Day 9




			The day started with mixed feelings. This was the last day on the road; I was not sure whether to be pleased or disappointed. Was I really going to do the checkride tomorrow? Had it all come down to this?



			Breakfast was a cursory affair. Sharon and I alternated at the phone filing our flight plans between mouthfuls. Soon we were on our way to the airport where Sharon was going to take us to Lincoln, Nebraska via Grand Island.

		Whatever weather had been around here during the night, it had passed through. It was bright but there was water everywhere. North Platte is in the middle of nowhere but became famous during the war for its hospitality. It is also renowned for having the world’s largest railway marshalling yard. Looking at the map shows North Platte at the centre of the USA.

The schedule was changed for the final time for today. Sharon was to do a PLA at Grand Island and a full stop at Lincoln. I was to take us on to Des Moines, Iowa via Omaha. Then after lunch it was agreed by us all that I would take us direct back to Middleton. I think Sharon had just about had enough. As it was we were a bit behind time and had to make it up to enable us to get back in a reasonable time. After all there was a checkride to prepare for.

The trip to Lincoln went fine and it gave me a chance to do some revising for the checkride the following day. I was feeling comfortable about the flying; it was only the oral which worried me. Tales of orals lasting three hours or more did not fill me with much enthusiasm despite my good passing grade (97%) in the written exam. I opted out of the sightseeing and had my head well and truly in the red oral guide.

At Lincoln I took off from runway 17. At only 5000 ft it was small compared to 18 at 14000ft allowing for the extensions either end.

It took no time getting to Omaha where I asked for the ILS RWY14R. As we were being vectored for the approach it seemed wrong. This was confirmed when we were PTAC’d for the ILS 18. We refused the clearance and asked to be re-vectored for 14R. Trying to retune all the navaids less than 2 minutes away from the localiser is a recipe for disaster. The re-vectoring went OK and the approach and miss went smoothly including the entry into the hold. We lost about 20 minutes because of the mistake by ATC.


		Our route to Des Moines took us along V6-V8 to the DSM VOR. At MIDLE intersection the vectors began to position us for the VOR DME RWY23 approach. This took us on a long downwind leg which seemed to go on forever. This approach used the TNU VOR with the airport some 28 miles from the VOR. The FAF is 17 miles from the VOR (hence the long downwind) so the CDI needle gets less and less sensitive as you get nearer the airport and even large deviation does not look that big on the HSI. As we were being vectored I was telling Rich what the next heading was going to be. I was feeling very much on top of the job, good situational awareness with all the options in hand.

	After landing we made our way to the FBO where a line man took us to a restaurant for our last meal together on the trip. We would be home in a few more hours. The meal was quiet, each with our own thoughts.

Back at the FBO after lunch I quickly filed a flight plan for a direct flight to Middleton. This was done under partial panel and as we were following the GPS Rich also covered up the GPS screen such that I could only see the graphic CDI.

This was not such a great success as I was a bit confused about what was indicating the deviation and starting following the wrong thing. Being unfamiliar with GPS anyway did not help either. The exercise was not too successful. Helpfully Sharon was firing questions from the Oral preparation book in an effort to give me confidence for the oral and it seemed to work because I could answer whatever she asked.


	Before too long, it was time to set up for the approach into Middleton. It was to be the VOR B on partial panel, using the GPS. This was very familiar as we had done this approach before, in the familiarisation flight and in the simulator. Still it was a bit of a shock taking the hood off for the last time and seeing the tiny runway after some of the monsters we had had earlier in the day. A circle brought us onto RWY10 where I did the worst landing of the trip, just the confidence builder you need before the checkride.

		I taxied up to the office door and we unloaded the plane and that was it. It was 4 pm and we were back on schedule. The West Coast Adventure was over, well almost. For me there still was the checkride.


	Rich came up to me and gave me the routing the examiner wanted me to plan for a flight the following day. He also mentioned that there was a presidential TFR in the Janesville area which just touched Madison but he was not sure it would be a factor. The TFR was timed for 11.34 am, the examiner would be at Morey at 8 am in the morning. I was to meet Rich at 7.30 to go through the log books etc.

The first job was to write up the log book and total the hours. I had 30 instrument hours before the trip, mostly training, 54 hours by the end of the trip, 268 hours total time at the start and 297 before the checkride.

Next the various signoffs were made; the BFR, the complex endorsement and then the IR checkride signoff.


	With that done I was on my own. Technically the checkride had started and I was not able to get help from anyone. I finished up at about 7pm after preparing for the checkride. Going back to the hotel I suddenly felt really tired. I only needed to keep going for another 16 hours and it would all be over. By noon on the following day I could be an instrument pilot.


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