BFR Done

Well I finally got my Biennial Flight Revue (BFR) done on Friday! Even though I had only flown with an instructor a few months before for my Arrow rating, I was really nervous about the flight. I had heard many horror stories about BFR's, and like any pilot, I didnt want to screw up!

Luckily the instructor was really friendly, explaining to me before the flight what he was testing for, and what he expected. As I was preparing the plane (and throughout the flight) he asked me questions regarding the aircraft, and flying rules and regulations.

First I had to perform a max-performance takeoff, and much to my surprise, he didnt fail my engine after takeoff! He let me do a normal climb and vacate of the circuit, and we climbed out to the west, with me demonstrating an emergency gear extension on the way.

Once clear of the control zone, he made me go through some medium and steep turns, and then a compass turn (bit rusty on this!). Then we did several stalls in different configurations and to different stages, from buffet right up to a minor wing drop.

Then it was time for the bit I was dreading, forced landings. Cherokee type aircraft are not known for their glide ability, and the Arrow is probably the worst of the bunch. Immediately after the 'failure', I chose to override the auto-extending gear, which the instructor liked. I managed to get all my checks done no worries, and made both my 1500 and 1000 foot points, and I made it to my paddock, although with a little more speed than I would have liked. Luckily the instructor said he was happy that I would have safely made the paddock, although I might have gone through the fence at the far end.

He then took off the 'examiner' hat and put on the 'instructor' hat, just to demonstrate a new trick. He made me climb back to 2500 feet, and then gave me another engine failure. This time though, he told me to also put the prop to full coarse, just to demonstrate the better glide. It defintely made a difference, and I will now include this in my initial actions. He also explained that in a real catastrophic engine failure, the engine would normally stop anyway.

After the forced landings, we moved to the (very small) western low flying area. There he had me demonstrate steep turns, coastal reversal, line feature reversal and a precautionary landing.

We then returned to the circuit, and were given a right base for runway 18. Once established, we were told we were number three to a Alpha on 'short final', however we finally spotted the aircraft about 3 miles out from the runway! Short final??

Being stuck in behind a Alpha doing 70 kts while we are trying to do a flapless landing at 90kts was never going to work, so the instructor let me deploy flaps and slow us down to try and keep our spacing. Everything was going well, but obviously tower got cold feet and made us go around, even though we both decided we had plenty of room and time to land. There was then some tricky flying to keeping us behind the Alpha (which was doing a touch and go), which the instructor was happy with.

The second circuit went better with a flapless landing, and after lifting off at around 300 AGL my engine 'failed' and I set us up for a landing in a paddock to the right of the centerline.

The third circuit ended with a precision landing, however tower cleared a fletcher to takeoff from the parallel grass runway just as we touched down, and the pilot seemed to have some difficulty maintaining his own centerline, preferring to use ours...

The 4th circuit I was told to make a normal full stop landing, althought at the last minute tower recleared us to use the bumpy grass runway, so i used very little braking and rolled to the end.

As we taxied back to the hangar, we got the dreaded "please phone the tower once you have shut down" radio call. After cleaning everything up, the instructor phoned the tower, only to find that someone had rung to complain about the aircraft "flying lower than any plane Ive seen before". Tower then explained that the person lived on the extended centerline, and we must have done our simulated engine failure near their house! Strange to get a complaint about that, when 2 other aircraft in the circuit with us were also doing simulated engine failures at the same place, and aircraft do it there all the time!

The instructor then told me I had passed, and that everything was well within PPL requirements. He said I should probably practise forced landings more often, but that ALL pilots of single engine aircraft should do this!

So thats it! Stress over, and I am legal to fly for another 2 years. My goals in that time are 1. Multi Engine Rating and possibly 2. Instrument rating. Time (and finances!) will tell...