Rental Checkout

I arrived home and the next day turned up for a rental checkout in the small airplane I would take my instructor renewal test in. A rental checkout is like a little mini flight test, just to ensure that a pilot is familiar with the area and can operate the airplane safely. It's for the club renting me the airplane, and for their insurance company. I have flown with this instructor before, back when she was a student pilot. Now she is a assessing me. This is a pretty normal thing in aviation.

I ask to sit in the right seat, the instructor's side, and I demonstrate the maneuvers she asks for. She closes the throttle to simulate an engine failure. I choose a field and set up to land in it, and then realize that at idle power the airplane floats a lot better than my regular ride. I have to sideslip aggressively and do S-turns so as not to overshoot the field. Everything was good enough to demonstrate competence for the rental checkout, and the instructor gave me full marks, but not everything was good enough for a "perfect demonstration" to introduce a student to the maneuver. The instructor thought I was ready to go and retest, but I will come back and practice. I want to get the landings better, too.

This being my time off I have a number of social events and other obligations crammed into the days I have home. One of them is an outdoor concert, with performers that were big when I was in high school. I thought when I said I'd be home for it that it was an evening concert, that I could go to after a practice session, but it starts in the early afternoon. I call the Transport Canada examiner and beg out of the flight test that booked the day after the concert. He offers and I accept a later date for the test. Wait, wow! I have a life! And I'm putting something of it before aviation! This is an important occasion for me.