When I showed up all those many moons ago for my commercial checkride, there was a last-minute snag. To conserve funds, I had been flying a Piper Warrior II for the maneuvers and other elements of the practical test standards in use at the time, and a Piper Arrow II for the complex-airplane portion. (This was long before the recent rule change eliminating the need for a retractable-gear airplane.) On the day my checkride was scheduled, the Warrior was ready to rock but the Arrow II was down for maintenance. All was not lost, however, as the FBO had a then-brand-new Turbo Arrow IV they’d let me use at the Arrow II’s rental rate. Only one problem: I had never flown a Turbo Arrow IV.
I had flown a lot of Arrows, mainly the Hershey-bar-wing Arrow II, but also the tapered wing, T-tail airframe of a normally aspirated Arrow IV. I had also flown the IV’s turbocharged engine, in a Piper Turbo Dakota. Could I put together the two skills and get through the checkride satisfactorily in this T-tail, turbocharged beast? The examiner agreed to cut me some slack in the new airplane, so off we went. Other than landing fast in fear of losing pitch authority, I got through it. That airport now is a McMansion subdivision and my commercial SEL hasn’t been revoked. Go figure.
