Are checkrides longer than they used to be?

[MauleSkinner]

The FAA had limited DPEs to two a day, and within a certain geographical area. That was stupid. They've fixed that in the new aviation bill (unless something has changed since OSH) so both of those limits will be removed. Heck, who wants to wait weeks to get a test date, and then run into weather? Doing four or five a day should be doable, if the DPE doesn't mind long days.
(As a point of reference, twenty-one years ago I paid $160 for the fee, about 1.5/1.8 ground/flight, and did it a couple of days after signoff. Limiting the DPE caused prices to rise, I'm sure.)

Keep in mind that there’s a certain amount of paperwork the examiner has to do as well...4 checkrides, 3 hours total with each client, probably runs close to 15 hours of work.

 

[Nochmal]

My PPL last week:

8am - 8:45am = paperwork

8:45 - 11:30 = oral (flight plan, regulations, weather)

11:30 - 2:00pm = in/around the plane (1.8 Hobbs) and debrief.

DPE complemented my CFI, saying I was well prepared and this was a short one. Overall feel seemed to be I was about an 8/10.

 

[Zeldman]

Back when I did my private, instrument and multi and single commercial, the examiners were doing 4 to 6 check rides a day, 3 or 4 days a week.

Old age set in but I think all the rides were 400 bucks or so.

I did my initial CFI with the feds. CFII was with a DPE.

And yes, checkrides are longer,

and hangovers hurt more than they used to.

 

[Rooster T]

My exams were around the same timeframe as the OP (early 90s) and from what I've heard, were a lot shorter than today on average. My rides were: PP 1.5, IR 1.0, CPL 1.0, CFI 1.5. I recall the orals were all 1-2 hours. I was well-prepared so that may have helped keep them low Had a casual conversation with a 30-year DPE recently and I got the impression that his exams run much longer these days and he's under much more pressure.

 

[Hippike]

PPL checkride in April of this year at KVNY.
A little over an hour for the oral and 1.4 on the Hobbs for the flight portion.

 

[Ghery]

PP in 2001. The oral, IIRC, was about an hour. Would have been longer, but I had a good idea of the questions she would ask courtesy of working with my CFI advance and there weren't any surprises. We didn't fly that day due to weather. Looked at my log just now and the flying portion put 1.4 hours in the log. Plus the time to get from KOLM to S50 and the time to return to KOLM. That seemed to do the trick, I haven't bent anything in the intervening years and my wife still rides in the plane with me.

My two IR rides (I got too low on a non-precision approach on the first attempt - legitimate fail by the DPE) totaled 1.7 hours. Oral was about 1 hour as well (this was in 2011, so my memory of the oral could be suspect). The flying portion would have been less if I hadn't blown that non-precision approach the first time.

I don't know what rides are taking now.

 

[Oblivion]

Just to add data - 2004 at C81 (Chicago 'burbs), ground was about 1.5 hours (small delay because the aircraft logbooks were unavailable for a bit), DPE told me I was VERY well-prepared (I had made spreadsheets for pretty much everything, including to show recency of training, post-its in the logs, etc.) and also scored high 90s on Practical, so not much to review there. Flight was 1.6 Hobbs time. Exam cost was $150-$200 - memory is fuzzy there. And I was at 53.0 hours going into the exam if anyone cares.

 

[Jamie Kirk]

Are the long check rides in CA due to the high amount of Asian students training? In my area there are 3 schools just for the Chinese. Their website is not in english and they answer the phone in Chinese. I had a hard time finding a local school I could understand.

 

[mscard88]

Are the long check rides in CA due to the high amount of Asian students training? In my area there are 3 schools just for the Chinese. Their website is not in english and they answer the phone in Chinese. I had a hard time finding a local school I could understand.

'Merica ain't it grand....

 

[Allen Epps]

My PPL in late May in MD was approx a 1/2 hour checking all the paperwork and signing and such. An hour or so of oral. Weather prevented the flight that day but the flight itself was a 1.5 a few days later.