Busted checkride - don't know where to go from here

Sounds like where I train, I’m pretty sure you are talking about the same dpe,

Did your instructor just leave to fly airlines? If so, we have the same instructor.

I’m working on my commercial and I am not looking forward to my checkride in a few weeks
 
Aviatorbrew said:
Sounds like where I train, I’m pretty sure you are talking about the same dpe,

Did your instructor just leave to fly airlines? If so, we have the same instructor.

I’m working on my commercial and I am not looking forward to my checkride in a few weeks
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You’re relatively close. Find a DPE in northern Colorado. Pay their expences to KCYS or haed down to their location.
 
Sureshot said:
to mentioning David Clark headsets are tight on the head
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They don't call 'em David Clamps for nothin'...

That ride sounds terrible. Too late for this, but I would have never handed over that envelope with the cash to this guy. What says you can't pick your own DPE? Honest question - do you have to go with the one the school uses?

For my private, my CFI did most of the intro/initial communicating with the DPE (who was awesome, by the way....). For IR, I couldn't use the same DPE for various reasons, so I ended up doing most of the introducing/communicating with the DPE (who was also good... in a different way).

If this guy had such a crap reputation, did you have to do the ride with him?
 
Wow, that sounds like a terrible experience. I think I would’ve discontinued as soon as he grabbed my headset.
 
You are PIC during the checkride. He *might* just be seeing how far he can push you before you take command and tell him to knock it off. Of course, maybe he’s just an ass.
 
Instructing part 61, I’m not as familiar with 141 schools. I’m assuming you didn’t have any say whatsoever in picking your DPE?
 
The DPE is horrible. Everyone knows the DPE is horrible. The school sends students to the horrible DPE. The DPE owns the plane you were taking your ride in. So the DPE either owns the school or is good friends with the owner, right?

Do yourself a favor: Find a local independent instructor. Don't give him the whole spiel, just tell him you need to get ready for a retake, your instructor left the school, and you don't feel like giving them any more of your money. Tell him you're happy to fly the hours with him that he needs to feel comfortable signing you off for the retest. Do that, and then go take the retest with the DPE he recommends, and then enjoy being a pilot and forget this ever happened.
 
That guy needs a beat down. Sorry you had that experience. I've had good luck with DPE's. On my private check ride things were going well until I did a power on stall in the 172 and promptly entered a spin. I recovered quickly and the DPE was a bit shaken but he said "let's try it again, this time without the spin". I did several more perfectly and he passed me. My IFR checkride was smooth. The DPE was an ex 56th fighter group pilot and was awesome to fly with.
 
Welcome to the wonderful world of "Bad DPE"!

1) You know what they call a guy who has to finish up the check ride with a second ride? "Pilot" You know how many people have to go through this? Unfortunately a lot. You're close to being "Pilot", and getting all the good tables at restaurants, preferred parking, being able to buy the pilots only sunglasses, etc.

2) There is a DPE around these parts who tags a high number of check rides as "Disapproved". He isn't being used much by the CFI's anymore. My CFII won't use him any more - he just fails too many for not good reasons. IF you really are not ready, do something stupid like stall on landing, OK - need more training. But that's not your case.

3) Yes, this should not be a miserable experience. If you only have 1 or 2 things to finish up, try and gut it out and finish with this guy. You'll never see him again. IF he won't/cant' get you scheduled to finish up any time soon, then just do your "additional CFI hours" as required and find a new DPE.

Don't let this DPE get in your head - I know, easier said than done.
 
Matthew said:
You are PIC during the checkride. He *might* just be seeing how far he can push you before you take command and tell him to knock it off. Of course, maybe he’s just an ass.
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Occam's razor ---- "Of course, maybe he’s just an ass."
 
I was lucky to have 2 good DPEs (one did both the PP and IR, the other did commercial). The second owned a Long-EZ and would fly it to his appointments (we did the checkride in my plane).

Were I in the OP's position, I'd look at it this way: talk to an independent CFI (who has access to a plane) and/or local Part 61 school, review where you are, and see what it would take to finish up. If you're ready for the ride, it should only take a few hours for him to be comfortable with the sign-off. Use a different DPE. If he thinks you're NOT ready for the ride, then see what it takes to finish - that will tell you the quality of the 141 school and you can make a decision from there.
 
What an a-hole. Sorry man, IMO run screaming to a different school. Have a good CFI knock off any rough edges and get with a good DPE. I had a bad CFI experience as a kid and it set me off flying for decades. Don't let this prick ruin it for you.

P.S. I've flown for 3 DPE's now, and all of them were super. I learned a lot from each of them on the checkrides. If your DPE doesn't have a teacher's mentality, get a different one.
 
Sounds like a terrible DPE. That being said, some friendly advise. If you plan on a career in aviation, own the failure. I've failed two checkrides (IFR and CFII) and I owned my mistakes on both of them. A future employer will care less about the failures and more about how you handle it. If you tell the story like that, they will likely think you're blaming the DPE for the failure. You said you were flustered by his behavior, which is understandable. So you failed your landings due to being flustered and mentally done, not because of the DPE. Learn from it, go pass the retake and move on to IFR (with a different school and DPE)
Marshall Alexander said:
When I did my CFI checkride last week, the first thing the examiner told me was "first, my job is to try to get you to relax".
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My Multi engine DPE told me at the beginning "just relax, as long as you don't scare me TOO much, you'll do fine"
 
TommyG said:
Grabbed headsets, I would have elbowed him in the face and said he threatened the safety of the flight.
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Poked him in the eye, too. Definitely threatened the safety of flight. Contact the FSDO! -Skip
 
18G28? I’d say we are going to land and then I recommend we discontinue due to worsening weather. That is too much wind for a new private pilot.
 
RingLaserGyroSandwich said:
18G28? I’d say we are going to land and then I recommend we discontinue due to worsening weather. That is too much wind for a new private pilot.
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Makes ya wonder what the forecast said and whether said DPE was already ticked the candidate didn't mention it if it was there... Eh?
 
denverpilot said:
Makes ya wonder what the forecast said and whether said DPE was already ticked the candidate didn't mention it if it was there... Eh?
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IIRC he said it was not forecast to be that windy.
 
This is what happens with the corrupt, chronyistic FAA designation system. This assaultive idiot is probably the only one effectively available to the school (though why they don't have their own examining authority makes me wonder about the school in general).
 
Small set back ... forge ahead. His stupidity doesn't make you a failure ...
 
A DPE with a reputation for yelling a lot during the check ride, primarily about things unrelated to the flight, and an airport where bad winds tend to pop up unforecast? As I was reading your description I couldn’t help but think I totally know who this is. I briefly considered flying to this guy for my instrument ride, fully prepared for potentially offensive abuse, but decided against it due to the high risk of changing winds and ultimately a wasted trip. I’d say you performed admirably under those conditions and you passed all the hard stuff. You ARE ready for the check ride. Go finish those landings and enjoy your hard earned accomplishment! And rest assured this guy is the exception. All of the DPEs I had the honor of flying with have been outstanding and professional. Now go get it done!
 
Wow. I'm shocked that this guy is still a DPE. Has no one complained to the local FSDO or is it a case of the FAA not caring? Three or four people on this thread seem to know who this DPE is so it can't be a secret. Even the FAA guy on here seems to say suck it up and report him AFTER you pass your check ride. Sad...

OP, I have had three check rides with three different examiners and in every case they conducted themselves in a friendly, businesslike manner as it should be. I wouldn't settle for anything less and I would certainly complain to whomever would listen. Good Luck!
 
TCABM said:
As I understand it, going to a new DPE is a complete do-over though. Never experienced that.
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I did my CFI oral with one DPE and, due to scheduling conflicts, did the flight with another one. He looked over my letter, we discussed a couple of the things on there, flew for the shortest checkride flight I've ever had, and that was that.
 
Very clearly and concisely write a letter to the FAA with all of the details you mentioned above and send copies to the flight school. If everything you stated in your original post is true and not exagerated, then this guy has no business being a DPE and should never again be doing a checkride. If he had grabbed my headset, I probably would have swung around and punched him in the face.
 
Matthew said:
You are PIC during the checkride. He *might* just be seeing how far he can push you before you take command and tell him to knock it off. Of course, maybe he’s just an ass.
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That's possible, but if so, I don't think he will be a DPE for long. It probably wasn't assault, but the fact that the word assault can even be used to kinda describe what he did is wrong. Heck, a DPE got fired just for failing to correct someone for not telling nthe entire story.

I would have told him to knock it off early. I wouldn't want to file a complaint about him, but if he is interfering with the exam, then he has a problem and needs to be fired. I would not have tolerated as much as the OP did, I would have discontinued and reported the reason to the FSDO.
 
I hate to be unsympathetic, but you had enough information about him and you hired him anyway.
Sounds like bad judgement on your part.
You should have chosen some one else on the FAA DPE list.
Unfortunate that happened to you.
 
I used the same DPE for both my private and instrument. On my private check ride he was all over me! Getting angry about stuff that was well within the ACS. He told me to hold 60 knots. I was at 62 and he said “ 62 is not 60! I need you to hold 60! “. I knew I was well within standards but I did my best to hold altitude right at 60. This went on and on throughout the check ride. At the end he told me I did fine and that I passed. He smiled at me and said “you know you could have told me to shut up at any time and I would have “. Couple years later on my IFR ride. I told him to shut up 10 minutes in. And he did! Just know what the ACS are and tell the DPE you are complying with them.
 
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Wow - to the OP - I took 2 check rides to complete the certificate also, so don't feel like the 'lone ranger'. While the DPE I had wasn't as bad as this character, he didn't help my situation either - starting out nervous, he had me so rattled after the required maneuvers I couldn't remember where the airport was. Complained at taking the time to do clearing turns. Complained at the time taken to set up for steep turns. Complained at me during the pattern, finally followed by a not-so-great landing (no surprise there!).
(Made me wonder if he was in a hurry for a date!)
Why can't those guys just make requests (e.g. "show me a power-off stall"), and take some notes? Shouldn't need to be anything more than that.
I've given hundreds of tests for ham radio licenses, as a volunteer examiner - I've *never* treated one of those candidates the way some DPEs do.
Do those guys hate giving checkrides? Or, is it an ego trip for some of these people? Or, maybe just a personality problem?
 
I'd go to a different DPE. Mine was amazing, down here in Houston. You're stressed enough about having to be graded for your skills; you don't need that extra.

Think of it like this, would you let a passenger behave like that in your plane once you're on your own? I wouldn't fly someone with that sort of attitude, but if I absolutely had to, I'd stuff their ass in the backseat and cut off their headset w/ the push of a button. I don't need that stress in the cockpit. So, if you wouldn't do that for fun, don't do it for the checkride. Get a different DPE. Yeah, you'll have to start the test all over; so what. You'll still do better than way.
 
Sue a DPE for failing an applicant for substandard performance. really? But he was a real jerk about it, your honor--he made me feel very nervous and intimidated. Really? Verdict for the defendenant. Plaintiff to pay court costs and defendant's legal fees. Have a good day.
 
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