DH, you make a decision AT DH while in a descent on GS, so
if you decide to go-around you will be below DH before the
airplane starts back up. It isn't 50 feet, you just have to
decide and either continue or discontinue the approach.
You can use the approach light rabbit to continue below DH,
but only to 100 feet unless you get more of the required
visual cues.

Ice is aerodynamic spoiler, not weight.

VOR check, to check properly, swing the OBS and make sure
you get the proper deflection, 10 ° should be full scale
80° and the TO/FROM flag should be switching, if it doesn't
your VOR has low sensitivity and may not should course
deviation at 25-50 miles, the needle will just center while
you drift off course...

Other than that, congratulations.

--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.pdf
See http://www.fija.org/ more about your rights and duties.

US Court on DC gun law...
http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/...3/04-7041a.pdf


"kevmor" wrote in message
ps.com...
|I passed my instrument checkride last Tuesday. I waited 2
months to
| try and do the checkride from when my CFII told me to
schedule it.
| Problems with my examiner's medical, scheduling with
another examiner,
| then going back to the first one, and weather delayed it.
|
| Here is how my IFR checkride went from what I can
remember.
|
| We went into one of the conference rooms and he asked to
see all my
| paperwork: pilot certificate, medical, application,
picture ID, and
| logbook endorsement. He started asking a few questions
and my
| answers:
|
| What is required to be current for IFR?
| Everything for VFR, plus 6 approaches, holding procedures
and
| intercepting/tracking courses
| (He was looking for more...)
| I said you have 6 months to meet this then if you don't,
you have
| another six months. After that you'll need an IPC.
| Who can give an IPC?
| A CFII, examiners, FAA...
| What instruments are required for IFR? (GRABCARD)
| How do you check the VOR?
| VOT +/- 4 deg., Air checkpoint +/- 6 deg., Ground
checkpoint +/- 4
| deg. (dual VOR, but I didn't get to that) I started to
explain where
| to find these (AF/D), but he went on to the next question:
| Using a VOT, must you be in a certain location on the
airport?
| No, as long as you can receive the frequency.
| Does it matter which way your airplane is facing?
| No (I hope nobody would get that wrong!)
| What should the VOR indicate?
| 360 deg. with a FROM when needle is centered, 180 TO.
| If the needle is centered and it reads 356 FROM, is that
legal?
| Yes
| Would you apply this error to navigation?
| No, this is a tolerance and you shouldn't adjust your
courses because
| of the error.
| He then explained if your VOR was 4 degrees off and you
applied that
| to tracking a course outbound, how you could get very far
off course
| the further you got away from the VOR. He said it may be
4 degrees
| off on one radial but not on the other. I related this to
flying
| different headings with a compass using a compass card,
and you
| shouldn't do this with the VOR errors.
| Was my aircraft certified for known icing?
| No
| How could I determine freezing levels?
| I said a freezing levels chart, winds aloft...
| He asked how from the winds aloft? (He sort of acted like
I gave a
| wrong answer at first)
| I said from the temperatures you could determine the
freezing
| altitude
| (He was still looking for something else...)
| I said a very crude way would be to use the average lapse
rate from
| the temperature at the ground...
| He confirmed it would be very crude, and said not to
overcomplicate
| this.
| I got it right with just saying call the FSS and get the
freezing
| levels at the airports on the route.
| Could I fly if the freezing level was 4,000, the cloud
bases at 3,000,
| and an MEA in the clouds, legally?
| Legally, yes
| He asked what was the major problem with ice?
| I said the accumulation of the added weight.
| I sort of hesitated on the known icing questions, and he
stated that
| there is no clear definition of known icing in the
regulations. He
| said he wanted to ask these questions as there has been
those legal
| rulings on pilots flying into known icing and whether
"conditions
| favorable to icing" was "known icing" or not.
| The general consensus was (legally) the FAA may question
if you fly
| your non-icing-certified aircraft in "icing conditions",
but it is
| legal as long as it is not "known icing" such as an actual
PIREP.
| He said he flies in an icing certified airplane with his
son, which
| is equipped with deicing equipment, and it melts it off as
fast as it
| accumulates. He said the icing area is about 10 degrees
either side
| of freezing temperatures, and a lot of people don't know
that you can
| climb above it into below freezing temperatures where it
will bounce
| off the airplane, which isn't a problem.
|
| He then asked for me to get out my enroute chart to ask a
few
| questions. What does the V mean on victor airways?
| I couldn't figure out what he wanted, I said it was just
an airway.
| After a while I finally got it, it would be J on a high
enroute chart.
| How high is this chart good for?
| 18,000 ft.
| What is the change over point (pointing to a straight
course, no COP
| marked)?
| The halfway point.
| Is it regulatory that you change it there?
| Yes
| He then explained how you could still have a centered
needle past the
| halfway point but be drifting to the side because maybe
your VOR was a
| few degrees off. Where is the COP on this course
(pointing to one
| marked with DME)?
| The mark.
| He then explained how this is because one of the VORs
doesn't have as
| strong a signal. Then he very thoroughly gave me a
scenario of flying
| out from KRBL (I think), with a MCA fix a few miles after
takeoff. He
| asked if I lost radios just before reaching it and I was
assigned
| 3,000, expect 9,000, what should I climb to?
| The highest of assigned/expected/minimum altitude, so
9,000.
| What if I was 3,000 upon reaching the MCA fix (with a MCA
of 5,000)?
| Hold at the fix while in a climb to the MCA.
| Continuing on, if I arrived at a fix from which an
approach begins (he
| pointed to an airport near the coast), what would I do if
I arrived
| early?
| Hold at the fix until EFC or ETA expires.
| If I arrived late?
| Begin approach immediately.
| If there are VOR, NDB, GPS, ILS approaches...which one?
| Any approach.
| He then asked to look at the SMF ILS 16R approach. What
are the
| minimums?
| 1800 RVR visibility, 226 decision height.
| What is MDA?
| Minimum Decent Altitude
| When you get to DH, what do you do?
| That is when you make the decision to go missed or
continue.
| What if you are on the ILS and ATC calls you and says,
"the RVR just
| went to 900, what are your intentions?" Must you go
missed
| immediately, continue the approach, or?
| I knew you couldn't descend from the DH if it's below
minimums, but I
| didn't know about before that.
| He asked me to sort of guess.
| I said because I haven't read anything you couldn't
continue to the
| DH, I said you can.
| He said that was correct, he said part 135 and others must
go missed
| immediately, but part 91 can descend to the DH. If I
descend to DH
| and it's 900 RVR, can I land?
| No, it's below minimums.
| He explained how someone had gone below the DH in this
scenario and
| went off the runway on landing because the visibility was
too poor.
| They lost their flying job and had their license
suspended. Somehow
| we got to talking about being cleared to land, as they
can't clear you
| to land with the Wx below minimums. He said the tower
responded with
| "Roger" when the pilot contacted him, never clearing him
to land.
|
| Can you go below DH?
| Yes, by 50 ft.
| He then explained how a jet is unable to go from a descent
in the
| landing configuration, start retracting the flaps, gear,
and starting
| a climb without going below the DH. What about MDA?
| You can't descend below MDA at all, and you are level so
there's no
| reason to go below it.
|
| He then said he had one more question he forgot to ask, he
went to a
| white board and drew a runway, was very clear on the
altitude I was at
| (circling altitude) and where the airplane he was drawing
was circling
| around to land on the opposite end. As he drew the line
he said to
| tell him when I could descend to land from circling
minimums. I told
| him when he just started to turn in on final. He said
this was a
| little late, but was fine. He said many people thought
they could
| descend on downwind or base, etc.
|
|
| Flying portion:
|
| He gave me a clearance while still on the ground. Cleared
to
| Stockton, SAC V585 ECA Direct, 4,500, 1200. I asked him
if he could
| tell me in advance before I request the approaches (so
I'll know what
| to ask for when they ask for what's next). He said we'll
do the SAC
| ILS with vectors, VOR own nav, then LOC own nav. He told
me ahead of
| time to be sure to make all reports (entering hold, etc.)
if ATC loses
| radar, which he'll be simulating. He played ATC for the
cross country
| portion.
|
| I setup all the radios, etc and did the instrument check,
departed MHR
| and identified the SAC VOR. As we're getting fairly close
to it, he
| says ATC has lost radar and report reaching 4,500 and the
SAC VOR. I
| report both fine, and track onto V585.
|
| He says he has holding instructions when I'm ready to
copy. He says
| hold at WAGER as published, maintain 4,500 (and says
normally you'd
| get an EFC). I was correcting to the right and the entry
was on the
| borderline of being parallel, but I didn't want to do a
parallel...I
| said I'd be doing a teardrop and he says that's what he'd
do as it's
| the least maneuvering, etc.
|
| I was finishing the first lap in the hold when he asked
how I'd
| determine the leg timing. I reached 1 minute right then
and said it's
| right on so I wouldn't need to adjust the outbound leg.
He then said
| he has an amended clearance when I'm ready to copy. I was
in the turn
| to go outbound in the hold so I told him to standby (I
wanted to get
| setup on the outbound heading). I got a clearance to
Linden VOR,
| V113, Manteca, direct. I started heading towards Linden
and
| identified it when he said we're done with this and he'll
give me
| vectors now.
|
| He gave me a vector and told me to just hold this for a
minute. He
| then pulled the power to idle and said I was in full IMC,
what would I
| do? I said I'd troubleshoot the failure, announce it on
the radio,
| squawk 7700... He said Ok, you've already done that.
(Meanwhile I've
| got it trimmed at 65 knots, best glide). I said I should
know my
| approximate location and the terrain around me for the
safest
| landing. He said he's looking for something simple... I
then said as I
| started getting lower, I'd slow down and lower the flaps
all the way
| for the slowest landing speed. He then suggested to be as
close to
| stall as reasonably possible.
|
| I held another heading and he said to slow down to 80 kts
maintaining
| altitude. Then turn to another heading. Then speed back
up, then
| descend at 80 kts 200 ft and level off at 80 kts. Then
two unusual
| attitudes then off to do the 3 approaches at SAC.
|
| I contact NorCal approach and tell him I'm 15 miles SE of
SAC VOR and
| the approaches. My examiner wanted to tell ATC it's for a
checkride
| (to do full approaches at busy SAC), but his mic was
garbled and the
| controller said I was clear but my examiner wasn't. I got
vectors for
| the ILS and it went fine, but the examiner kept placing my
enroute
| chart on the windshield to make sure I wouldn't look out.
One time
| getting close to DH the chart fell on the controls...does
this count as
| one of the distractions?
|
| I was getting setup for the VOR approach when the examiner
wanted to
| ask ATC what altitude we were reporting (I had mentioned
it was
| slightly off during preflight)... ATC couldn't understand
him good
| enough, so I said I'd ask. (Does this count also for
| distractions? Luckily I decided what holding entry I'd
do before
| we took off to use at the IAF if I was coming from the
west side of
| the airport, as I only had a few seconds left now to get
it figured
| out.
|
| We went around again for the LOC approach. When we got on
the ground
| back at Mather, he said I flew the airplane very smoothly
(even though
| I was nervous, it actually wasn't my best!). He said my
first two
| approaches were perfect. I think the second one I was
starting to get
| tired and got off on the LOC close to the limits right
before the
| missed approach. I think because I did very well on the
rest he was
| more lenient on the last approach. He also said my DG was
getting off
| very quickly (I was resetting it every 5 minutes or so).
So no
| partial panel, and a total of 1.6 flying time.
|