RPC flight test checkride - what does it involve?

[trailer]

What is generally involved in the checkride/flight test for the approval of the RAAus pilot cetificate?

[Roundsounds]

3 hours ago, trailer said:

What is generally involved in the checkride/flight test for the approval of the RAAus pilot cetificate?

If your instructor hasn’t provided you with that information I suggest you find a new school.

[jackc]

I recently started at a new school, my previous flight school sent my training hours through to my new school, but not my log books 😞  The claimed they sent them, and never did.  I went to RAAus  but they said not their problem…..between me and my old flight school.

So, my new instructor looked at my hours and asked me what I had done.

So, I was subject to 2 hours of flying with him  setting my flight tasks and I did them as requested for my training assessment. I was assessed on my performance and he was very happy.  Now, I had not done a lesson for 3 years and had never flown the aircraft type, a Jabiru J-230D that I  had just purchased, called it the ‘Super Bin Chicken’  🙂 

Yesterday, I was given 45 minutes whiteboard on takeoffs, circuits etc. which after 1.5 hours of training, completed those tasks to his standard.

Next week will be more whiteboard and landings etc, so will need to try and pull off some greasers IF I am lucky. flying conditions here are very hot and lumpy. Approaches will see sink, lift etc and make it difficult etc.

So will get more revision work and advance more in the training etc. Now up to some 21 hours training all up.

So, basically you will be up for assessment hours, plus any addition to get you to sign off level, not to mention theory exams and radio work. 

[turboplanner]

6 hours ago, jackc said:

Yesterday, I was given 45 minutes whiteboard on takeoffs, circuits etc. which after 1.5 hours of training, completed those tasks to his standard.

That makes a huge difference: Both your and the instructor know what's going to happen and what is expected of you. Result over time a big saving in flight hours.

I had a 20,000 hr ex-airline retiree at one stage who just sat there saying "You're doing a great job!" as I was sliding an LSA55 out of control all over the sky. Every hour with him was wasted.

[trailer]

9 hours ago, Roundsounds said:

If your instructor hasn’t provided you with that information I suggest you find a new school.

I don't have an instructor, I am asking a question based on others experiences.

 

7 hours ago, jackc said:

So, basically you will be up for assessment hours, plus any addition to get you to sign off level, not to mention theory exams and radio work. 

I am talking about the intital test/checkride for initial issue of a restricted RPC.

 

[Blueadventures]

7 hours ago, jackc said:

I recently started at a new school, my previous flight school sent my training hours through to my new school, but not my log books 😞  The claimed they sent them, and never did.  I went to RAAus  but they said not their problem…..between me and my old flight school.

So, my new instructor looked at my hours and asked me what I had done.

So, I was subject to 2 hours of flying with him  setting my flight tasks and I did them as requested for my training assessment. I was assessed on my performance and he was very happy.  Now, I had not done a lesson for 3 years and had never flown the aircraft type, a Jabiru J-230D that I  had just purchased, called it the ‘Super Bin Chicken’  🙂 

Yesterday, I was given 45 minutes whiteboard on takeoffs, circuits etc. which after 1.5 hours of training, completed those tasks to his standard.

Next week will be more whiteboard and landings etc, so will need to try and pull off some greasers IF I am lucky. flying conditions here are very hot and lumpy. Approaches will see sink, lift etc and make it difficult etc.

So will get more revision work and advance more in the training etc. Now up to some 21 hours training all up.

So, basically you will be up for assessment hours, plus any addition to get you to sign off level, not to mention theory exams and radio work. 

Instructor should at least have his notes of your flight.  They need to put in place to scan pages before posting. Do you have payment records? As that devised by hourly rate equals hours flown. Bastards may be the word. Cheers mate.

[440032]

Pilot logbooks - and your aircraft logbooks too for that matter:

They are YOUR logbooks, NEVER leave then anywhere else but in YOUR possession.

If someone else loses them, it becomes your problem. So please, don't do it!

[old man emu]

47 minutes ago, 440032 said:

NEVER leave then anywhere else but in YOUR possession.

I'm amazed when I see pilots' logbooks lined up on a shelf in a flying school office. After a few lessons, everyone has their own headsets, which they dutifully take home with them after a lesson, "in case they get lost or pinched". If they go missing, you are out some bucks, but it doesn't impact anything essential to your flying "career". Losing your logbook does.

 

I recently pulled out my logbook. I've been through many flight schools since my first TIF in January 1970 until my last flight ten years ago. Who knows where those records be if I had left the logbook on a shelf in some flying school? That logbook was essential to me a couple of weeks ago when I made application to go to a Part 61 licence. Going through it was like going through an old photo album, allowing me to recall my madness of Youth. I'm also doing research for a biography of a famous Australian aviator. He kept all his logbooks, which I can now access to learn the minutiae of his flying story. 

 

Also, tell me of any business that you know of in any industry that has a disaster management plan to protect physical business-related records.

 

Speak these words to your logbook: "Come to me arms, you bundle of charms. And stick to me lips like chewy."

[spenaroo]

In answer to the original question.

basically its a flight to ensure you are within standard and competent from walk around to shut down.
I did mine 12 months ago and went like this:
pre-flight, take-off, radio calls. climbing to a height to do stalls (doing the correct precautionary checks) into steep turns holding altitude and finishing at the correct heading.
start heading back with an PFL performed at some point. once again making sure that you select an appropriate field, do the checks and importantly can make it - (apparently this is what causes the most failures on first try). then back into the circuit, with the correct join procedures. and do the different types of landing, flapless/half-flap/full-flap/glide. along with a 50ft pass.

idea is that its to test competence, not looking for perfection but that its all done without the instructors input - they will be walking you through the order of tasks and what each step is.
and my understanding is if you fail at one part of the flight. you can then come back and fix that part to pass, don't have to repeat the whole flight

Edited December 8, 2022 by spenaroo

[Carbon Canary]

I did my PPL to RPC conversion test at the start of this year.  It consisted of a short cross country with a touch 'n' go at an away airfield, a couple of diversions and then back home.  On climb-out from the touch 'n' go Bris Centre called me up to advise of a potential conflict which fortunately I was already aware of. The only surprise was the electric flaps were 'failed' on downwind requiring a flapless landing.  All a/c handling stuff had been done on previous flights.

 

[Blueadventures]

1 hour ago, 440032 said:

Pilot logbooks - and your aircraft logbooks too for that matter:

They are YOUR logbooks, NEVER leave then anywhere else but in YOUR possession.

If someone else loses them, it becomes your problem. So please, don't do it!

Agree absoutely.

[jackc]

3 minutes ago, Blueadventures said:

Agree absoutely.

At the start, my flying school specifically stated he would retain the log books with the School, I did not know any better so that is the way it is.  Don’t remember seeing any of this at the start of my RAAus membership either.

But the way things have been lately, I don’t expect too much of RAAus as our compulsory peak body AND regulator, either……

[trailer]

On 09/12/2022 at 8:41 AM, spenaroo said:

In answer to the original question.

basically its a flight to ensure you are within standard and ........

Thanks for responding to the question......hard to get a response on subject with this lot!

 

A friend of mine made an incorrect position call going to a nearby airfield they had never flown to and was failed. They had to do the entire 90min check flight again. 

[Jabiru7252]

On 09/12/2022 at 7:37 AM, 440032 said:

Pilot logbooks - and your aircraft logbooks too for that matter:

They are YOUR logbooks, NEVER leave then anywhere else but in YOUR possession.

If someone else loses them, it becomes your problem. So please, don't do it!

The log book is a legal document and as far as I remember you can be in trouble if you cannot produce it when requested.

[440032]

7 hours ago, Jabiru7252 said:

The log book is a legal document and as far as I remember you can be in trouble if you cannot produce it when requested.

Generally true, to the extent that you don't have to carry it at all times, but yes, produce on request eg by CASA - at a time/place/method agreed. (not "right this minute!)

but losing it, or having someone else lose it for you, is a way bigger deal.

[Bosi72]

I am yet to hear someone robbed the school and took all logbooks, or all school logbooks consumed in fire, or...

 

Regardless, if any of above happens, it will be a new logbook with a statutory declaration, cross checked with both school and CASA records (providing they survived too)

 

At the end of the day, all flying is competency based, so number of hours is more about approximations, rather than exact numbers, eg. if you are applying for an airliner job, your sim performance will be more important than 1500 hours bashed in C172, etc..

 

But yeah, it feels better when the logbook is on a personal bookshelf, rather than elsewhere..

[hkaneshiro]

from what I understand (for RPC - via watching an online video behind a paywall https://gofly.online/Video/how-to-pass-your-flight-test-hd/) + my recent experience with a CASA RPL test (which was very similar)... the  test goes about like this

 

 

1. Taxi, takeoff and head to training area

2. Climb to altitude - as part of this showing the examiner your climbing, turns, S&L

3. Stalling (HASEL), recovery from incipient spins

4. Steep turns (not sure if this is in RPC syllabus)

5. PFL

6. MAYBE a PSL (I did not do one for CASA RPL as it is not a required testing element)

7. Back to do a few circuits - flapless, crosswind (maybe an EFATO if not done already in #1)

 

That's about it from what I recall (NB my CASA test also had some IFR "hood" work and recovery from unusual attitudes under the hood which was done on the en-route climb to altitude -  but don't think this is also in the RPC syllabus)

 

Some examiners may ask you to do circuits first before going out to training area...

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by hkaneshiro

[spacesailor]

pfl & psl , please elighte .

I,m not good on abreaviations .

spacesailor

[hkaneshiro]

46 minutes ago, spacesailor said:

pfl & psl , please elighte .

I,m not good on abreaviations .

spacesailor

apologies should be

practice forced landing (pfl) 

precautionary search and landing (psl) 

Edited December 14, 2022 by hkaneshiro

[spacesailor]

A bit hard on your aircraft !!!!! .

Doing a ' forced Landing ' .

Don,t do too many .

PFL ' Performed Forced Landing ' .

spacesailor

[Jabiru7252]

Many years ago I did a BFR and the instructor said "what have you forgotten?" He had left his seat belt undone and I had not noticed. He then said that during a BFR the pilot should treat the instructor as a passenger. You should check your passenger has the seat belt done up when you do the 'hatches and harness' check. It's not just about flying the plane. At Gawler, we are expected to be able to point out the boundaries of our airspace, especially as we are actually in RAAF airspace.

You may get quizzed on the performance limits of the plane as well, so make sure you know them.

[Carbon Canary]

Don't forget the groundwork prep expectations.

 

Fuel calcs, weather assessment, flight plan (if cross country) W&B, etc.

[Bosi72]

and fly within tolerances..

 

[phlegm]

Others have outlined the the flight test items pretty well. 

If you're doing your passenger endorsement at the same time, make sure you give a good passenger brief that hits all the required items. Make sure they're strapped in and secure before take-off. You might have to manage them a bit in flight, you have to be acting like a PIC. 

Remember your after landing checklists! I remember landing after an otherwise good flight and couldn't get a word in edge-wise because the examiner was deep into some story he was telling me. It was all a test to see if I would tell him to shut up so I could do my checklists without getting distracted. 

[kgwilson]

There does not seem to be a prescribed set of requirements for a flight test for the RPC so this appears to be at the discretion of the CFI/Pilot Examiner. Obviously all of the theory exams must have been completed satisfactorily first and if the CFI/Examiner is aware of or has been involved in the students training then that is likely to influence what he/she requires the student to demonstrate during the actual flight test. In the past even the training of RPC students has been different from FTF to FTF but there is a prescribed syllabus which is published on the RA website and has been the same since 2014 so a student should be able to satisfactorily demonstrate all of the requirements listed in the syllabus. A new student pilot will not get the PAX endorsement with the issue of the RPC. That usually requires 10 hours of solo after attaining the pilot certificate.

 

There is a RA publication for pilots (RAAP-5) on what to expect from your BFR. This was last updated in February this year.

 

Conversion from GA to RPC which is what I did required 5 hours flight time in an RA aircraft of which at least 1 is with an instructor. The flight test was pretty simple given I'd been flying for 40 years in GA & was a bit like a BFR but with no wing drop stalls or incipient spin recovery which is not allowed in RA or XC stuff involved. Mine was partially completed in CTR as well which most probably are not.