Captain Levy’s Checkride Advice

He posts in the AOPA Hangar disaster. He left here in a snit a few years ago.

I don't know where he works other than PIC. He's based at SBY (I've ferried him back there after he dropped his plane off at LNS). Amusingly, we worked in the same building at APG though I'm pretty sure not at the same time (he worked for a different organization than I did).
 
Greebo said:
Technically its a certificate, not a license.
Click to expand...


License , certificate....rating. All fine. I just hate it when one calls it a "ticket". Kinda minimizes it, IMHO.
 
flyingron said:
He posts in the AOPA Hangar disaster. He left here in a snit a few years ago.

I don't know where he works other than PIC. He's based at SBY (I've ferried him back there after he dropped his plane off at LNS). Amusingly, we worked in the same building at APG though I'm pretty sure not at the same time (he worked for a different organization than I did).
Click to expand...

He is really a knowledgeable pilot, but he flys a Tiger because his head will not fit through the door opening of the average airplane.
 
I had a multi student once that had an unfortunate experience with an examiner on his multi commercial ride. He passed, but was extremely concerned about an inappropriate area tested by the examiner. My concern was that the student became so stressed out about the nonstandard item (which didn’t go so well) that he couldn’t get his head back into the checkride game afterwards.
I reached out to the examiner in the form of a letter. Let him know my concerns and that we hadn’t trained for such a random situation. The examiner was extremely open to the feedback and said he would definitely reconsider his actions in the future. He was very thankful that I reached out to him directly. I’ve used him a couple times since and he was always extremely professional.
 
Jdm said:
I had a multi student once that had an unfortunate experience with an examiner on his multi commercial ride. He passed, but was extremely concerned about an inappropriate area tested by the examiner. My concern was that the student became so stressed out about the nonstandard item (which didn’t go so well) that he couldn’t get his head back into the checkride game afterwards.
I reached out to the examiner in the form of a letter. Let him know my concerns and that we hadn’t trained for such a random situation. The examiner was extremely open to the feedback and said he would definitely reconsider his actions in the future. He was very thankful that I reached out to him directly. I’ve used him a couple times since and he was always extremely professional.
Click to expand...

You're not going to tell us what the inappropriate, non-standard item tested was?
 
RussR said:
You're not going to tell us what the inappropriate, non-standard item tested was?
Click to expand...

Na, I prefer not. I don’t think the details would offer anything relevant to this discussion anyway. Point is that I (the instructor) took it up directly with the examiner in the form of a documented email and got adequate results.
 
I've just thought of a few extra things I wish someone had brought up with me - what do you all think?

When the DPE asks you "any questions for me"? Find out this kind of specific stuff:

- Generally speaking, during the practical exam, is it helpful to you for me to describe what I am doing and why, or would you prefer that I simply execute the maneuvers? (most advice, from CFIs and various places online, is to talk these things through, but my DPE told me he wished I hadn't talked about every little thing. More than one of my maneuvers would have gone better if I hadn't been trying to describe it.)

- when we do the short field landing, would you like me to retract the flaps, simulate retracting the flaps, [or follow the POH to the letter (C-150 does not specifically recommend retracting the flaps, but DOES recommend 40 degrees of flaps.)]

and lastly, don't be caught off guard on the debrief. The DPE is going to point out every single mistake. When he's done you will probably feel like you got away with something, vs earned it. Its just part of the job and no one is perfect. If you passed, you earned it. Learn from the debrief and move on. A good DPE won't pass you if they wouldn't let their family fly with you.
 
AndyMac said:
- Generally speaking, during the practical exam, is it helpful to you for me to describe what I am doing and why, or would you prefer that I simply execute the maneuvers? (most advice, from CFIs and various places online, is to talk these things through, but my DPE told me he wished I hadn't talked about every little thing. More than one of my maneuvers would have gone better if I hadn't been trying to describe it.)
Click to expand...

This is important. I generally tend to advise _less_ talk rather than more (except for CFI applicants), but only because in training I've seen many people fumble over the words for something and it ends up affecting their flying. Just something as simple as saying "mixture, prop, throttle" when adjusting them for a maneuver, I've seen "mixture, throttle, no wait, I mean prop, no wait..." and now their concentration is on what the control is called rather than flying. I've seen altitude and heading wander, not because they can't fly but because they think they'll fail if they accidentally call the throttle the prop as they advance it (assuming they're still doing whatever it is correctly).

I had one guy who would say "in the white arc, gear down". Well, he KNEW the white arc was for flaps and not gear, and this airplane never really got above the white arc anyway, but it was coming out wrong "in the heat of the moment". And I could see that leading an examiner to start wondering "does this Commercial applicant really not know what the white arc means?" But if he didn't say it out loud, there'd be no concern.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tai
AndyMac said:
A good DPE won't pass you if they wouldn't let their family fly with you.
Click to expand...

MauleSkinner said:
No, the criteria are all in the ACS. A good DPE will not add requirements.
Click to expand...

Hah, yeah that's one of those commonly said things (about CFIs signing people off, or DPEs passing people) that really just isn't necessarily true. There are definitely people I've signed off for checkrides that I wouldn't let fly my family.
 
The only change I would make is to go over the aircraft paperwork a few days before the checkride, so that anything wrong can be corrected. Late afternoon the day before is NOT the time to find out it needs a 100 hour or a static system check.
 
How far the check ride has to be and how long? Is there requirements and regulations for distance, duration and landings? Thank you.
 
Gino Shtirlits said:
How far the check ride has to be and how long? Is there requirements and regulations for distance, duration and landings? Thank you.
Click to expand...
I’m not sure what you’re asking here. Are you asking about the cross-country task on the checkride? If so, are you asking how long a flight you will have to plan, or are you asking how much of it you’ll have to fly?
 
When I took the private-pilot checkride (32 years ago!), the flight that I was asked to plan was not flown in its entirety. Instead, the DPE had me divert to an unplanned destination after ten or fifteen minutes (which was one of the tasks to be tested).
 
Palmpilot said:
When I took the private-pilot checkride (32 years ago!), the flight that I was asked to plan was not flown in its entirety. Instead, the DPE had me divert to an unplanned destination after ten or fifteen minutes (which was one of the tasks to be tested).
Click to expand...
When I took the Private Pilot checkride 40 years ago, we did the same, and it was common knowledge that it was done that way.
 
Palmpilot said:
When I took the private-pilot checkride (32 years ago!), the flight that I was asked to plan was not flown in its entirety. Instead, the DPE had me divert to an unplanned destination after ten or fifteen minutes (which was one of the tasks to be tested).
Click to expand...


On both my SP and PP checkrides, we only made it to the first checkpoint and then started a diversion. There's no real reason to go much beyond that unless the DPE sees something that concerns him or he wants to reach a more suitable area for the rest of the ride.
 
Matthew said:
If you’re wondering how long your checkride might take, your CFI should answer that.
Click to expand...

About 1.5 hours for the ground if you can quickly and precisely answer the questions, and show good flight planning and preparation when you arrive. If it is longer it is likely because you are taking a long time to look up or figure out the answer.
I have had examiners step out of the room, while the applicant tries to figure out why the numbers on their flight plan are obviously not right. Why is Foreflight and your Navlog showing a 15 degree difference in heading, for example?

Half Fast said:
On both my SP and PP check rides, we only made it to the first checkpoint and then started a diversion.
Click to expand...

This is almost a quote out of the ACS, of how to do it.
Flying portion of the check ride is about 1.2 to 1.7 hours. Again depends on how long it take for you to demonstrate each maneuver. I have said things like climb to an appropriate altitude and show me a Steep Turn, 10 minutes later we haven't even started the climb let alone the maneuver.
Or show me a Turn around a point, and we wander around for 10-15 minutes trying find a suitable point and setup the applicate likes.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
I don’t understand why so many people ignore the ACS. Especially CFIs. I suspect they like to feel important or feel like they should know more than the student so they don’t mention it. Just a theory.

I had 3 instructors and did a checkout with the chief pilot and not one of them suggested to do anything more with it than “have a copy at the checkride”.

I think it should be the syllabus from day one.
 
MauleSkinner said:
I’m not sure what you’re asking here. Are you asking about the cross-country task on the checkride? If so, are you asking how long a flight you will have to plan, or are you asking how much of it you’ll have to fly?
Click to expand...
Actually I am asking about everything. I just try to imagine what gonna happened on my exam basing on other's experience.
 
Gino Shtirlits said:
Actually I am asking about everything. I just try to imagine what gonna happened on my exam basing on other's experience.
Click to expand...
Have you posed this question to your CFI? What was the answer?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top