Written test passed

Sorry about the lack of updates. The main news I have now is that I passed the written with an 89. As I told my friends, Would have liked to have made higher. Was afraid I was going to make lower after I got started. Pleased with what I got considering the difficulty of finding time to study.

Between work, 2 little kids, flying, and trying to find time to study for the written, there just hasn't been time to update the blog. I'll try to go backfill later but let's just say that we've been doing all sorts of maneuvers for the checkride. They guy I'll be testing with supposedly has a very real-world type of style, so in training I get a lot of stuff thrown at me that is less by-the-numbers, and more judgement and execution. As he says, everything boils down to analyzing the situation, deciding on a plan of attack, performing the steps, and adjusting as necessary. I find the actual commercial maneuvers to be pretty easy so I don't think they'll give me too much problem.

If I had to offer advice to anybody going for the Commercial, it would be to get to know your airplane before starting to learn the maneuvers. Learn how it behaves in slow flight and steep turns, and be sure you know how your airplane feels when approaching the stall. All that will help tremendously in the maneuvers because you'll be able to better feel what the airplane is doing. Add all that and be able to put the wheels on the runway exactly where you want them in any type of landing (normal, short-field, soft-field, 180 degree power off, etc) and the rest is easy.

Stay tuned. I'm flying this afternoon to finish up and depending on how everything goes, I hope to have the practical done in 2 weeks or less depending on my and the examiner's schedules.