如何出色通過美國私飛執照考試

曾經有位會員Amy第一次私照考試失敗后發出求助帖，當時我剛考完自己的私照，便回復了她的帖子，以期為她提供一些考試的小經驗。帖子發出后10分鐘，99s主席蘇珊·拉森女士（Susan Larson）給我發了個私人郵件：“勞拉，你今天發的帖子真棒，我讀后恨不得再去重考一次飛行考試！”希望此文能為正在學習或者將要學習的朋友提供一點幫助。

而更讓我高興地是，后來，Amy給我發來了感謝信，原來她順利通過了第二次私照考試。

Note：This article was originallywritten to a Ninety-Nines International Female Pilot Association (99s) member Amy， who failed her very first Private Pilot check ride. She asked for help， and I， having received so much support from 99s sisters， felt obliged and honored to give her my insight into the check ride. Ten minutes after I posted this， Susan Larson， the President of 99s sent a private message to me， saying that “it makes me want to run out and take another check ride.” I hope this can be of assistance to anyone who’s in the process of acquiring their private license. Good luck to all! (Amy passed her second check ride and wrote a thank you email to me.)

我是在2010年4月23日通過了私照考試的。2008年剛到美國時，我這個住慣了大城市、連方向都搞不清楚的家伙，一個人都不太敢開車。考前我特別擔心，業余訓練了4個月，不知道是否能通過考試。雖然教練認為我的飛行知識、做判斷和決定的能力通過考試綽綽有余，可我自己信心并不充足，加上我的這位考官一般只考核美國本地飛行員，英語不是我的母語，尤其擔心他的措辭跟口音可能會給本來就緊張的我帶來理解的困難、造成心理上更大的壓力。不過，我還是決定相信飛行教練的判斷，大膽去嘗試一下，大不了重考一次，我這樣跟自己說。

飛行以外的考試—把最有條理的你呈現給考官

無論在地面口試還是在空中飛行，考官總是樂意看到你是個很有條理的人。考前，請你一定把個人資料證件、飛行時間記錄本還有FAA相關的表格準備妥當并有邏輯的整理好。這樣做，既可以體現你的認真也可以幫助考官在口試開始前迅速完成這些行政性的事務，而不需要到處翻找缺失的信息，甚至不得不使考試改期進行。

當考官在地面口試時問到一個你并不了解或者不太能確定的知識點，參考資料便成了你的護駕神。不要怕告訴考官你無法確定，但你知道在哪里可以找到這個答案。考官可以籍此了解你的謹慎學習態度以及信息獲得能力—這點對飛行員尤為重要，錯誤或者不確定的信息可能造成安全隱患，考官會不放心。而一個知道什么時候該借助工具書和參考資料的飛行員，考官知道他可以相信你的判斷。

不要忽略初印象—將你的地面口試成為精彩片斷

地面口試一般都是在飛行操作考試之前，因此這個部分的表現是塑造你在考官心中印象的關鍵時期。如果你能準確無誤回答出他所有的問題（答錯一個也一樣棒，不要過多糾纏），在給予自己這個大大鼓舞的同時，考官也會對你通過飛行操作考試充滿信心。我口試時答出每個問題并努力給出進一步地解釋，考官非常滿意，以至于他還特地去拜訪和恭喜我的教官，夸獎他的教學成功。如果你喜歡你的飛行教官，那就努力一下，給他一個為你也為他自己驕傲的機會吧。

做個貼心的飛行員—使你的考官成為最開心放心的乘客

在飛行操作考試的時候，試試看把考官想象成你80歲高齡的“奶奶”。她非常愛你，盡管她對飛行感到很緊張，但還是鼓起勇氣當你的第一位乘客。因此，你一定要用自己最平靜的語氣通過耳脈告訴她，你正在想什么、為什么，接下來打算做什么，讓“奶奶”知道你對一切狀況都了解，也正在做出合適的判斷，保證你和她的安全。

當你做正常爬升的時候，達到Vy速度（最佳爬升率速度）后，放低機頭配平到Vy+5 或者Vy+10的速度。請在加速前跟考官解釋你這樣做的目的是為了獲得更好的視野，有利于掃描飛機附近的交通狀況。這個操作在私人實際飛行中很常見，而考官也會樂得接受你這多往前考慮的一份用心和給他帶來的舒適感覺。

在做轉向時，除非是規定要大坡度，盡可能使用標準轉彎速率（每秒改變3度航向）。這樣做最大的好處是避免因缺少目視信息、或者由于加速度混淆了感官而造成空間定向障礙尤其是夜間飛行時。除了舒適，做標準轉彎速率時，你對飛機精確的操控也會給考官留下良好印象。

降落時，符合最佳下降路徑的下降控制以及輕輕飄到跑道上的完美著陸總是可以贏得考官地贊美。我做了3個降落，前兩個符合這個標準，即使第3個因為換了一個機場下降路徑并不最好，考官也堅決認為我的著陸非常好。

智者能改—修正、修正再修正

每個飛行動作都一次到位、完美無缺固然很好，但考官最想知道的，卻是你可以在不完美發生之后是否懂得根據實際狀況去進行修正。你提到你上一次考試時，考官讓你去了一個不熟悉的機場，那里的跑道比常用的跑道要窄很多，你的視覺沒有適應過來，過早進行了拉平。這個問題似乎很常見，在我的考試過程中也發生了。當我發現自己的速度在不停下降而飛機位置還過高，無法安全著陸時，趕緊加入了些油門控制下降率。當我最后將飛機落在跑道上時，考官說：“勞拉，你做得非常好。我很高興看到你知道如何修正，這比你前面做的完美降落都要重用。”

請允許我傳授你一個秘訣：每次做修正時，大聲說出你打算如何糾正發生的狀況，同時一定右手控制在油門上，不要讓考官因為不放心而搶過飛機控制權。因為我的教練非常謹慎，為了讓他放心，我每次都這么做，養成了習慣。據說有些考生不注意這一點，考官并不清楚他對實際情況的分析和行動決定，當他覺得不安全時，就會拿過控制權，而當這發生也就意味著考試的失敗。

態度決定一切—私照是允許你開始飛行學習的一張證而已

考官非常希望看到的你，是一個清楚知道自己在飛行學習中的位置的你。你正確的學習態度，不斷地學習和提高自己的飛行能力，是確保你成為一個安全的飛行員而不是寫入報紙中的一個悲劇的根本。如果你確實是這樣想的，那么不用害羞，把這個想法告訴他，因為他真的真的很想知道。

考前放松自己

考前的一周是比較難熬的，因為我們總想著不要失敗。其實，飛行考試沒有失敗可言。我們是為了自己的興趣而接受這個挑戰，每一個飛行時刻，都是我們享受人生的過程，考試同樣也是這個過程中的一部分。考前一周，我一個人拉了飛機出去做了兩次練習，第一次非常順利，每個降落都很圓滿，所有操作都在私照考試標準范圍里。而第二次一開始幾乎沒有一次著陸做得令我滿意，郁悶焦躁的我問自己，“勞拉，你做飛行要的是什么？”“快樂啊！”說出這句話，我一下子清醒過來，心情大好。再做一次降落，我享受著飛行的快樂，做了一個完美的飄落，然后趕緊收工回家。如果你飛行考試準備時，跟我一樣發生了突然的技能劣變，請不要著急，深呼吸，這樣的螺旋式發展在飛行學習中非常正常。

還有些考生會在考前過度緊張而失眠，從而影響他們考試的表現。不要去擔心考試，泡個泡泡浴，看部開心的喜劇片，正常時間上床休息。

I passed my PPL check ride very recently on April 23， 2010. I am a Chinese city girl who always had trouble telling directions and didn’t even know how to drive until coming to the States 2 years ago. So I was very nervous before the exam， wondering if the flight training in the last four months was sufficient for the exam， and if I would misunderstand instructions in English due to high stress or difficulty with accent. As you know， most examiners in the US do not meet foreign examinees that often. Anyway， I decided to trust my instructor’s judgment and give it a try. The worst scenario was to retake it. No big deal!

A few things that my instructor mentioned before the exam and King’s video I watched greatly helped me to pass the check ride smoothly. You may already know them. I hope they may offer some help and comfort to you and other Future Women Pilots.

Complete and well-organized paper work and comprehensive reference material

Examiners are really happy to see you are very well organized on the ground as well as in the cockpit. Organized paper work and providing all necessary identifications help them glide through these administrative tasks quickly and avoid any possibility of delay or even cancel your exam.

When asked questions of an unfamiliar area， the reference material will save your day if you know how to find the answers. Do not hesitate to tell the examiner that you don’t know the exact answer and show him how to find it. He wants to know that you are careful and capable of retrieving the correct information. This is so important to pilot， as any misinformation may jeopardizing the lives of both people in the air and on the ground. A pilot that knows to when to say “I don’t know” and refer to books assures him that this won’t happen.

Good oral examination performance matters

Examiners are very impressed when you don’t miss one single question during the oral exam， or maybe one (Please don’t beat yourself up if you did miss any. Move on and continue your exam) . It’s an indication of your excellent preparation for the exam.(I followed this advice and my examiner was so satisfied that later he congratulated my instructor on doing a wonderful job.)

Be a considerate pilot and make your passenger comfortable

Just imagine your examiner is your 80-year-old grandma who is really anxious about flying. She was willing to go on this flying trip and be your first passenger， so that you will continue loving her ( I am Just kidding). Talk out loud in a calm tone about what you are thinking and doing so she knows that you are fully aware of the situation and you are making sound judgments. Grandma will be happy and feeling safe， so is your examiner.

Do your normal climb at Vy+5 to Vy+10. This is to give you and your examiner both to have a better view for traffic scan. Examiners seem to like this extra comfort， even though they have quite a wide range of tolerance.

Make all your turns standard rate turnsunless it’s necessary to turn very steeply. It is not only good for night flying to avoid spatial disorientation but also good for the impression your examiner gets about your fineness in operating the plane.

On-the-glide-slope descending and greased landings always win examiners’ heart. (I did two beautiful ones and even though the last one was a little funny， my examiner was still happy.)

Correction， correction， correction

Perfect maneuver each time definitely is great. But examiners love to see that you can correct for the situation. Just like you， I was using an unfamiliar skinny runway and flared a little too early. I added a little more power right after realizing my speed was bleeding off too much while I was still high. When I eased the plane to the runway， my examiner said， “That’s very good. I am glad to see you know how to make the corrections.

Secret: Speak out your mind about how to correct the situation and keep your right hand on the throttle so it’s hard for your examiner to take it over. The moment he takes it over， you probably have failed your exam unless he tells you that he just needs to take it over for certain reasons that won’t affect your exam result.

Attitude – Licensed to learn

Examiners love to see that you hold a learning attitude and will continue to improve your skills to be a safer pilot. If you don’t want to be in the news and be a number in the history， never stop learning. If you truly believe this， then let him know that you are very humble and aware of that pilot license is only the license to learn. He truly enjoys hearing it.

Good rest before the exam

Don’t worry too much the night before your exam. Do not think about the exam or losing sleep. Take a bubble bath， watch a comedy movie if you like， and go to bed at a decent hour.