Checkride in Actual

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SethV

Pre-takeoff checklist
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SethV
My Instrument Ride is scheduled for Saturday out of PTK. Looks like a chance of rain. Has anyone done their checkride in actual? Anything to watch out for that may be different on the ride in actual vs simulated? I have 3.5 hours actual.
 
Hey Seth! I can't answer your question, just want to wish you luck and say Hi from 57D.
 
DPEs are discouraged from acting as PIC so it's unlikely your checkride would be conducted under IFR.

Rain doesn't always mean IMC though, so I wouldn't necessarily give up hope.
 
Your instrument ride must be in VMC. Especially due to the required unusual attitudes and other maneuvers.
Just hope for the best and at least get the oral out of the way if the weather won't allow you to fly.
 
I don't think the flight test can be done in actual,you can get the oral over with,makes for a shorter day.
 
Even if you could do it, it doesn't sound like a good idea. You could force the DPE to take the controls on a much shorter fuse in IMC. If he takes the controls to preserve safety of flight, you blow it.
 
My DPE made it clear to me on the phone as soon as I scheduled with him a week earlier that he COULD do my ride in actual if I was ok with it.

Sure enough, that's exactly what we had (3500 lowering to 2000 when done!) and the ride was very relaxing, since I knew what to expect from the same examiner 2 months earlier when I did my PPL ride with him.
 
Did you still have to wear a view limiting device?


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Did mine in actual. DPE's are discouraged from this practice, plus the hood is a hell of a lot easier.
 
Mine was in actual, but it was years ago. Much of my training was in actual too, so it felt very natural.
I think it would be great if you can do it that way, assuming you are generally proficient and in control, because I suspect the DPE will cut you a bit more slack.
 
SethV said:
My Instrument Ride is scheduled for Saturday out of PTK. Looks like a chance of rain. Has anyone done their checkride in actual? Anything to watch out for that may be different on the ride in actual vs simulated? I have 3.5 hours actual.
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I ended my IR ride shooting the Non Precission Partial Panel in actual, but from what I gathered it's exceptional to do so. Once we were inbound to SLI at 1600' he said "Take off your foggles". I thought I had busted but then saw the marine layer had moved in and the gear was skimming the tops. He said "I can't make you shoot this approach, the rules are clear that the checkride is to be done Day VFR. You've done fine so far, we can discontinue the ride, meet again tomorrow and shoot this one approach, 10 minutes and we'll be done. However, you can choose to continue and if we come out the bottom right side up with the runway somewhere in front of us, you've got your ticket." Just then the needle started swinging so I just did the T's and went for it. Around 800' he pulled the stickies off the gyros, "enough of that" and we broke out about 150' later with the runway right where it was meant to be.

I don't know if a DE will start a ride in IMC though, if nothing else it would be a PITA with ATC.
 
SethV said:
My Instrument Ride is scheduled for Saturday out of PTK. Looks like a chance of rain. Has anyone done their checkride in actual? Anything to watch out for that may be different on the ride in actual vs simulated? I have 3.5 hours actual.
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Good luck! Who is your DPE? I did my ride out of VLL almost 3 years ago... my DPE was (initials) LS. The question of doing it in actual never came up as it was late December and quite cold, but he was enough of a stickler for rules that I don't think he would have agreed to it.
 
There is nothing in the rules against doing the checkride in IMC, however it is at the discretion of the DPE. I asked mine ahead of time as the weather had been iffy leading up to it and he said we COULD do it legally, but he generally would not because he had had a few people scare him and he doesn't like to have to fail people for minor deviations that he has to correct because they are IMC.
 
When I did my IFR ride, in 93 or 94, the student had to be PIC. Since I did not have my IFR ticket I could not be PIC for flight into known IMC.
 
StinkBug said:
There is nothing in the rules against doing the checkride in IMC, however it is at the discretion of the DPE. I asked mine ahead of time as the weather had been iffy leading up to it and he said we COULD do it legally, but he generally would not because he had had a few people scare him and he doesn't like to have to fail people for minor deviations that he has to correct because they are IMC.
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There certainly is, the FAA states very clearly that the checkride is to be done in Day VFR.
 
I haven't read the 600plus page DPE manaul, I doubt most of us have who have posted. We are only talking experiences. I did my ride in May of this year and we were in actual for parts of it, so take it for what it's worth. From my conversation with the DPE they have discretion however the faa strongly suggests against it because of liability reasons.
 
This morning the forecast after 10 AM looked sketchy, with celings at 2500 AGL - which would have been marginal, but ok. So we went ahead with the oral. Passed the oral ok, but by then PTK & FNT had dropped to 800 - 1500 AGL broken, so didn't get to fly (DPE said we could do it in IMC, but then HE becomes PIC and he did not want to do that). Bummer, wanted to get it all done. Hope for better weather another day.
 
flyingron said:
Nothing in 8900.2 that I know of other than the already mentioned "discouraging" of DPEs acting as PIC on the flight test.
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When I took my ride last month the DPE said it had to be VFR conditions.

Whether that's written down somewhere or it's just what the FAA is telling everyone, I don't know.
 
I PASSED! Look out clouds, here I come!

I made 1 big mistake, but the rest of the ride was really good so he let it slide and passed me! Whew! Took the test in an SR22.
 
Brad Z said:
DPEs are discouraged from acting as PIC so it's unlikely your checkride would be conducted under IFR.

Rain doesn't always mean IMC though, so I wouldn't necessarily give up hope.
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I have often seen [south of about 35 North] ceilings above 4000 feet in rain. The only problem during the checkride can be if the MEA is above the ceiling - since you need to be at the MEA for parts of the checkride . . .

Did my BFR and IPC in actual . . . well - part of the BFR was in VMC . . .
 
comanchepilot said:
I have often seen [south of about 35 North] ceilings above 4000 feet in rain. The only problem during the checkride can be if the MEA is above the ceiling - since you need to be at the MEA for parts of the checkride . . .

Did my BFR and IPC in actual . . . well - part of the BFR was in VMC . . .
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With the wacky weather in August, we had one day with rain and clear below 12,000. There was a solid overcast above that.

I've done some significant VFR flying in showery weather. An IFR check ride wouldn't be able to dodge the clouds so easily, though.

Heavy rain is another story. That won't satisfy VFR flight visibility requirements, even if it isn't in clouds. Light rain is easy.
 
SethV said:
I PASSED! Look out clouds, here I come!

I made 1 big mistake, but the rest of the ride was really good so he let it slide and passed me! Whew! Took the test in an SR22.
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Congratulations!! :cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:
 
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