except for the missing alternator. Unless you are IN IMC, an electrical failure- short of throwing sparks and melting stuff- is a non-event, more a PITA than anything else. Shed all unnecessary electrical load and fly to the nearest landing point, turning on needed electrical gear (radio, transponder) only when absolutely required. Pro tip: yakking on the radio will spend battery power like crazy. Talk only as much as needed.

Yes, that is what happened.  It was a successful landing.  The battery lasted the duration of the 40 minute flight, which was surprising considering he had the Garmin 430 running as primary COM and NAV (and shutdown everything else, except the transponder).  But ATC was expecting him to arrive as a NORDO at a given time so he could have brought it in on his iPad with ForeFlight.

The pilot told me that he remembered his IFR DPE (same as my PP DPE) told him that transmitting on the radio took more power than receiving, so broken transmissions was a sign that you had electrical issues.  So the pilot did revert back to training.

My CFI told me tonight the same as what you posted.  He has had 3 alternator failures, and they are more an annoyance than anything else.

Of course, an "annoyance" for a 1,000+ hour pilot is something else for a 50 hour pilot!

Always learning.

Lost an alternator in a T182RG.  My commercial rated A&P apprentice was sitting left seat.  I just looked at him and said “guess what you’re doing this afternoon?”  

They actually stall, and surprisingly sharply.  Any competent mech should have no prob with them.  Pretty easy airplane to work on and manuals are out there.  Airframe parts are near unobtainium.

Man, that was cruel. I hope there was an extra alternator belt zip-tied in place.

As far as the Lark goes, yeah, the stall and slow flight characteristics are what surprised me. Whenever I fly a new (to me) airplane, I like to take them to altitude and slow fly and stall them. I was quite shocked how sharp that damn Lark stalled and it did not like the slow flight regime at all. Vs1 was landing speed or I dropped outta the sky like a winged bowling ball!

The unobtanium parts is where a mech with type familiarity comes into play- they know where TO obtain'em.

First night flight last night. Left the field at sunset and flew to the practice area as it slowly faded to night. Winds were around 25kts so a lot of turbulence. I took in the new conditions and it seemed fine enough. First thing my instructor asked for was slow flight. I didn't realize it at the time, but first time I've done slow flight in turbulence. I'm not a fan, but it was good experience. My issues were turning the plane in slow flight and then having the plane bounce around - a lot. I'm well aware we were close to a stall and I really wanted the ability to have full control - I wanted to be able to use the ailerons to correct the effects of the gusts. (I'm still coming to terms with turbulence and the abilities/limitations of the plane) He wasn't concerned, but I definitely was. We stuck with that for a while to help me push through my discomfort but I finally got to a point where it was too much so we recovered from SF and put some space between the Cascades and us.

Turbulence mellowed with the distance and we went back to slow flight. That went fine other than I was gun shy at that point and anticipating turbulence though it never came. With those winds the plane really wanted to weather vane into the wind, so a bit of challenge. We worked on other maneuvers and then headed to the field to practice landings. Again, my first night flight so landing was interesting. KRNT is a big field that 737's first flight out of, so lots of room and well lit. I've only landed in winds of that speed once but not with them as cross winds. So, stiff cross wind and night to double up the newness of the experience. He had me lean into the wind with ailerons and straighten the plane with rudder on the first round. The third and final landing I somehow transitioned that to crabbing in instead of the former method. Not planned, just sort of happened. I didn't realize I had done it, but it was working so I continued to roll with it. About 150' above the runway we got bounced by the wind quite a bit but recovered fine enough and continued down and landed fine.

In the debrief he asked why I didn't abort the last landing and go around for another try. That wasn't even in my consciousness and we recovered fine enough, so it didn't seem to me like it was needed. It did bring to light that I have not done go arounds at all so far, hence not being in my tool box. Next lesson we will be doing that.

All in all, a great flight though I'm more convinced that I'm not a fan of VFR night flights and also turbulence. I'll have to get over those issues I know.

Yes, get out and do some go-arounds.  When you need to do them in real life you won't have time to think about it other than to go full throttle and do it.  I have done a couple of early go-arounds because I wasn't feeling good about the approach, but I have done two (for a strong gust over the runway and wind sheer on short final) that were absolutely necessary.

Night is a more challenging environment to fly in, that is for sure.  I am sure that the slow flight in gusty night conditions was tough!

For your private pilot certificate, you only need 3 hours (which is IMHO not enough to just hop in an airplane as new pilot and go flying at night).  My plan is to fly at night as much as I can with experienced pilots in the right seat.  I'm sure I can get people out to the airport for a short (and free) one hour flight if I buy them a beer afterwards for the debrief.

And good job on the slide slips to landings!

There is so much to learn, isn't there?!?!

There is for sure and I know there is more that I don’t yet know I don’t know

I’m prepping for my stage 1 check ride and solo and feeling overwhelmed memorizing info that I have taken for granted so far.

I keep waiting for you to post that you passed your check ride.

Funny that you should mention the flight portion of my checkride (I passed the oral weeks ago)....

It was scheduled for this morning at 0730 hrs.  Last night I checked in with the DPE when the TAF was calling for 7,000' ceilings all day today.  I was so confident in the forecast, I didn't even look at the METAR when I woke up (and it was still dark outside, so I couldn't see the sky).  After I ate breakfast and was ready to head out the door, I checked and it said BKN022 and was not forecast to improve.  

I tried calling the DPE, but could only leave him a message saying that I was making a "no go" decision.  Sure enough I showed up at the airport and looked closer at the weather and it was a bust.  The DPE showed up a short time later, and took me into a private room.  His biggest thing is ADM, and he took the opportunity to talk with me about what it would take to go flying and analyze the weather in surrounding airports.  I'm done with the oral, and had already made the decision to cancel the flight, so I really appreciated that even in this checkride process he is still taking opportunities to teach and reinforce.  He has forgotten more about aviation than I will ever know, and it was a good learning moment.

During this discussion proficiency came up.  I mentioned that I hadn't flow in about three weeks and wished that the weather had allowed me to continue doing solos.  He said that the ceilings were good for pattern work and suggested I go for a solo flight.  So I went out and spent 1.3 hours in the pattern.

I have mentioned this before about what I have found to be "real world" (vectors to straight in 10 mile finals, etc.) landings during XC flying.  That's not to say they are better or more advanced, in fact it is the opposite.  A steady diet of XC's means one landing per flight and no pattern work.  I have found that made my pattern work sloppy, which had an adverse effect on those "real world" landings.  The bottom line is that I have found over the past couple of months how important it is to stay proficient at pattern work.  So it was GREAT getting back up there, even for a short period of time, and honing those skills again.

And doing just a handful of landings is much better training that doing just one per flight.  The repetition and focus on that one single skill restored a lot of the confidence that I had lost the past month or so.  I did some short field and soft field landings.  I got confident again in rounding out over the grass, flaring over the threshold, and nailing the numbers on a runway with no displaced threshold (32).  It's a good feeling to pick out a spot to land and then put the aircraft down at that point.  That kind of landing makes airspeed critical, so it was good to be doing a precise approach like that again.

I was reminded that if I didn't like an aspect of the approach (airspeed, altitude, glide path, alignment, etc.) that I could fix it if I recognized it right away.  If things ever got too far out, then go-around and try it again (no go-arounds today).  But if I stayed ahead of the airplane I could make these corrections with pitch and power adjustments.

So today was a confidence boost going into what will be the fourth scheduled checkride for me.

It was a great day flying, even though I don't have my certificate yet.

I can't wait to hear how your solo goes.  If you are anxious, that is normal.  But everyone says that their solo is a lot of fun and an unforgettable flight.  When you look over to the right seat and see a headset sitting there, know that you you can do it!  The overwhelmed feeling just means that you are taking it seriously and you will be well prepared for it.

@PLammer- On solo, remember 2 things:

1- The plane is going to be a lot more responsive feeling without the dead weight in the right seat.

2- There's no one there to save your butt if you screw up. So don't screw up.

After your first solo, the rest of the day will seem boring as hell.