Wednesday, October 25th, 2006
By request from my flight instructor, I went to the doctor this morning. Well, he is a doctor as well as an Aviation Medical Examiner. Real nice guy located in Middletown, NY. I went in for my medical certification. All student pilots need this before they can fly solo and get their Pilot Certification. Once your instructor endorses the back of the certificate with the date, make and model of airplane and their signature, you are golden to perform your first solo. This will be the first time in your life you are in an airplane (in the sky) alone.
I wanted to write this post to describe exactly what happened at the doctor’s office. I was kind of curious before I went and I am sure that other students out there want to know what goes down and are kind of anxious about it. So here it is…
I walked in and said hello. That was the hard part. They handed me the application sheet that basically asked me who I was and when was the last time I went to the doctor and for what. It also asked if I have any medical conditions…diabetes, hearing problems, etc…I filled this out and handed it back to the desk. They then asked me to give them a urine sample. I did this and gave it to them. Then, they walked me over to the eye test machine. They had me read the bottom row of letters…the really teensy weensy ones. I completed this fine. My right eye is slightly blurry, but I still read the letters. My left eye is crystal clear. I then had to read the sheets with color bubbles mixed with black and white ones. This tested my eyes for color accuracy. Then I went into the exam room to meet the doctor. He asked me to remove my shirt and he asked me to breath with a stethoscope against my back. Then, he checked my heartbeat from the front. He said it was beating fast and told me I needed to exercise…that would slow it down. I told him I was a little nervous because I really wanted this certificate. Oh well. He then had me sit on that little bed covered with paper. He checked my ears with the light and made me open my mouth to look in. Then, he shined the light in my eyes to see if there was anything wrong there. All looked good. Then, I had to lay flat on the bed and he tapped my stomach and my back with the tips of his fingers. All good. All the while, he kept conversing with me, sometimes quietly. This was to check my hearing and to make sure it was suitable for flight. There are certain requirements. For the third class, they are listed below:
Third class certifications require the least involved examinations of all medical certifications. They are required for those intending to be pilot-in-command of an aircraft under the Private or Recreational pilot certificates or while exercising solo privileges while a student pilot.
To qualify for a third class medical certificate, pilots must meet the following requirements:
- Distant vision: 20/40 or better in each eye separately, with or without correction
- Near vision: 20/40 or better in each eye separately, with or without correction, as measured at a distance of 16 inches
- Color vision: Demonstrate the ability to perceive the colors necessary for the safe performance of airman duties
- Hearing: Demonstrate the ability to hear an average conversational voice in a quiet room, using both ears, at a distance of six feet, with their back turned to the examiner, or pass an approved audiometric test
- Ear, Nose, and Throat: Exhibit no ear disease or condition manifested by, or that may reasonably be expected to be manifested by, vertigo or a disturbance of speech or equilibrium
- Blood Pressure: Under 155/95
- Mental Status: No diagnosis of psychosis, bipolar disorder, or severe personality disorders
- Substance Dependence: No dependence on alcohol or any pharmacological substance in the previous two years
For pilots under 40 years of age, third class medical certificates expire on the last day of the month they were issued, three years from the date of issue. For all others, they expire on the last day of the month they were issued, two years from the date of issue.
I hope I am not leaving anything out and I hope this helps any anxious students out there get a feel for what they need. Also, make sure you drink some water before you go in, because, as I said above, you will need to give a urine sample.
If you do ok during the appointment, you will most likely walk out with a card that looks like this:
This is actually a first class certificate I found online (I changed it to say “3rd”), so your third class one may look slightly different.
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Friday, September 1st, 2006
Ah yes, 8:00AM. It is September 1st and it is getting a little chilly around here. I am starting to wear sweatshirts in the morning. When I go sit on the couch to drink my morning coffee, I now have to wear a shirt. I guess it’s ok. Better than sweating. Laura doesn’t seem to have a problem with it, she HATES the heat.
Of course, I arrived at the flight school first again. I have a problem doing that. Perhaps it is because I can’t sleep at night, tossing and turning, thinking I am going to miss the alarm and screw up the whole lesson. You have to take them when you can these days due to all the rain we have been getting.
Anyway, Yigal arrived a little later than I did. He had me go out and do the pre-flight inspection. He chose a different plane this time…a little older and smaller, but just as powerful as the last. I believe this one was made in 1969. I did the inspection and suggested that we fill the tanks with fuel. They were below the markers. Also, when I took the sample of fuel from the left wing, a little water came out in the fuel. Yigal says this is due to the condensation created overnight. No big deal. I threw the fuel downwind.
I went back inside and Yigal had me call the weather service to get the current conditions as well as the forecast for the day. A pilot should always do this whenever they plan to fly. You always want to be sure that conditions are going to be ok from where you takoff from, your path and your landing area. Of course, this day, we tookoff from Orange County Airport and landed there too. A little note about this type of weather service - they throw out a whole mess of numbers. There is no handsome man in a suit in front of a large, easy to read map. I called the number he gave me: 1-800-WX-BRIEF. Here is what I had to do: introduce myself as a student pilot, give the tail number, tell the person that we were taking off from MGJ and landing there as well, let them know that we are staying in the area as well as our flight duration. Then, I had to request a standard briefing. I also had to ask if there were any TFRs (Temporary Flight Restrictions). I was looking for the ceiling hieght, visibility, the forecast and the wind direction and speed. Basically anything that we should be concerned about while in a small aircraft. Well, I screwed that all up. The operator on the other end of the phone was completely rude and had no patience. He totally unnerved me when he started sarcastically sighing. At one point he asked very slowly if I was writing this down. I felt like I was getting pretty ticked at him, but because of my point in learning, I was in no place to say anything. The reason he was getting frustrated was because I kept asking him to repeat things. I really don’t think these were big requests, since I did introduce myself as a new student pilot. I thanked him and hung up. Yigal asked me how it went and I told him some of the information I received. I also told him that the person was very rude and indicated what his attitude was. Yigal shot up and got quite serious. He immediately picked up the phone and called the operator back and asked for his supervisor. He made an aggressive complaint about the poor attitude of the operator and how new students have a difficult enough time learning all of this without having to deal with people like that. I really appreciated this from Yigal, as he showed he cared about my learning process.
We went out tho the plane and got inside. We went over all the things we needed to and I started her up. One thing that I forgot was to wipe the windshield down. There was dew all over it from the night before. No problem…parking brake and engine at 2000 RPM. No more dew. I lowered the throttle back to 800 RPM and taxied to the runway and went through the pre-takeoff checklist. I pulled out to the runway and tookoff. This all went much faster than last time and I was much more comfortable. I also made all radio communications. When we were at our altitude, I practiced straight and level flight and the use of trim, pitch and power coordination, traffic pattern operations, collision avoidance, power-off stalls, power-on stalls and approach and landing. Yigal let me land half-way. His hands were on the controls, but so were mine. It felt pretty comfortable. I think I will ready to give it a shot by myself next time.
A note about airplane stalls - I really thought this area was going to freak me out. Basically, you are simulating a stall while taking off and landing. One is with full power (takeoff) and one with no power (landing). To simulate this, you climb to 3000ft. and lower the flaps. Then you pitch the airplane past 18 degrees, the point of stall. The airplane shudders and falls. The trick is to regain control with minimal altitude loss. Yigal demonstrated the power off stall first and then had me do it axactly to the way the examiner is going to want to see it. It really wasn’t that bad. I kind of liked it. We did the power on stall next…that was a little more dramatic because we really had to pull up all the way to get the plane to stall. We were at a higher speed as well. The studdering is more profound, but recovery is easier. It is a great feeling to practice these skills because they really make you more comfortable with the plane. Once that happens, flying becomes easier and more fun.
I really like these lessons and I am thrilled that I got into this.
Next lesson, Sept. 8, 8:00AM.
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