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Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 19:47:42 -0600
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Subject: Re: Checkride Epic (very long)
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Subject: 
            Re: Checkride Epic (very long)
       Date: 
            Thu, 29 Oct 1998 19:37:13 -0600
      From: 
            Snowbird <snbird@ibm.net>
Newsgroups: 
            rec.aviation.student
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            1


Nancy Hattaway Miller wrote:

Congratulations again, Nancy!

(major snippage)

[Estimate time enroute]
> miserable. He told me that as I flew around on cross countries after
> getting my license, I should try that exercise. "It's no use if you
> don't try to estimate it in your head first, because if you always use
> the computer you will never develop a sense of guestimating > accurately.

Quite a while back, someone posted a method he learned in France,
for mental cross-country planning.  If anyone is interested, email
me and I'll post it. 

I assume you know the trick of calibrating your thumb, palm, and
hand (wrist to fingertip) for guesstimating distances quickly off
a chart.  If you know your plane's groundspeed in nm/min (a guess
is good enough, I used "1.5" or "2" in a 172 depending on whether
the wind was ahead of or behind me), then all you have to do is
double the distance and take 1/3 if the wind's ahead of you, or chop 
the distance in half if the wind's behind you.

Gets you within shouting distance of the right answer unless the
winds are From Hell.  Though perhaps that would be "embarassingly 
far off" for some people.

> "This is simulated: Your engine is on fire, what are you going to do?"
> (...) I immediately set it up: "Throttle back, carb heat on, flaps
> 40, establish speed at the top of the white arc, fuel off, mix out,
> ignition off, master off, slip away from the flames, close these
> vents..." 

You comment that this is different from the POH procedure
(and that the DPEs in your area want it this way), but of course
one idea behind the POH procedure is to dive to extinguish the
flames, which a lower speed maximum-rate descent might not 
accomplish?

Any idea why they don't favor the idea of trying to put the
fire out with a dive, a choice extending the flaps might
tend to eliminate?

As a comment, my DE gave me a simulated engine fire, and
*specified* that he wanted me to dive at 140 mph (above the
POH recommendation).  Of course I would land with flaps
extended but they don't take that long to extend.

Sounds like a very thorough test of your skills.  Enjoy!

Snowbird

