I've been lurking here for a while, and I thought I'd share my
experiences on the instrument checkride today, as they may be useful
to someone. This was my 1st attempt (I did an unofficial evaluation
checkride with the examiner a few days prior). I fly a Cessna
172S out of PAO. My examiner today was Mike Shiflett, nice guy,
tough but fair. We met at the club, went over the paperwork, did a
short oral (we covered a lot of oral questions on the eval ride last
week): IFR currency requirements, principles of operation for VSI and
airspeed indicator (note: it has static pressure on *both* sides of
the membrane), lots of questions about GPS (principle of operation, how
many satellites are needed for an approach, RAIM and absence thereof,
when can GPS be used as a substitute for DME, etc.) My homework was to
plan for an IFR x-country to RBL, we quickly went over that, focusing
on lost comms procedures for each segment, MEAs (he pointed out a
``MEA gap'' on an airway up in Oregon) and the approach, especially
this: after I break out of clouds at MDA, how do I know I have enough
visibility to land (1SM for the approach I picked at RBL)?

For the flight portion, he had me pick a number: 1, 2, or 3. I picked
1, which meant that we'd be doing GPS at SCK, partial panel VOR at TCY,
and ILS at LVK (the other choices would have involved HWD/OAK or MRY).
Apparently, people rarely pick 2, thinking it's got to be that tough
approach in the middle I had done the SCK-TCY-LVK circuit before,
so it was a lucky break for me.

We went VFR towards SCK (me under the hood, Mike giving headings and
altitudes), about 20 miles from OXJEF he handed the radios over to me
and had me ask Norcal for a pop-up clearance. I requested GPS 29R
to SCK, the controller asked if I want vectors or own nav, I asked
for vectors (so as not to have to do the procedure turn at OXJEF).
This was fine, but I forgot to switch the approach in the GPS to vectors
(mistake #1). Closing in on the final approach course, I compounded
the mistake by setting the GPS course direct from my current location
to FAF, which meant that the GPS course was not aligned with the final
course. Bummer. Somehow, I navigated myself to FAF, making sure not
to descend prematurely, noted that I got RAIM, intercepted the inbound
at FAF and flew it down. There was a bit of confusion at MAP, as I
thought we would be doing touch and go, whereas Mike told me to follow
the controller's instructions (which I must have missed - I thought
the tower cleared us for the option) to do an immediate climbing left
turn to 2000. I was so confused that on the climbout I put the plane
in a 40-degree bank for a moment.

The next approach was VOR-A to TCY, partial panel (Mike let me
use the GPS for DME readout, but on the eval ride I had to do this
approach without DME, using radials off of MOD to identify points
on the approach and time from FAF to identify MAP). ATC gave me a
heading to intercept the final approach course. Still nervous after
the unexpected maneuver at SCK, I dialed the wrong radial off of ECA:
229 instead of 220 (mistake #2 - *don't* do this on your checkride).
I am happily flying the heading the controller gave me, but the VOR
remains pegged on the right. I stare at it, and that's when I realize
that (a) it's on the *right*, not the left, which means that I already
crossed it; (b) it's the *wrong* radial. I hurriedly put the right
radial in and start a 180 turn to get back to it when the controller
comes on to tell me that I am way past the approach course, and do I
want vectors? I look at Mike, he shrugs, so I decide to do my own nav,
get back to the 220 radial and intercept it at a fairly extreme angle
(Mike told me later that it was 60 degrees). Fortunately, this is
all happening before FAF and I was smart enough not to descend, so I
get my act together, align on the proper radial, start the timer at
FAF and fly a fairly decent approach, followed by the published miss
and a teardrop entry to the holding pattern at TRACY intersection,
all of which work pretty well.

At TRACY, I set up for the ILS 25R to LVK, get ATIS and get cleared
to LVK before completing even a single loop in the holding pattern.
As I am flying towards the localizer, I switch my first Nav to the
localizer frequency and just fly the old heading, so Mike asks me if
I am navigating or dead reckoning. I hurriedly put the ECA radial
back on the 2nd VOR. Intercept the localizer, fly it inbound, the
glideslope comes in, I set power and trim for 90 knots, 500 fpm descent,
life is good. As we get down into the valley, it gets a bit choppy and
there is a goodish headwind, so I start toying with power (mistake #3).
As a result, on the last few hundred feet I am chasing the glideslope
and my VSI is all over the place from 0 to 1000 fpm. Not great (Mike
makes a disapproving comment after I pitch down the plane 20 degrees).
Break out at 200 AGL, land long (Mike says I should have reduced
airspeed from 90 right after breaking out, instead of flying at 90
to the threshold), then VFR climbout to the left, go under the hood
again for steep turns (180 degrees to the right, immediately followed
by 180 degrees to the left, I lose 90 feet on the left turn and have to
haul back on the yoke like all get out) and unusual attitudes recovery
(partial panel), and that's it - we fly VFR back to PAO.

On the way back, I describe to Mike the mistakes I did: not
activating vectors on the GPS approach, dialing in the wrong radial and
overshooting it by quite a bit on the VOR approach, and overcontrolling
on the last few hundred feet on the ILS approach. At PAO, we do the
formal debrief. These were all serious mistakes, but apparently I
recognized them soon enough to stay barely within PTS tolerances.
What saved my bacon is that I always stayed at the right altitude -
even after getting off course, I did not descend until I was established
on the final course. Not my best day (not by a long shot - I thought
I had some of these approaches, especially the VOR-A at TCY, nailed),
but I passed. So instead of my old plastic certificate, I now have
a white piece of paper certifying me as PP-ASEL-IA.

Vitaly
(190.4 hours, 49.3 IFR, 51.7 x-country PIC)