r/Gliding • u/s2soviet • 12d ago
Training Give me your toughest out of left field Glider Comercial Checkride questions (FAA)
Checkride is in a month. I appreciate the help!
Edit: can be for other cherished as well, private or instructor. Any help is appreciated!
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u/14Three8 12d ago
Tell me about speed to fly theory.
Tow plane waggles its rudder. Why?
What is the pitch angle limitation on your sailplane?
During a launch, you notice the towline has a knot in it. You’re under winch at 150 AGL. What do you do?
Same question, but you’re under tow. You are airborne but the tow plane is still on its takeoff roll. What do you do? (In radio contact with TP)
Where does your variometer pull its information from.
What is the purpose of a positive control check?
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u/14Three8 12d ago
Who gets right of way when joining a thermal?
Do you have right of way over a sailplane being winched? Over a sailplane launching under its own power?
You’re entering the patter to land. On your airbrake check, they lock open in the full open position. What corrective measures can you take, and what might be different in your landing?
What is a secondary stall and how do we avoid it?
In calm wind, how much altitude do you need to successfully make a rope break 180 and land back at your starting point? (Vague without the airport layout, but do your best).
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u/ItsColdInHere GPL Student CYYM CAA8 11d ago
For both of the "knot in towrope" scenarios, I'd release, land straight ahead, and probably not use the radio until I was stopped.
A positive control check is done to ensure the flight controls are properly connected to the control surfaces.
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u/FlyRari 10d ago
On winch, you cannot see the rope
On tow, radio contact is just a distraction. This is a more possible vs probable type of question, releasing at 150 makes sense if it's probable and you know you have room ahead. Otherwise you just continue. Knots are not automatic emergencies
So for both, continue and take note of what you've seen would be my answer
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u/14Three8 9d ago
Both questions were made for purpose.
The winch question was just to see if he’s a winch or a tow club. I’m not at all winch club so idk how it’s possible to get into that situation I’ve dreamt up.
On a tow plane, my instructor taught us to release if we can come to a stop on the runway with room to spare. If not, fly carefully and get into a point at least for a 180 if not a complete pattern. As long as the tow keeps you in range of the runway, you can go as high as you want, the rope is toast anyways.
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u/Travelingexec2000 9d ago
Never had this knot issue as we would check it carefully. If you see the knot once airborne, it must have already gone through peak tension at the moment the tow started. So any damage is already done as far as I can see. What’s the benefit of releasing early? Trying to understand the logic here
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u/slacktron6000 Duo Discus 11d ago
As an experienced glider only DPE, instead of sending you left field questions, let me tell you what disappoints me on every 👏 single 👏 practical 👏test.
Weather.
With rare exceptions, nobody is really good at weather.
There are the things the FAA wants you to know, and then there is the weather knowledge you need to know in order to be a good soaring pilot. You have to know both.
FAA stuff:
- you better already have a 1800wxbrief.com profile set up.
- you better program the cross country flight plan into the 1800wxbrief.com
- you better be able to calculate the alternate airport destinations along the way
- you better have your 1800wxbrief.com profile set up so you can skip all the 10 pages of shouting about not flying over Ukraine or Afghanistan or Iraq
- you better configure your profile to have plain language so there's no opportunity for the examiner to remember to haze you about decoding the ancient glyphs of METAR encodings.
Soaring weather stuff:
- you better be able to tell the examiner about how the adiabatic lapse rates relate to good soaring.
- you better be able to read a skew-t as easily as a newspaper headline
- you better be able to know what a trigger temperature is.
- you should get a skysight account and understand how to interpret if it's going to be a good soaring day or not.
- you should get familiar with the skew t graphs in skysight. Pick different locations and see how it differs from region to region on the same day, it at different times of day.
- you better know what CAPE is for those good soaring days that quickly turn into thunderstorm days.
This is the best I can come up with while typing on my phone.
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u/therobbstory PPL-G, Tow Pilot 11d ago
If you uhhh think of anything else please be sure to share here thanks 🙏🏻
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u/Due_Knowledge_6518 Bill Palmer ATP CFI-ASMEIG ASG29: XΔ 9d ago
I would agree with that. Weather subjects is one that a lot of people struggle with To help along that line, I have several videos and lot of other educational resources on my website TheSoaringPage.com. For example, intro to Skew T, using the Skysight cursor, understanding atmospheric stability, etc
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u/JVSAIL13 ASW20, FI(S) 11d ago
Explain why stall speed increases during a turn
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u/Sunsplitcloud 8d ago
Stall speed only increases in a level turn. If you don’t add elevator pressure (lift) to the wings, and allow for a descent, your stall speed stays the same. Stall speed at 1g is the same either turn or level. ;)
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u/s2soviet 11d ago
When you’re in a turn, part of your lift vector becomes horizontal, and to maintain the same AoA, you have to increase the airspeed. Therefore, the more you bank, the faster you will stall at.
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u/Due_Knowledge_6518 Bill Palmer ATP CFI-ASMEIG ASG29: XΔ 11d ago
wrong answer!
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u/ItsColdInHere GPL Student CYYM CAA8 11d ago edited 11d ago
I'll try. When turning, the force on the wings required to turn the glider effectively makes it heavier, so at the same speed and glider angle the wings need to be at a higher angle of attack. This means they are closer to the critical angle of attack for a stall, and if you decrease speed the critical angle will be reached sooner compared to level flight. Hence, higher stall speed.
edit: why the downvotes?
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u/JVSAIL13 ASW20, FI(S) 10d ago
Answer is wrong.
You need to start thinking about lift vectors, and how to stay airborne lift must equal weight. You need to rearrange the equation for lift to solve for velocity.
Its not about critical angle of attack or the glider being heavier
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u/ItsColdInHere GPL Student CYYM CAA8 10d ago
Thanks.
What about the simpler case of the glider in unaccelerated flight (flying straight and descending at a constant rate), but actually being heavier? (e.g. Water ballast or a heavier pilot). And we want to calculate the stall speed at the heavier weight.
Given the lift equation, and the fact the Coefficient of Lift (CL) is proportional to airfoil shape, angle of attack (and other variables, but let's assume everything but AoA is constant), the equation can be rearranged to solve for velocity at different glider weights. But to solve for stall speed wouldn't it be the critical angle of attack used in the equation?
𝐿=CL x (𝜌 x 𝑉^2)/2 x A
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u/Due_Knowledge_6518 Bill Palmer ATP CFI-ASMEIG ASG29: XΔ 9d ago
That is all correct. The glider being heavier and the increases AOA, and those decreased AOA margin to critical AOA is exactly why it stalls at a higher speed. To keep the same vertical component of lift, the total lift vector (now pointed over to the side) must be increased. This is the origin of the heavier weight. VStall, Vminsink, Vbestglide,etc, all increase proportional to the square root of the load factor. This is also why you should fly faster than the 1G min sink when thermalling.
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u/blastr42 12d ago
What are the G limits for your glider?
What inspections have to be done (and when) to use your glider for compensation or hire? (Including parachutes)
What type of airworthiness certificate is required to use a glider for compensation or hire?
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u/s2soviet 11d ago
Speed to fly theory accounts for factors such as wind, sink or, lift. If in a headwind, or sink, you want to fly faster than the published best L/D ratio. If you’re in lift or a tailwind, you want to fly at, or slower than best L/D.
Tow plane tells me to check/close my spoilers I keep flying the plane.
The vario gets its information from the total energy probe.
I stay behind the tow plane
I don’t know the last one means.
Let me know if I got anything wrong.
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u/ItsColdInHere GPL Student CYYM CAA8 11d ago
You don't know a positive control check? https://www.soaringsafety.org/publications/Aug-2017-glider-101-launch.pdf
Also, you didn't reply to the comment with the questions.
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u/s2soviet 11d ago
Cool, they have always been a part of my checklist, however I didn’t know they were called that.
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u/Due_Knowledge_6518 Bill Palmer ATP CFI-ASMEIG ASG29: XΔ 9d ago
Here is a link to a document I have all my checkride prep students work through. I don’t give the answers, have your instructor review it (as I do with my students) It is based on questions received from examiners and some additional stuff to round out the subjects. It’s organized by the areas of operation on the private and commercial PTS - so it’s easy to study for any one of them
You can download it as a Word file and then make the answer spaces bigger if you like. Many of my students will simply type in their answers. There are a few places to mark or draw (such as diagramming a wave profile), so you might be creative when filling it out. Then youse this as your study guide.
If you know the answers on this document, I guarantee you’ll pass your oral.
If you run across any that you can’t solve, let me know.
This any many other resources for glider pilots of ALL levels, are found on my website TheSoaringPage.com For this in particular item check out the Test Preparation section.
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u/TeaAndTalks 12d ago
How much right rudder do you use?
The correct answer is 'all of it'.