CRST Company-Sponsored Training - The Adventure Begins

Hey Kolibri. Haven't heard from you in a couple of days. How is the testing going?

Day Seventeen - White Hat?

The modus operandi of test week is as follows: There are four “carousels” (backing practice stations marked on the practice range, carousel 1 being the primary testing station). Students of the third week class are divided into groups of 3 or 4 and begin the day either in a truck for road practice or at a carousel for backing practice. Road trucks allow for one student to drive the outbound leg, and second student drives the return leg of the test route. This takes about the same time as two students doing their backing exercises at a carousel. So a returning truck will stop at a carousel to exchange ‘spent’ students. Lather, rinse, repeat. After lunch, second-week students (who have been in the classroom all morning) take to the range and third-week students return to the classroom for a rehash of backing exercises with liberal Q&A followed by remedial training assignments (based on need and trainer availability) for later in the evening and are then released for the afternoon. On testing days, carousels and trucks are allotted for testing purposes, while the remaining students rotate through the practice stations. Students are picked from wherever they are in their practice session to test in turn. Passing students move on to the next test station, students that fail return to the practice rotations.

I started with a round of backing practice and was in the break area resting my clutch leg when summoned to test my PTI. I stood and began the walk to the testing truck (just a truck from the school’s fleet being used for the test - nothing special about it of which I am aware). With every pace of the hundred-yard journey (which felt more like a mile), the knot in my stomach tightened another notch. Got into the truck and started the test -

Me: seat belt, fire extinguisher, reflective triangles…

Examiner: No, not yet. Let me get in on the other side.

Me: seat belt, fire extinguisher, reflective triangles…

Examiner: No, not yet. May I see your license and permit please? (I comply)

Examiner: Please start the truck (to refill the air tanks, emptied by the previous student)

Me: seat belt, fire extinguisher, reflective triangles…

Examiner: No, not yet. Please sign within the box (hands me his tablet computer and stylus)

Examiner: (after I return his computer and a couple more minutes of …computing) You will be expected to demonstrate inspection procedures … (continues his spiel) … Do you understand?

Me: Yes, sir.

Examiner: You may begin.

Me: Seat belt, reflective triangles, fuses, (I continue my inspection. Yes, I forgot the fire extinguisher on the first time it ‘counted’)

As I continue my inspection and descriptions, I feel the knot in my stomach fading. I quickly gain confidence, and rattle off checklist items apace. I breeze through the parking brake tug test flawlessly. I talk through the service brake test missing only the ABS light remaining ‘off’. Now, it’s time for the air brake test. Six steps which must be performed flawlessly for me to pass (previously mentioned missed items are a point apiece toward a cumulative score I was well within). Step 1, BOOM! Step 2, BOOM! Step 5, BOOM! Step 6, BOOM!

Me: This completes my test of the air brake system.

Examiner: I’m sorry. You left out steps 3 and 4. You have failed the air brake test.

Me: (after a brief mental recap and awareness of my errors) DOH!

Examiner: You did very well otherwise; you missed the fire extinguisher…

Me: (silently to myself) I said it 3 times already and miss it on the one time it mattered!

He went over the few other items I overlooked, and rather than be saddened or disheartened, I was very relieved. The self-imposed stress of trying to earn a white hat was gone, and I knew I would get an extra day to practice my driving and backing skills. Tomorrow, I will nail it. I went back and plugged myself back into the practice rotations.

Back at the dorms, I learned we had 2 white hats earned today. Congratulations!

Day Eighteen - PTI Re-test

Hit all points until step 6. When fanning the brakes to expend air pressure until the safety valves pop, and if only one of them pops, or I am unsure whether it popped, just KEEP PUMPING THE BRAKE PEDAL - OVERCOME THE NATURAL DESIRE TO TOUCH THE VALVE IN ANY WAY. Lesson learned: it is ok for the truck to fail the test; it is not ok for the driver to fail the test. I feel like Ernie Els at the Masters’ Tournament. I believe I’ve made all the stupid mistakes possible on this part of the test. I KNOW THIS STUFF!! I need only to stop shooting myself in the foot! Success shall be mine tomorrow.

Day Nineteen - PTI Re-re-test

I was insomniac last night for worrying about today’s test, but managed about an hour and a half of sleep. I am not twenty anymore! I started the day with backing exercises followed by 2 road trips, and tested at 1100. I took my time. I took a deep breath after each subsection. I passed with a score of 42 of about 47 possible (higher is better in this part of the exam).

I moved on to the backing exam after lunch of mammoth submarine sandwich. I got myself into an awkward position outside the lane, approaching an entrance corner cone. Instead of striking the cone and taking a 3-point hit, I pulled forward to cause a ‘reset’ (return to starting position) for one point. Having noted landmarks while in my starting position, my reset was perfect. I proceeded to perform a beautiful 90° alley dock maneuver. The truck was straight, reasonably centered (maybe 8 or ten inches left), parallel to the sides, and the DOT bumper neatly centered in the box. Nailed it! Next was the straight backing. I was supposed to back straight through two parallel rows of cones until the front bumper was beyond the rearmost cones. I stopped when the bumper cleared the foremost cones. I will do it correctly tomorrow.

Then will be the road test. I improve or learn something every time I get behind the wheel. So, from here on out, it’s practice a bit, test, practice, test, etc., until the DOT examiner says I am good enough to be turned loose on the general public. I am up-shifting now in a manner that no longer involves other occupants of my vehicle picking their teeth from the windshield, and making strings of smooth down-shifts. I am no longer losing track of what gear I am in, and recovering from errors without getting flustered. I am now, and will continue gaining skill and improving my timing and coordination. I still expend a lot of mental effort on managing the transmission, but it is getting easier all the time. I can’t make an accurate prediction when I will receive the DOT’s blessing, but am certain it won’t be too far off.

Day Twenty - Home Stretch, Baby!

I reported at 0800 today. My backing practice session was scheduled for 0845, and my backing test was scheduled for 1300. I picked up a trainer and a fellow student for a road drive after my backing session. We returned from our drive with a few minutes to spare before lunch (hot dogs and chips) was served. I was a bit sloppy today, picking up 9 points of a maximum 12 to still pass. It was good enough for the DOT; so it’s good enough for me.

Road test tomorrow, class meets at 0615.

While I know that certain things during the road test will incur points (another lowest-score-wins test) such as “coasting” - moving more than a very few seconds with the clutch disengaged or “excessive grinding of transmission gears; and some things are automatic failures (violation of any law, striking a curb, usually on a right turn), I can’t really peg down how well or poorly I anticipate performing. I will just drive, following my examiner’s instructions, and take what I’m given for a score. If needed, I’ll just practice more, rectify my mistakes, and try again until I pass.

Day Twenty - Home Stretch, Baby!

I reported at 0800 today. My backing practice session was scheduled for 0845, and my backing test was scheduled for 1300. I picked up a trainer and a fellow student for a road drive after my backing session. We returned from our drive with a few minutes to spare before lunch (hot dogs and chips) was served. I was a bit sloppy today, picking up 9 points of a maximum 12 to still pass. It was good enough for the DOT; so it’s good enough for me.

Road test tomorrow, class meets at 0615.

While I know that certain things during the road test will incur points (another lowest-score-wins test) such as “coasting” - moving more than a very few seconds with the clutch disengaged or “excessive grinding of transmission gears; and some things are automatic failures (violation of any law, striking a curb, usually on a right turn), I can’t really peg down how well or poorly I anticipate performing. I will just drive, following my examiner’s instructions, and take what I’m given for a score. If needed, I’ll just practice more, rectify my mistakes, and try again until I pass.

Well done dude, hope you pass with flying colors all the way!!!

Thank you, Airborne! I am confident that I will pass soon, and also that they won't pass me until I achieve the required competency. :)

Day Twenty-One - Road Test

The citizens of Iowa and the other 47 contiguous states have been spared one more day of the terror that is me with eighteen wheels on the public roadways.

I think my nerves just got the better of me today. I couldn’t seem to be able to find a gear to save my life. My up-shifting was handily passable, but coming back down was pretty bad. I did none of the “automatic fails”, accruing 31 points (30 or fewer and I would have passed). This tells me two things:

1. On a “bad day” (I was very nervous) I am one point away from passing, so a little bit of “chillaxation” is all I need to pass.

2. This place is absolutely NOT a “CDL/diploma mill”. You don’t get a CDL until YOU EARN IT BY DEMONSTRATING THE EXPECTED LEVEL OF PROFICIENCY AT THE REQUIRED SKILLS.

Tomorrow, I am very likely to pass, as I won’t be nearly so nervous. I am still expending a larger chunk of mental energy than I would like on the transmission, but that chunk is steadily shrinking and will become second nature soon.

Day Twenty-Two

On the fourth right-hand turn of the trip, and hardly 2 or three miles from the start, I couldn’t get into 5th gear, so rather than fail automatically for “coasting out of gear” I stopped and re-started in third. Had there not been a car behind me, I would have been fine, however the presence of the vehicle behind me made my stop constitute “impeding traffic”, an automatic fail. Examiner said I was doing well with previous up and down-shifts, but this instance, I failed to give a big enough “rev” during my shift to 5th, and had I done so, there would have been no need to reset. So, I went to the practice truck and did about half an hour of clutch-rev-clutch drills. Try again tomorrow, with perhaps a practice drive in the morning. I'll get it. It's just unusual for me to be in the group that takes a few extra attempts to "get it". This is a mechanical skill, and the more I do it, the better I get.

Day Twenty-Three

The joke is no longer funny. I have never had to work so hard for something in my life. I am supposed to be the one who picks it up instantly and is soon helping the slower students along. I got a lot of smooth shifts in, as well as a few sloppy ones, but one event of “coasting”, a failure to signal a left turn and a couple other errors I am too frustrated to remember mean I get to come back tomorrow for attempt number four.