DPE PPL price

Ryan F. said:
It's a challenging problem - there aren't enough ASIs to supervise an increased roster of designees.
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Similar to when there weren't enough pilot examiners. We just need Designated ASIs. Wanna become a DASI?
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Brad W said:
so about $500 to $900 for a PPL initial ride

sidebar question - what's the going rate for PPL add ons or other rides
seaplane add on?​
add on for something like a gyroplane rotorcraft?​
Instrument rating?​
multi add on?​
or upgrade to commercial?​
etc...​
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The DPEs I work with charge the same rate for every "half-day" checkride: Private, Instrument, Commercial, CFII, Multi, MEI

They charge about 1.5x that rate for the CFI-Initial because of how much longer the test is, and they tend to only do that checkride on a given day.

If a checkride is discontinued for weather, there's not usually an additional fee. If a checkride requires a retest, they can run about 50% of the original checkride cost.

The ASES add-on is usually only offered at a "captive" location with a short list of DPEs able to offer it at the facility, but my informal survey in the past show that they're about inline with what is regularly charged for checkrides elsewhere.

I know of a couple places that do gyrocopter, but I never looked at the costs for the checkride itself. If I add on the gyrocopter rating, it's "fun money."
 
cailloux said:
A parallel issue I've discussed with DPEs is that they can't use "bad weather" days to do the oral portion of a checkride. There's no starting the checkride unless the weather forecast is good enough to allow it to be completed. We've squinted real hard at weather forecasts to support a go decision, but several days of IFR/LIFR, and even some MVFR, forces a reschedule to later in an already-packed calendar.

I'd really like to use the existing Discontinuance process to allow the ground portion of checkrides when the weather is poor, and use the good days for the flying portion. We would get an increase in test capacity from a simple tweak to the policy. I understand the concerns to changing the current approach, but the DPEs that I have a good working relationship with aren't the type to abuse this level of flexibility. (I feel the same can be said about many of the other DPEs that I've met in the past, too.)
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When did that change? I did my private oral when we absolutely knew we wouldn't be going that day.
 
EdFred said:
When did that change? I did my private oral when we absolutely knew we wouldn't be going that day.
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Some time ago. Our DPE is under the same protocol. Back when I did my Private, they could complete the oral if the flight portion wasn’t doable, now if it’s not reasonably assured that both can be completed, the check ride can’t be started. Kind of dumb I agree.
 
EdFred said:
When did that change? I did my private oral when we absolutely knew we wouldn't be going that day.
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Similar here...We presumed that the practical portion was a no go prior to starting the oral exam. By the end of the exam an unexpected weather window opened up and off we went.
 
It's been the rule as long as I've known; Order 8900.2C, Chapter 7, Section 2, Subsection 15, Paragraph (a):
The intent of the designee must be to complete the entire practical test in one day. Designees must not schedule the test to be planned as a multiple-day event.
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RyanB said:
Some time ago. Our DPE is under the same protocol. Back when I did my Private, they could complete the oral if the flight portion wasn’t doable, now if it’s not reasonably assured that both can be completed, the check ride can’t be started. Kind of dumb I agree.
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Yep, that was true when I did my Private. We were both pretty sure we'd have to scrub, but technically we had an airworthy plane and VFR conditions so we could legally start the oral even though the winds were bad. After several hours of oral exam, the winds were high (I was flying a Tecnam LSA) and the windsocks at each end of the runway were pointing at each other when they weren't spinning around, so we agreed to reschedule the flight.

Practically speaking, we knew it was going to turn out that way, but it worked schedule-wise to split up the two portions and we could justify starting if anyone questioned it.
 
cailloux said:
It's been the rule as long as I've known; Order 8900.2C, Chapter 7, Section 2, Subsection 15, Paragraph (a):
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The intent of the designee must be to complete the entire practical test in one day. Designees must not schedule the test to be planned as a multiple-day event.
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Keywords seem to be "intent...schedule...planned." If I'm a DPE and intend to complete the entire practical test on Monday, and the weather is bad, that isn't my fault. Is there something else? I was under the impression there was something new.
 
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cailloux said:
A parallel issue I've discussed with DPEs is that they can't use "bad weather" days to do the oral portion of a checkride. There's no starting the checkride unless the weather forecast is good enough to allow it to be completed.
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Huh.

I met my DPE for my IR checkride on a day that was not favorable for flying (t-storms in the area). We knocked out the oral portion, then he looked at me and said, "So are you ready to fly?" I told him that while it was legal to fly, and that I really wanted to fly, I did not think it was a good idea to fly with the atmosphere so unstable in the area.

I forget his exact words (this was almost 15 years ago now), but he said something along the lines that his question was essentially also a test, and I gave the right answer. He said he would not have gone up with the weather as it was that day. We ended up rescheduling the flight for a couple of days later.
 
For my CFII ride (2013) we only did the oral because of IFR weather. But I'm pretty sure we knew that before we started. I'm sure it's all in the definition of the word "intend". Sure, we intend to complete it today, if the weather improves...

From what I can see now, though, there's more emphasis and perhaps oversight of this. I don't know why, personally I don't see a problem with "well, the forecast for today is low IFR all day, so let's just do the oral." Seems reasonable to me and seems not be gaming the system, it's just making better use of time.

But the idea now seems to be that you must have a reasonable expectation of completing the checkride before even starting. So if the forecast is VFR but then changes, that's okay. But if it's OVC002 and forecast to stay that way for days, then you can't even start. Again, seems silly to me, I think it should be a decision between the applicant and DPE.

I've had a couple of checkrides where we had to split them between two days. I actually kind of liked it. You know you passed the oral, so now you just have to "worry" about the flight. Plus, you'll be starting the flight "fresh".
 
I grimaced the last checkride I took to write a check for $800. Scheduling wasn't that hard with a few calls (emails didn't elicit many responses). I was on the "prices for DPEs are out of control train" too. Then, a few weeks ago I was FINALLY moving my logbook to electronic and my receipt for my PPL checkride fell out of my first log book. $350 in 1992. I do recall that $350 felt like a TON of money then.

Low and behold, $350 adjusted for inflation to 2024 is...wait for it...$800. So, all things considered, checkrides cost the same as they have for 30+ years.
 
bigmo said:
I grimaced the last checkride I took to write a check for $800. Scheduling wasn't that hard with a few calls (emails didn't elicit many responses). I was on the "prices for DPEs are out of control train" too. Then, a few weeks ago I was FINALLY moving my logbook to electronic and my receipt for my PPL checkride fell out of my first log book. $350 in 1992. I do recall that $350 felt like a TON of money then.

Low and behold, $350 adjusted for inflation to 2024 is...wait for it...$800. So, all things considered, checkrides cost the same as they have for 30+ years.
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I do think $350 was abnormally high for a checkride in 1992, or you lived in a very expensive area. I don't have my receipt from my Private checkride in 1994, but I do have one for a Commercial in 2009 - and it was $350.

I will bet that in 1992 there were a lot of people paying $100-ish for a checkride.
 
TCABM said:
I was paying $38/hr wet for a 172N then.
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Same. In the same logbook was a monthly rollup from my 141 university program. $35 an hour wet for a 152 and an additional $13.75 for dual.
 
In 2005, I was paying $87 wet for a PA28, $30 for the instructor, and I think the DPE was $250 in CT. Commercial and multi was I think 350 in CA, and Mei and CFII were either 500 or 600 in NV
 
RussR said:
I do think $350 was abnormally high for a checkride in 1992, or you lived in a very expensive area. I don't have my receipt from my Private checkride in 1994, but I do have one for a Commercial in 2009 - and it was $350.

I will bet that in 1992 there were a lot of people paying $100-ish for a checkride.
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I want to say I paid $250-300 for my private in 1994 in Virginia. I don't remember the exact amount, but I remember it was cash, and it it seemed like a lot of money to a broke college kid bankrolling his flight training with a relatively lucrative $7.50/hr part-time job.
 
If I was a DPE i would rent out a double wide in Florida from nov - may and just do checkrides because the wweather here is usually sunny 99.5% of the time
 
bigmo said:
I grimaced the last checkride I took to write a check for $800.
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Wow, your DPE took a check. All the ones I've encountered want CASH only.

I think the pass/fail and prepared/not prepared comparisons aren't quite so black and white correlated. I admit to not having a perfect first time pass rate for my students. My compliments to those of you that do. But most of my students are older adults. It's a bucket list item not a ticket to a half million dollar a year job. They haven't been in a school testing environment for decades. I certainly wouldn't sign off a student who hadn't repeatedly demonstrated to me the knowledge and skills well within ACS requirements. But sitting down with a sometimes gruff DPE for hours, they choke, freeze up, forget, whatever and don't pass. They come back to me apologetic and clearly state the problem was not the instruction or the DPE. They screwed up. And they've gone back and passed the retest. I think that's the real world. Different demographics will give different results.
 
What it the thought process of the FAA forcing the oral and practical on the same day? In the summer, by the time the oral is done, the density altitude is too high to fly.
 
I paid $400 for my PPL ride back in 2014. IR, CPL, and Comm Multi were all $700.
DesertNomad said:
What it the thought process of the FAA forcing the oral and practical on the same day? In the summer, by the time the oral is done, the density altitude is too high to fly.
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I’d like to know too. I don’t like it. Why waste a whole day when you can at least knock out the oral?
 
Same day? That’s reeeaaally stupid. What if you do the oral, then there is a mechanical issue and plane can’t fly?
 
dans2992 said:
Same day? That’s reeeaaally stupid. What if you do the oral, then there is a mechanical issue and plane can’t fly?
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That happens. The rule is just that you cannot begin the test, unless you’re reasonably confident it can be completed. Weather can change during the oral, plane can break, stuff happens and that is expected.
 
I could see maybe a time limit, like no more than 30 days between oral and flight, but to force it to be on the same day seems to make no sense.
 
dans2992 said:
I could see maybe a time limit, like no more than 30 days between oral and flight, but to force it to be on the same day seems to make no sense.
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There already is - it would just be a discontinuance (albeit a planned one), so 60 days, same as if the airplane breaks or weather moves in.
 
dans2992 said:
I could see maybe a time limit, like no more than 30 days between oral and flight, but to force it to be on the same day seems to make no sense.
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It’s not forced to be started and completed in one day. Just remember the practical exam is a continuation of the oral, not two separate, independent, unrelated events, so it does make sense the DPA doesn’t start the exam if there’s not a somewhat realistic expectation it can be completed.

Also, once the oral starts, there’s a sixty day window for it to be completed. So let’s say a DPE schedules 4x2hr orals on Monday with the intent to do 1 practical per day on Tues thru Fri, but there’s bad weather forecast. That’s four continuances with 4x 60 day clocks ticking.

It gets real impractical real quick.
 
I did my CFI checkride in 2001. I drove from Duluth to Saint Paul to do the oral portion, so even if the weather had improved, I didn't have an airplane that day. In fact, we completed the checkride after five weather cancellations.

Last week one of our students did the same thing - drove to complete the oral portion at a nearby airport, knowing that they would not be able to fly that day. If the DPE was aware of that rule, he ignored it.
 
Clip4 said:
Do you have statistics to support there currently is a 30% first time failure rate? My observation is the DPEs are passing applicants they shouldn’t.
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The two points are not mutually exclusive
 
cailloux said:
I know of a couple places that do gyrocopter, but I never looked at the costs for the checkride itself. If I add on the gyrocopter rating, it's "fun money."
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Most places I looked into were only doing LS Gyro rating, so no DPE, sign off by two instructors. If I did the rating, I would want to do it at the Commercial level. Keeps my card looking cleaner. :D
 
DesertNomad said:
What it the thought process of the FAA forcing the oral and practical on the same day? In the summer, by the time the oral is done, the density altitude is too high to fly.
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I believe you are confusing an FAA directive the oral must proceed the flight portion.
 
It acceptable to do oral one day and flying another. But the oral does need to come first.
 
Clip4 said:
I believe you are confusing an FAA directive the oral must proceed the flight portion.
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I'm not sure what you mean. The oral must precede the flight, and both must be intended to be completed on the same day.

From the Commercial ACS, but the wording is the same in the others:

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From FAAO 8900.2:

1720019433437.png
 
RussR said:
Only if the intent was to do it all in one day (see my previous post).
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You are correct, but if the flying portion has a problem then a discontinuance that day can resume on another day.
 
The FAA uses the words "intent" and "schedule". No one schedules a checkride intending for the weather to be bad, but some DPEs are saying they can't even do the oral if the weather is bad.
 
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