One of these days, I'll actually get around to updating my blog on a regular basis. Until then, I'll probably continue the same pattern of going a month or two without writing a thing, then playing catch-up.

On March 9th, I went up for my stage check flight with Bob Kitner, the Chief Pilot at Superior and one of the co-owners of the place. Pretty nice guy and a fellow ham radio operator. Overall, the flight went well, though I was admonished about my cockpit organization and approach briefing. Said my flying was fine and commented that I always seemed to be on top of the instruments at all times. He had me do a couple of steep turns under the hood, which I hadn't done since I don't know when. They're not on the PTS any longer, so Andy hasn't had me practice any, but his whole purpose for doing that was to get an idea on how someone's instrument scan was. Because of the increased rate of turn and the usual increased amount of elevator needed to maintain altitude, it really does make sure you're cross-checking your instruments quickly and understanding what they're telling you.

Next came some unusual attitude recovery. Instead of the usual routine of closing your eyes and having the instructor put the airplane into a steeply banked climb or descent, he had me trim for straight and level, then close my eyes and try to keep the airplane flying straight by feel alone. First time I made it about two minutes, by the time I opened my eyes, I was still within about 50' of my original altitude and the wings were level, but I had managed to turn a full 90 degrees to the right. Since I didn't quite "lose it" that time, he had me do it again. This time, after about a minute and a half, I noticed the engine speed pick up a tad, a sign that I was descending. A little bit later, it *felt* like I was turning right, so I added what I thought was a small amount of left aileron to counteract. Bob lets this go on for about another 10-15 seconds, then has me open my eyes. Quick look at the attitude indicator confirms that I'm in a left spiral (not too tight) about 20 degrees nose down and banked over about 45 degrees to the left. Wow. That's why it is vital to trust those instruments and not your own feelings. This is the classic scenario that leads to the graveyard spiral that has taken the lives of quite a few pilots.

After that, he had me fly a a holding pattern, which doubled as the course reversal for the ILS approach into Rome. That was the approach I didn't brief well. I was well within standards as far as flying the airplane was concerned, but I fumbled around with the GPS, didn't check the weather and didn't make the necessary radio calls. Lesson learned on the next two approaches that went well, although I did miss picking up the airport doing the VOR/DME-A into Cartersville, which involves a very steep descent on the final approach leg to circle-to-land. I mistook some headlights on the other side of the airport for the road that paralells the airport to the west. I quickly noted that I was just on the other side of the MAP and went missed. So even though I didn't pick up the airport, I did recognize the problem quickly and took the correct action. One more GPS approach back into McCollum and the flight was done for the day.

The weekend after that flight the school was supposed to have a poker run and cookout, but the weather didn't cooperate so the poker run was scrubbed. Fortunately they still had the cookout, and over the course of the afternoon maybe 30-40 folks showed up for some chili dogs. Since my wife was at our niece's birthday party, I took the opportunity to take a tour of the tower there at McCollum. I ended up spending about two hours up there, just chatting with the guys about flying and ATC. It was nice to get to meet a couple of the guys I had been talking to the past few months. Unfortunately the weather and OTS ILS meant there were no departures or arrivals the whole time I was up there.

After another week and a half of bad weather, I was finally able to get another lesson scheduled with Andy (March 29th) to go over the items Bob had concerns about and to finish my checkout in the Tiger. Yes, with all the hours I had in that airplane, I still could not rent it solo. All of my hours, save the time I went up with Rick (who was checked out in it) were at night or IMC, neither of which was condusive to the manuvers needed to sign me off in the airplane. I thought I was going to get boinked by the weather again, as the winds that day were rather gusty, but were straight down the runway. Just as I was walking in the door at the school, someone else pulled up in the Tiger and told me that the wind didn't pose much of a problem, apart from the expected bumps.

Gusts and some small downdrafts made the takeoff a little more exciting than normal, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle. Made our way a few miles west and clear of the class D, and finally got those VFR steep turns and stalls out of the way. Like the Cherokees I have flown before, you really have to try to make that airplane stall. Even when it did, there was nothing more than a slight dip of the nose. Add the power back in, and bring the flaps back up as the airspeed comes up. A ILS at Paulding County, VOR/DME-A at Cartersville again (got the airport this time) and the localizer at Cobb Co (glide slope is still OTS!) and a good landing and the day was done. Andy said I did MUCH better than I had before on cockpit organization and was ahead of the airplane the whole time.

So we went and sat down at his desk, and he placed the call I've been waiting for for a few years, the one to the examiner for my instrument checkride. He said he'd do the final sign-off after a dry run a day or two ahead of my actual 'ride to make sure I was still good to go.

So that's where I sit today. I talked to Andy this past Friday and said he hadn't heard from the examiner yet, but he said he'd give him another call to see if he can get things set up with the guy at Cobb Co. If not, I'll have to go to plan B, which will be either going up with a guy at Andrews-Murphy or maybe I'll see if the DE that gave me my PPL is still around.