Yet Another "Mock" Checkride

On February 1st I did another "mock" checkride ...this time with my regular CFI (Certified Flight Instructor for the acronym-challenged). My XC (cross-country) flight planning this time was to San Angelo with numerous visual checkpoints along the way. I decided to fly via the Llano VOR so I could have an "electronic navigation" backup to my visual pilotage. We did a "simulated engine failure" and diversion over Spicewood airport and I glided in and around Spicewood to burn off altitude before making my final approach for a no-engine landing. Unfortunately coming in over the lake caused a large "sink" right off the end of runway 17 and we had to add engine power back into the mix to make a nice landing. Now that I'm "wise" to this sink zone I'll make sure I make the approach to final with excess altitude to allow for the sink. There are numerous ways of shedding excess altitude with no engine....there are no solutions for re-gaining altitude without engine power if you encounter a "sink" zone on final. I also did a short-field takeoff from Spicewood as well as a soft-field takeoff. The runway is only 30 feet wide at Spicewood so you get the feeling you are more on a driveway than a runway! On the way back to Austin-Bergstrom I did some climbing turns on instruments "under the hood". You can see my climbing turns while on instruments in the GPS map depicted here (click map for a larger view)



The other photo here is your's truly in the Areobat cockpit with my long legs protruding. There will be more room in a C172 or C182 someday! (click photo for a larger view)