Checkride is close!

On Memorial Day, I did some more flying with Paul. We were reviewing the PTS standards. The flight went exceptionally well. We did a short field takeoff, another 30 minutes of instrument time including turns, descents, climbs, unusual attitudes, and VOR tracking. We then proceeded onto approach to landing stalls, then power on stalls. Paul just recently sent one of his students to the examiner in the last week, he passed (woo hoo!), but brought back some good feedback. Apparently the examiner didn't like the way Paul was teaching stalls, the PTS standard does say to recover from stall at first indication, and in this plane it is the stall horn (next the buffet, then the break), so we've been taught to break the stall at the horn. However, the examiner wants to be assured the applicant can recover from a fully developed stall. So, we had to redo the procedure for the power on stall, we intentionally slowed the plane down because it's nearly impossible to stall it with full throttle, you can be almost inverted at full throttle and still not stall this plane! Instead, we decided to change the power on stall to this:
- Slow to 50 kts
- Advance the throttle to 2200 rpm (not full throttle)
- Hold heavy right rudder to stay coordinated
- Pitch up, stall!
- Pitch down!
- Use your feet to control rudders to avoid the spin if you lost coordination at the end.

I got a little more comfortable doing the stalls, but I still don't like them, especially the power on stalls. I learned more WHY I didn't like them. When doing the power on stall, you are going slower with high RPM, that requires heavy right rudder. So heavy that when the stall breaks, it's near impossible to get off the right rudder when it occurs, so you are naturally starting a slight spin. Man, I don't like spins. I know how to recover, but you have to keep your wits about you. The natural tendency is to use the ailerons to recover, but they don't do anything if the wings are stalled. I need to remember: yoke forward! opposite rudder if starting a spin!

Anyway, after stalls, we did some more steep turns, all good. The wind wasn't blowing much aloft, so we ended the lesson without brushing up on ground reference manuevers. We landed with a short field landing. At the end of the lesson, Paul said one more lesson to go and he is ready to sign me off for the checkride! Paul said I did a good job and that I am ready to pass the test, he just needs to formally review those last maneurvers.

Yes! That is a great confidence booster. There is some iffy weather in the area this week and the airshow this weekend. So, I might get that last flight this week or early next, either way, depending on availability, I could be going for my checkride next week!