The first thing we would tackle during every ground work this week was airspace and cloud clearances. I can tell you this is committed to memory now. You can't show me anything on a sectional, TAC, or low en route chart, that I don't know about. I even taught the oral examiner something during the test... but more on that later.
We tackled instruments and "Pimpled" them out. Yes you guessed it, another acronym.
Principle of operation
Indicates
Markings
Powered by
Limitations
Errors.
And even though I'm a little weak on some of the instruments, Ive been told I only need a basic understanding for this exam.
Aeromedicals and illusions was another topic we covered during the week. The 4 different types of hypoxia (Hypoxic, Hypemic, Stagnant, and Hystotoxic) which I dealt with a little bit at Zero G, as well as experiencing it mildly when visiting Pike's Peak in Colorado a year ago. We covered time one needs to wait to fly after scuba diving, as well as all the illusions I may encounter. ICEFLAGGS include all the illusions I need to know.
Inversion
Coriolis
Elevator
False horizon
Leans
Autokinesis
Graveyard Spin
Graveyard Spiral
Somatogravic
Systems and Fuel system were drawn out. My temp quickly realized I learn best visually. For remembering the electrical system we created a very simple schematic with tricks on remembering how many volts and amps each alternator and battery has. Alt 1, 28 volts 75 amps, Alt 2, 28 volts with 20 amps. Alt 1, is connected to the main bus, which has an 80 amp fuse. Alt 2 is connected to the essential bus, which has a 40 amp fuse. Main bus is connected to Battery 1. Essential bus is connected to Battery 2. Bat 1 is 24 Volts with 10 amps, while Bat 2 is two 12 volt batteries with 7 amps each producing a total of 24 volts and 7 amps. the main bus and the essential bus are connected with two wires each having a 50 amp fuse and an electrical diode which only allows the flow of electricity to flow from the Main to the Essential. WHEW! That's a brainful right there. But the picture looks great. The Fuel system has a similar drawing but doesnt need to be as detailed. Each wing tank holds a total of 28 gallons of fuel, the collector tanks receive fuel by gravity and hold .67 gallons each. The tanks hold a total of 60.5 gallons of fuel but only 56 gallons are usable.
Friday came very quickly. I met the oral examiner I would be grilled by. Really tall guy from Washington State. I'm just glad he wasn't a UW Husky. There may have been problems if that was the case. We hit airspace first which I breezed through no problem. That felt great. Pulling out the charts he started to point out different icons and lines on the charts asking me what they signified. Again, no problems. We had a large lake on the chart we were using which was a light blue color. The smaller lakes were dark blue. I pointed that out to him and said how interesting I found it that the large lakes that are light blue you had to be more conscience of your altitude and your best glide. he turned the chart to face him and said "Wow... yer right... larger lakes are the same color as the ocean. HUH! I never knew that."
OH YEAH! Chalk one up for my instructor who informed me of this. I think I just gave the examiner a new trick for his bag.
All in all the rest of the exam went very smoothly. He only asked me to explain two instruments, the Turn coordinator and the Magnetic compass. We went over lost comms scenarios, electrical systems, the fuel system and for the most part we were done.
At the end of the exam he informed me that I had passed. He mentioned a few areas he wanted me to become more familiar with especially for the next oral exam, lesson 47. So next up will be the check ride exam. I think they will have me do a few review flights before attempting the check ride.
So this weekend... the books are put down, and a weekend getaway to Jacksonville and St. Augustine is being planned for next weekend. And for right this moment... I need a beer...
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