DPE in SoCal

[av8tr24]

Hey there everyone...I live in FL, but am heading out to Cali next Sunday to finish up my Commercial, CFI, and CFII. I've taken 3 weeks off of work, and am doing it with a school at LGB. The DPE doing my rides is Donna Webster. Have any of you flown with her, and if so, any pointers/tips/suggestions/helpful hints?

It seems she recently won an award for "Best Western Pacific Flight Instructor".

 

[warthog1984]

Donna is an absolutely FANTASTIC DPE and CFI. If you do all 3 checkrides with her, you will be very well-prepared for your future.

I did my PPL with her and thought it was a great learning experience and a relaxed but extraordinarily demanding checkride.

Tips:

1) Know your info. If you don't know, tell her your thoughts & look it up or take action as appropriate.
2) Be prepared to explain. Donna loves open-ended questions and following up on lines of thought. Do not BS or try to give pat answers- you will fail the checkride.
3) Understand that at some point, she WILL stump you and assign the answer as homework.
4) When flying, she can be very quiet and seem like she's sightseeing. That's a good sign. If she's looking inside the plane, you goofed and need to fix something.
5) Don't be a risk-taker. You will get points for being smart and conservative.
6) Enjoy! When you walk out of each checkride, you will be better than when you came in.

 

[av8tr24]

Donna is an absolutely FANTASTIC DPE and CFI. If you do all 3 checkrides with her, you will be very well-prepared for your future.

I did my PPL with her and thought it was a great learning experience and a relaxed but extraordinarily demanding checkride.

Tips:

1) Know your info. If you don't know, tell her your thoughts & look it up or take action as appropriate.
2) Be prepared to explain. Donna loves open-ended questions and following up on lines of thought. Do not BS or try to give pat answers- you will fail the checkride.
3) Understand that at some point, she WILL stump you and assign the answer as homework.
4) When flying, she can be very quiet and seem like she's sightseeing. That's a good sign. If she's looking inside the plane, you goofed and need to fix something.
5) Don't be a risk-taker. You will get points for being smart and conservative.
6) Enjoy! When you walk out of each checkride, you will be better than when you came in.

Awesome! Exactly what I wanted to hear! I've had nothing but old, cranky AND demanding DPE's from my PPL and IFR, so this sounds like a welcome change. I'm definitely not afraid of a demanding checkride, I would just love to have an examiner who is pleasant and respectful to deal with...which it sounds like she is. Big sigh of relief :-D

I'll make it my goal to do so well she's sightseeing the whole time...well, at least I'll try...thanks for the tip!

 

[warthog1984]

Just don't think being generally pleasant and appearing relaxed translates into tolerating a macho attitude or being unable to verbally tear strips off and you'll be OK.