www.brantly.info

Steve, congratulations on getting your license! What's next for you? It may also be helpful for those that are still going for their ratings for you to tell about your experience, besides just being interesting reading for the rest of us. Ahh the memories!!

Great job!

I was very impressed with the FAA examiner, Harry Steinfeld from the Dallas Flight Services District Office. He was professional and also tried to offer helpful advice based on his own experiences. He was fair and did not try to "trip me up" during the oral examintation. He was also flexible regarding the check ride portion.

Harry weights 235 lbs and I am about 165 lbs. I had only put in about 22 gal of fuel. If I had filled the tank, we would have been over allowable gross weight. As it was, with a temparture near 90, high humidity, low pressure, and no wind, we could not even sustain a very good hover. So we did a running takeoff, simulated power failure at altitude, and a running landing. Then, he got out and told me what to demonstrate to him while he looked on. I didn't do my best ever steep approach, but he just gave me some pointers on how to do it better.

Kevin Hynes (CFI) stopped by during the practical exam and was also helpful in explaining some questions about the Brantly that Harry had. Harry was concerned about one of the types of nuts used to attach the outer blades, but Kevin addressed his concerns. Harry also reviewed my performance with Kevin afterwords. All in all, a very positive experience which certainly did not warrant the anxiety I had ahead of time.

Steve