AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2019 - 113

P&E

NEVER AGAIN

Wild card
A checkride derailed by one simple requirement

SARAH JONES

B Y K A R E N AT K I N S

THE WORLD OF AVIATION is full of thousands of rules and regulations. Some of
these are more critical than others, but all
are important to follow closely. I encountered one such regulation when I took my
instrument rating checkride.
I had been diligently practicing and
studying for the checkride for more than
a year. I had passed the knowledge test
in February, and completed the hours
requirements in March. I couldn't wait
for my checkride with the FAA examiner.
He is near Chattanooga, Tennessee, at an
airport nestled between two ridges and
well-concealed by tall trees. You are almost
on top of it before you see it. I'd been nervous for several weeks, but this spring
morning I was in the zone. I left DekalbPeachtree Airport in Atlanta, wheels up at
8 a.m., heading northwest under a broken
cloud layer at about 6,000 feet. I cruised
northwest in the Cessna 182 at 4,500 feet,
happily anticipating a successful outcome
to the checkride.

I had told the FAA examiner to expect me
at 8:45 a.m., and the wheels touched down at
that small hidden airport at 8:45:09. Couldn't
have nailed that any better. It was a good
omen. The examiner had tested me for my
private pilot certificate almost two years earlier, and although he tests hundreds of pilots,
he said he remembered me.
He started the oral portion of the checkride by asking me what I needed, as pilot, to
be legal and safe, what my airplane needed
to be legal and safe. We reviewed the long
instrument cross-country flight he had me
plan ahead of time (from Chattanooga to
Nashville), what I would do if I lost communications, chart symbols, weight and balance,
and weather questions that typically only a
meteorologist on Channel 2 action news
would know. After a little more than two
hours, he declared I knew my stuff. We
headed out to the airplane to fly. I was starting to feel pretty confident.
The examiner wanted to see a few things
as he followed me around while I was doing

the preflight inspection. Is the registration on
my airplane current (yes), did I have an identifier plate on the airplane (yes), did I have
the pilot's operating handbook in the airplane
(yes), and on and on. All was good, until we
got to one thing.
My airplane has a Garmin GPS. When all
else fails, you can always navigate by the magnetic compass. An airplane's compass always
needs to show any deviations caused by magnetic influences within the airplane-it's a
requirement for a compass correction card
to be in the airplane, typically located on or
by the compass. There are 12 cardinal compass directions that should be tested, and the
deviations should be easily locatable on the
compass in the airplane.
My airplane is a 1978 model. I did not
know if the magnetic compass was original to
the airplane, but I have certainly seen the compass correction sticker attached to it. Honestly,
I never paid much attention. On this day, the
FAA examiner pointed out that the sticker
only showed six of the 12 required compass
headings. Half of the compass card sticker
was missing. This old faded sticker looked
like something from my grandpa's toolshed.
Sometimes you can't "see" what is right
in front of you. I have photographic and video
evidence dating back to when I first bought
the airplane that shows the bottom half of the
sticker was never there, and neither me, nor
my instructors, nor anyone who flew with me
ever noticed. Until the FAA examiner noticed
on checkride day. So, we couldn't fly legally.
What happened next is called a discontinuance-meaning, after I got this darn
compass thing corrected, I could go back
and complete the flight portion of the exam.
And I have been happily (and safely) flying
in the clouds ever since.
AOPA
KAREN ATKINS is an instrument-rated pri-

vate pilot who lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2019

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