Guy Elden Jr. wrote:

I got to the airport (CDW)

Hey! Another CDWer rides the clouds.

a little after 8:30am and expected to basically
sit around waiting for things to get going after 9:00am. The examiner is
also the guy who runs the flight school I attend,

Who was the DE?

[...]
I was quite relieved when the oral was over, because even though I
presented myself as calm, I was definitely nervous inside. The examiner
said I'd done a very good job, as did one of the FAA guys in the bleachers
behind me, so I was pretty well charged up for the ride itself! My basic
approach to the oral is to treat it like a grueling technical interview
(I'm a software developer).

Damn. Are you me?

[...]

I called up Caldwell clearance and got my clearance to Trenton (TTN). One
of the things I find incredibly funny and useful about the usual clearance
I get here is the initial left turn to 180 upon departure... which
basically puts you on a direct course for Newark Int'l. This pretty much
insures that you'll get a response from NY departure as soon as you call
them up, so they can get you vectored the hell away from their primary
airspace. :-)

Not quite. When heading to the south (esp. to some airport along the NJ
shore) I've often passed right over Newark. If you think about it, you'll
realize that this is an area relatively free of aircraft on approach.

[...]

As I completed one full trip around the pattern, the examiner handed me an
approach chart for Somerset airport in NJ, and told me I'd been cleared
for the approach, radar services terminated. So I flew the whole approach,
PT and all, and got it down to minimums as appropriate.

I hope there wasn't anyone in the pattern. As I recall that airport, an
approach would run you right through that.

[...]
WOO HOO, I PASSED!!!!!

Congrats!

- Andrew