Last Minute Commercial Finish-Up

iamtheari

iamtheari

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I passed my commercial written test on 2/1/2018. Due to a combination of life, CFI availability, a retiring DPE, and so on, I find myself facing the expiration of my written test results. I have met all the requirements to take the practical test except for the 3 hours with a CFI in 2 months before the test and a CFI endorsement for the practical test.

Does anyone have a line on a fast-track finish-up flight school that might be able to knock this out with me before the end of the month? I'm willing and able to travel, of course. Ideally I can do it in the north central USA and use my own plane, but I am not afraid to spend some time working on the maneuvers in another plane if it helps me avoid retaking the written test. :)
 
iamtheari said:
I passed my commercial written test on 2/1/2018. Due to a combination of life, CFI availability, a retiring DPE, and so on, I find myself facing the expiration of my written test results. I have met all the requirements to take the practical test except for the 3 hours with a CFI in 2 months before the test and a CFI endorsement for the practical test.

Does anyone have a line on a fast-track finish-up flight school that might be able to knock this out with me before the end of the month? I'm willing and able to travel, of course. Ideally I can do it in the north central USA and use my own plane, but I am not afraid to spend some time working on the maneuvers in another plane if it helps me avoid retaking the written test. :)
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The bigger difficulty is finding a DPE who has an opening at that time. So this might knock out many venues who can provide a good instructor to help you.

One idea comes to mind is to try and find schools where they have an examiner as part of their staff and that person gives priority to enrolled students over outside airmen.

Two such examples I know of are Thrust Flight in Addison (Patrick Arnzen is the owner of the school and the DPE). The other is Venture North Aviation in Minnesota. Again, the owner of the school is the DPE. In both cases, it's likely you can try to schedule the check ride the same day you register at the school.

There are likely many others with similar arrangements. But I only know of these two.

Final item: Something you can do now, if you haven't already, is to get with a CFI and review the knowledge areas you got wrong on the written. There is a required endorsement for this as shown in AC61-65H and the screen shot below:

upload_2020-1-10_14-49-49.png​
 
Thanks for the leads and the tip on the post-written endorsement requirement. I'll call Venture North right away. They're a 3.5-hour flight in my Arrow so I can make the trip twice if necessary and I can use my own plane, both of which are huge advantages.
 
You have until the end of February. 24 calendar months. That's hardly last minute for the Commercial (single, I presume).

I'm about to start working with one of my clients on pretty much the exact same thing and same timeline.

Like Mike said, DPEs can be a problem, but as you have your own plane you can easily travel to them and that will help.

Do you not have a local CFI you use for flight reviews and other recurrent training? Any CFI who is reasonably active should be able to get you into shape for a commercial checkride in just a few weeks, assuming you're willing to put in the time and weather cooperates.

The flying part of the Commercial checkride is really not that big of a deal, unlike the Private and Instrument. A couple of years ago, a friend was going to come up here Friday, we'd work on his Commercial through the weekend, then he'd take the checkride on Monday. We ended up getting weathered out and cancelling the whole idea, but that was the plan (and it was reasonable).
 
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RussR said:
You have until the end of February. 24 calendar months. That's hardly last minute for the Commercial (single, I presume).

I'm about to start working with one of my clients on pretty much the exact same thing and same timeline.

Like Mike said, DPEs can be a problem, but as you have your own plane you can easily travel to them and that will help.

Do you not have a local CFI you use for flight reviews and other recurrent training? Any CFI who is reasonably active should be able to get you into shape for a commercial checkride in just a few weeks, assuming you're willing to put in the time and weather cooperates.

The flying part of the Commercial checkride is really not that big of a deal, unlike the Private and Instrument.
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Someone needs to tell the FAA to update their website. https://www.faa.gov/pilots/become/knowledge/ says that the test results expire "two years from the day" of the test. You are correct, though... section 61.39(a)(1)(i) does say 24 calendar months. So that helps. But it's still tight due to the inflexible things on my work calendar.

I called Venture North. They will do their complete 5-day course for me, which would get the job done but would be expensive and overkill for my needs.

CFIs are in short supply here in the hinterland. The one I had been working on the commercial with is a corporate pilot and his company has kept him busy mostly at other bases through the fall and winter. I might be able to drag another CFI into the air to finish up with me but they're in short supply here in the hinterland.
 
iamtheari said:
Don't make me come down there...and demand flight instruction!
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With Nate, you'd have a better chance by demanding some shrubbery.

We are the flight instructors who say.... ni!
 
“none shall pass! Come back here, I’ll bite you kneecaps off. ‘This but a flesh wound!” ;)
 
iamtheari said:
I passed my commercial written test on 2/1/2018. Due to a combination of life, CFI availability, a retiring DPE, and so on, I find myself facing the expiration of my written test results. I have met all the requirements to take the practical test except for the 3 hours with a CFI in 2 months before the test and a CFI endorsement for the practical test.

Does anyone have a line on a fast-track finish-up flight school that might be able to knock this out with me before the end of the month? I'm willing and able to travel, of course. Ideally I can do it in the north central USA and use my own plane, but I am not afraid to spend some time working on the maneuvers in another plane if it helps me avoid retaking the written test. :)
Click to expand...

Consider the outfit in Tea, SD. They were very nice when I talked to them on the phone. WX is a big concern this time of the year.

Venture North is a good outfit if you go that route.
 
In the "neighborhood," examiners in Sheridan WY, Billings MT, and at Cody, Choice Aviation has an examiner. You might try those locations.
 
Wings of wyoming in Cheyenne, DPE on site also
 
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