Flair change! Commercial Pilot! Writeup inside.

Commercial check ride gouge: Brian Kruise 7/13/2023 DPE: Barry Brocado Started the day early to try and beat the heat. Oral started with the usual IACRA and pleasantries. We started with going over the airplane we intended on flying in later, as if that was out of sorts we wouldn’t have a reason to continue. Once we agreed that the maintence records were up to code he got his check and we continued into the oral. Our flight plan was from San Diego to Henderson NV. I planned for a VOR to VOR at 9500 as it was both the most direct route but gave us plenty of backups in the forms of visual aids mixed with nav aids. It also kept us out of the MOAs. I told him we could fly through them, but this would be for the best. With the way the routes are laid out we’d be easier to find on S&R and would give us backup navigation by sticking to the airway. I had all the paperwork on a pre-compiled word document with screen shots of the POH for W&B, takeoff distance, roll out, cruise power and RPM settings etc. I used paint to line up the charts and draw on them with lines to be as laser accurate with my numbers as possible. We went over the weather report next. The evening prior I had used the PDF printout from 1800WX brief which is how I always flight plan, and I was able to go into specific detail about each page and why it mattered to our flight and how I used those numbers to get our speeds at altitude etc. He had told me about a private applicate that mistakenly thought that low pressure areas and troughs brought in the good weather. I told him that it was more like a vacuum sucking in all the bad weather and keeping it over that area. He liked the analogy and we moved on. My briefing of our weather was to the point, but not so fast as to miss anything. He asked about the hazards of this trip and my prime concern was the heat, specifically the density altitude and possibility for non forecasted turbulence. I had mentioned that landing distance isn’t anything I’m worried about, but at 104f forecasted for the day if we have to make a go-around, or I put the mixture in too high and flood the engine or even us getting heat exhaustion that would be my primary concern. I told him if he were my client I would highly recommend a night time landing maybe a day prior to the trip to be able to enjoy the flight more. He liked the at recommendation. A question during this I did not study as much as I could however was a risk assessment table. He gave me a brief example and I gave my own; a tornado warning in the middle of the Vegas strip is probably not going to happen, and I’d be willing to fly to Vegas knowing they exist. The severity is high, but the likelihood is almost nill. I had to look up some fairly simple PPL level questions, like what airspace does MYF turn into if the tower is closed (In the ADF) but then what would the airspace weather minimums be in E vs G and I knew them, but I didn’t want to miss-speak, and it was safer to get everything 100%. Checkride brain was in effect. But he was very happy I took the time to get my PHAK out and show him. Had to do the same thing on a systems question, the airspeed indicator uses the ram air intake, but does it also require the static port? And to be honest I haven’t thought about it in a while, so I found the diagram in the book of how they work, and I went over it to him which he also liked that I didn’t just fumble over a possibly incorrect answer. How the other end of the gauge is connected to the rest of the system’s static line. We talked about some of my aspirations about being a commercial pilot and I had mentioned ferrying people’s planes to new owners could be fun and rewarding. I ferried our piper lance with a CFII and really enjoyed the experience. I have about double the hours in the model now and feel like I could make good decisions on go no-go with a plane I haven’t been in. Like if they had systems, I was unfamiliar with, in my case the aspen in our lance, I purchased and took the Sporty’s “flying with an aspen” course before I hopped in the plane so I could be safer. We talked about personal Miniums, and how the FAA’s are the bare minimum. He then asked if I wanted to start ferrying planes or moving planes for people could I just put up a post on the piper forums or fb group saying “Brian’s plane moving service” which we talked about how that could be considered holding out. Answering help wanted ads, or word of mouth would be more on the up and up. All in all the oral was about 1.5 hrs. I gathered my books and laptop and we moved out to the plane. No questions were asked about my pre-flight. I did mention how I like to cross check my preflight checklist against what I do afterword’s to make sure I don’t miss anything and he liked that. He helped me push the plane into position but I made sure to tell him where he can press, as if he’s a passenger paying me for this ride. We got into the plane, and I helped him with is door. This was after I had left something on the wing he had to grab for me. Checkride brain again! We went over the SAFTEY briefing and positive exchange of controls. Started up and from our spot I briefed what I would expect our taxi clearance to be on my ipad. The immediately did a brake check when we started rolling out. Preformed a short-field takeoff and transition above pattern at VX to start our first leg. After passing our first leg and turning on course to our first VOR he asked when we would expect to be in vegas and I used what I had written from the night prior to get my math. But we left 2 hours beforehand so I said 2:30, but then corrected myself and said 12:30; we got an early start. He liked that, and my paper flight plan was close enough to what his ipad was telling him we called it done on the cross country and diverted over to the practice area. Chandelles, and then steep spiral got us down to ground level where we did 8’s on pylons, then headed back up to 3500 to get back to the home airport. He gave me at that time an engine failure. This was where I had messed up. I picked a field, did my flows and checks, radio calls etc but we were gliding well. One turn above my landing point was not enough to make us low enough to not blow right past the field I had picked and into the houses on the other side. I had enough time to do two full turns, and use the engine failure checklist to see if we couldn’t get it going again if I’d missed something. I was high and fast on approach, and I knew it. We stopped there and ended with everything other than that, and ladnings left to do. 6 days later we go south in a different archer to finish up after getting re-checked by my CFI. We preform another simulated engine failure however the scenario this time was the oil pressure was 0 and it was all over the windscreen. I could see but the oil was definitely not in the engine anymore. I was about 2700 ft AGL and plenty of time to do two full turns again, so I made sure to preform the checklist, bypassing re-starting the engine as it would be gone without oil so I skipped to calling on CTAF and 121.5, and immediately securing and briefing my passenger. At about 700ft AGL we added power and it was passed! I would have defiantly made our field without hitting powerlines or trees in front of it or overrunning it. Then onto the landings and takeoffs. They weren’t the best by any stretch of the imagination. And he assured me go-arounds are welcome if I need them. However even with that in mind I was focusing a bit too much on hitting our spot that they were a bit rough. On approach back at our home airfield I wheeled a soft field landing all the way down until it was nearly time to exit which I was very happy about and made up for the harder spot landings I had to make earlier.