Wow, the day had finally come for me to step out and take a chance at my IFR Check Ride with N926GZ. It's been 2 1/2 years since I bought my plane and immediately began my training with Durand. In fact, the very first day that we brought the plane home, we began training with an IFR trip which took us half way across Pennsylvania. But that's another story. Today it was all about the Check Ride. Tom Callahan was my CFII and we met at South Jersey Airport at 11:15 to begin. After some preliminary paperwork on the computer with the FAA, Tom began the process of explaining the procedures and standards for today's examination. We began talking about the process for planning today's trip which was from South Jersey Airport (KVAY) to Syracuse Airport (KSYR) with myself and three other passengers all weighing 200 lbs and 100 lbs of luggage. The trip would take 1 hour and 40 minutes and without the need of an alternate would require 31 gallons of fuel for N926GZ based on my projected 13 gallons an hour fuel burn. Problem was, the weights and balance on the plane only allowed for 30 gallons of fuel. A lot of different scenarios present themselves in this trip, until you are in the air at 6,000 feet and have no fuel left. From there we began to explore the weather scenarios and how I would search out the possibilities. Of course each pilot has their own preferences when it comes to weather sources, none of which include channels 3, 6 or 10. Anyway, we moved through that and then began talking about personal pilot qualifications and airplane qualifications. Finally it was time to fly. I had already filled 6GZ so it was Pre-flight and then call Maguire for the release. Okay, so this usually results in a complete change of the entire flight plan that you planned and as usual Maguire sends me to the Robinsville VOR. Depart Runway 8, climb to 2000, expect 6000 after 10 minutes. Never really happens that way, but that's the initial plan. We roll down the runway and at 500 feet it's foggels on. Foggels are the view limiting devices that we use to simulate IFR conditions. The air was smooth with cloudy conditions, but the clouds were up at 8000 so no problems. Maguire moves us from 2000 to 3000 and then to 4000 and changes our direction to direct to Yardley. Off we go to Yardley and switch to Philadelphia Approach. Now I've always had very positive results with Philadelphia and today was no exception. Over Yardley we canceled our IFR plan and prepared for the first approach, the ILS 24 into Northeast Philadelphia Airport (KPNE). Philadelphia Approach vectors us to the localizer, which is the signal that will guide your plane right down to the runway. At 320 feet I level off over the runway and we begin a full missed approach heading back to Yardley VOR. We settle in for some holds at Yardley. This would be my time to prepare for another option if this were all real IFR conditions. After about three holds, we prepare for the GPS 24 into KPNE using the auto pilot. Once set up, I call Maguire and activate the autopilot and GPSS steering. Philadelphia decides to give us vectors to the approach, so I switch the GPSS back to heading bug and steer the plane as directed. On final, I'm able to adjust the flight plan to pick up direct to the final fix and inbound we go. Due to incoming traffic on the other runway, we go missed prior to the runway and head back to Jersey for some unusual attitudes. Always my favorite.
After a short break I'm told to close my eyes and begin a climbing right hand turn. Steeper turn and climb! Steeper turn and climb! Now open your eyes and recover. Okay, we lower the nose, put in some power, level the wings and recover. GREAT! Now it's his turn to fly the plane and I close my eyes. After a few minutes I'm told to open my eyes and recover from a diving left turn. Pull the power, pull up the nose, and level the wings. Okay, one more thing. The VOR 26 Approach back into South Jersey, (KVAY). I set up my VORs and prepare for the approach. Then the blanks come out to simulate a system failure. Problem? No, except I loose my HSI which is my inbound VOR. SO, I change the other VOR for the inbound and begin my attempt to intercept the 236 radial for South Jersey. I tell Tom that under the current conditions, I would probably call Maguire and tell them that I have had a full system failure and need assistance. Tom tells me he will be Maguire and what would I need. I tell him, just the location of Louey which is the initial fix for the VOR 26 approach. We hit Louey at 2000 feet and I begin my descent and start my timer. 2 minutes and 54 seconds and we are at 650 feet and I'm calling my missed approach point. Tom tells me to take off my foggels and do a circling approach to runway 8. Maintain 640 feet and stay within 1 mile of the airport, we go downwind, base and final and I hit a nice landing at SJ. Congratulations Dave, very nice job! Finally, after 2 and 1/2 years I am IFR certified and ready to learn. Now I can breath!! I did it!!
