by gw » Thu Mar 18, 2004 10:46 pm
Captain,
I looked at the code for the commercial check ride and I think I have an idea of what the examiner is expecting. Now, I've not flown this check ride myself so you'll have to tell me how reasonable this sounds.
The descent begins when she tells you demonstrate a gear-down descent to 3,500 feet. This message looks like the start of a couple of important timers.
First, you have 20 seconds to set your MP to 15 inches. Tolerances on manifold pressure are +/- 2 inches. So your target MP is 15 inches but anything between 13 and 17 inches inclusive should pass.
Second, it appears that you have 30 seconds to lower the gear. Now you can't do that until the plane slows to below 152 kts and that won't happen until you set the manifold pressure so the timing looks a little tight here.
She says your speed should be 140 kts but it looks like she's after 142 kts +10 or - 15 kts. So I think anything between 127 and 152 would be okay. Since you passed the instrument checkride this should be kid stuff.
The altitude tolerances are +/- 120 feet. This means when you reach 3620 feet in your descent the examiner is going to consider you to be at 3500 feet.
Again, the timing seems to be critical here so I'm not sure if I'm reading the code correctly without more investiagtion but that could take several days to weeks to look at.
Let me know if this helps (or doesn't).
gw
Cessna N7654 ready to copy IFR clearance to KSMF.
Cessna N7654 cleared to KSMURF as filed.
