Checkride Prep – Fly The Chair

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There are lots of schools of thought when it comes to preparing for a checkride with an FAA designated examiner. If you’ve got a private pilot checkride, instrument checkride, commercial checkride…or any kind of checkride coming up, there’s a great training tool that will prepare you for an awesome checkride experience. People may make fun of you while you’re doing it and you may have to go hide in a closet to get it done, but you should definitely fly the chair. In this case, I’m flying a very colorful love seat while my husband chuckles and snaps a picture.

Fly The Chair Flying the chair is simply mentally practicing all the maneuvers required for your checkride until they are flawless and smooth. Then, each time you get in the plane to fly after your chair flying, your maneuvers will be smooth, confident, and you’ll only have to focus on tiny little corrections your instructor may find…if he can find anything wrong. Yes, it is that helpful.

For example, as a commercial student preparing for commercial checkride, you can fly the chair to practice slow flight and maintain your altitude within 50 feet. If the VSI even budges any, you’ll probably bust your altitude. So, even more important that your technique is smooth and your scan of the instruments and outside be perfect. Start your practice by clearing the airspace around your chair with some clearing turns, check the airspace to make sure you’re not too close to any airports or class airspace, set your references (find a mountain to point at or set your heading bug), and get your cockpit set up for the maneuver (cowl flaps, mixture, prop setting, throttle, etc). That’s known as the TARS check: Traffic, Airspace, References, and Setup.

Once you’ve completed your TARS check, you can start the maneuver. This is really when people start making fun of you because you’ve got to get your hands and feet moving. That’s right, don’t forget the rudders. Put your gear down and say your gear operating speed limitation out loud, put your flaps down progressively stating the speed limitations for each flap setting out loud. As you drop the flaps, you know you’re going to have to make pitch adjustments to keep the VSI from budging off of zero, so get the left hand involved in pushing the yoke down as you add flaps. As you think forward, you know you’ll probably need to reduce power to slow down to just above your stall speed, but watch the altitude and don’t forget the carb heat. And as you think further, you know you’ll need to add power as you get closer to stall speed to maintain that altitude. And while you’re in slow flight, walk yourself through a 20 degree bank turn while you’re at it. Think about what you’ll need as you turn…a little rudder perhaps. Include the turn coordinator in your scan and be ready to put in a little power as you work through the turn. Think about where your scan will be…nose, VSI, altimeter, VSI, nose, altimeter, turn coordinator, nose, VSI, altimeter….you get the idea.

If you control your mind long enough to thoroughly fly the chair for your maneuvers, your instructor will be pleasantly surprised and you will be very pleased with the results. As checkride gets closer, go through the entire checkride several times to get it just right in your mind. Then, you’ll know what to expect, you’ll be ahead of the airplane, and you’ll be smooth and confident. Checkride examiners love all those things. And as you chair fly more, you’ll be able to work through your maneuvers quicker to the point where you can do your whole checkride in about 30 minutes max.

Moreover, it’s a really good idea to practice emergency procedures often, not just when you’re approaching a checkride. If your engine does fail, you want your restart procedure to be smooth and efficient with nothing left out. Practice that engine out all the way down to the ground including your securing procedures on final approach. This is one time you don’t want to be stumbling through what to do next. Of course, don’t leave out the checklist…consult your checklist to make sure you’ve done everything correctly.

Yes, my husband most definitely makes fun of me, but I don’t care because it makes me a better, safer, smoother, more confident pilot and that’s all that matters. Give it a try. I think you’ll be pleased with the results.

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