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My I-5 issues

Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 3:22 am
by webstalle
Just passed the I-5 last morning. It took me a couple of runs to get that ticket.
First time, beginning of the year, I was almost done with the flight when I screwed up and started a descend before cleared for the Approach ...

For quite a while I did not fly virtually, since I was flying for real and working on my sim, trading in the Saitek Yoke for a suisse made semi-pro one with control loading.

I resumed flying virtually in September or so at uncontrolled fields. I experienced Problems with the Radio: I could hear all transmissions, but I was not heard by ATC. Since I use a BOSE X Headset as in real world flying, I have to use a converter to connect to the PCs Sound Card. That converter needs 9V power to run. If the battery is dead, my Radio transmissions are not sent out.
So I focused on the battery. After replacing it, the problem seemed to be solved.

The I-5 Rating was still on my list, so I filed the flight plan, tuned in the VORs and Radios, got my clearance and went off. After flying a while and handed over to Departure (134.2), I again ran into trouble transmitting the read backs. After two attempts flying the I-5, it turned out that the button assigned to the Push-To-Talk on the new yoke did not work properly. X-Plane's button assignment dialogue always indicated ATC when that specific button was pressed on the yoke.- However, ATC reported that my messages are broken.

I was told by ATC that that flight to KLAS does not count for the I-5 checkride due to the Radio problems. I always had to ackknowledge the clearances given by ATC by IDENT on the transponder. IDENTing revealed another problem with the G1000 app on the iPAD: Pressing the button on the app did not trigger the transponders IDENT. I had to use the virtual panel instead, which worked fine. Eventually, that flight was completed safely with a landing at KLAS. That happened in the morning hours on the day of November 6.

After reassigning it to a different button that problem was gone. So I decided to take another ride for the I-5 ticket yesterday. It was a nice flight with just some minor issues. After landing, I was told that I did pass the checkride.

The great surprise came when I checked the roster this morning: I was rated as I-5 AS OF November 6!

See you in the skies.

Friedhelm, Germany