Preparing for my Commercial Glider Checkride

It's been a while since my last post. If anyone happens to be reading this, I hope this broadcast finds you well and flying often. Since the last update, I relocated across the country to Santa Barbara, California. I'm grateful to be able to fly gliders in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley. The soaring climate and terrain here differs remarkably from what I was accustomed to back east. Maybe I will discuss those differences in detail in a later post.

Cub on final for Rwy 26 at IZA

I'll soon be due for a flight review, and I'm planning to satisfy that requirement by (hopefully) earning my Commercial Pilot certificate. For the past few weeks I have been working with an excellent flight instructor to prepare for the FAA practical test. I am in the midst of studying for the written test, which I will take this Wednesday. My IACRA login thankfully still works, and now I have a bunch of logbook totaling to do.

Most of my recent flying has been in aircraft with very few instruments--gliders and aerobatic airplanes--and I'm surprised how much written test material I'd forgotten because I hadn't used it. I needed to re-learn the method to intercept NDB station bearings, how to read an RMI, compass acceleration errors, and IFR currency requirements, to name a few. The only required instrument in the Schweizer 2-33A that I am now flying is an airspeed indicator!

Simulated low-altitude rope break