All examinees of DPE Edward L. Lane to be required to re-test

Henning said:
There's always PT 103 as well, doesn't get cheaper to fly than that and it's still a bunch of fun even if it's not that great for transportation.
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Who says it isn't great for transportation? I can get to the fly-in airport 100 miles away just a few minutes after the guys who drove there ;)
 
Fearless Tower said:
Funny, that is how they send out the foreclosure notices.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
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Certified mail return receipt gives clear evidence that your letter was received by the recipient. However, certified mail delivery can be refused. Plenty folks know only bad news arrives that way :wink2: On the other hand I believe there is still a rebuttable presumption that regular mail has been received and opened, once you put postage on it and mail it. So doing both covers all your legal bases.
 
Stevel said:
Who says it isn't great for transportation? I can get to the fly-in airport 100 miles away just a few minutes after the guys who drove there ;)
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You're just spoiled by Western roads. But I heard that flying from Pittsburgh to Boston area only takes a couple of hours, but the drive takes 7 hours or so, thanks to horrible roads out east. West of Missisippi I use the following rule of thumb: part 103 is slower than car, C-150 is half faster, common LSA or Cherokee is twice faster, and a travelling airplane is 3x as fast. It works pretty well, considering. For example, a drive from Albuquerque to Las Vegas takes 10 hours, LSA covers it in about 7, and Arrow in about 5. Albuquerque to Phoenix takes 7 hours (worse roads), Arrow covers it in 3 (or a bit less). However, in New England even C-150 gains an advantage -- if weather cooperates. Or so I heard.
 
alaskaflyer said:
Certified mail return receipt gives clear evidence that your letter was received by the recipient. However, certified mail delivery can be refused.
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There is actually no indication that certified mail was received by the intended recipient.

Believe me, I have signed for an recieved several foreclosure notices intended for my previous landlord.
 
Ghery said:
I don't know about that. I've been passed by traffic on the freeway while flying a C-150. :D
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Maybe it's the altitude. I remember how I flew to a field below 3000 ft for the first time in that C-150. I put the nose down and saw the GPS indicating less and less as the air got denser. At 10.5 I was doing 102 kts, at 6.5 it was well below 100 and I think it played with 80 kts by the time I was at the pattern altitude and started to slow down. Same indicated (don't remember how much).

Also, you can win by cutting corners.
 
zaitcev said:
Maybe it's the altitude. I remember how I flew to a field below 3000 ft for the first time in that C-150. I put the nose down and saw the GPS indicating less and less as the air got denser. At 10.5 I was doing 102 kts, at 6.5 it was well below 100 and I think it played with 80 kts by the time I was at the pattern altitude and started to slow down. Same indicated (don't remember how much).

Also, you can win by cutting corners.
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You mean the True Airspeed differential? You don't need a GPS for that, although it's better information since it just cuts out all the figuring trading it for measuring the final product desired. A lot airspeed indicators have corrective rings that give you TAS by sping a knob and lining up the altitude and temp corrections.
 
I've done slow flight with students in the 152 and nearly got it to"hover"
 
I got the DME-indicated speed down to about five knots in a Cutlass at 11,000 feet once. It became obvious that trying to fly the trip VFR-over-the-top wasn't going to work, so I descended to an altitude with more reasonable headwinds and got a pop-up IFR clearance.
 
I had this happen to me back in the early 80's. When I took my MEL the DE didn't have the right letter for the aircraft I used for the test .. so I had to go retest with the FAA guy. I hadn't even flown multi in a year because I was working on helicopter ratings, so I called the DE and he said he just goofed up and he'd train me up to par and let me use the airplane for free.
I just went and did it.
Funny thing was .. this DE was one of the most highly qualified around, owned the 141 school .. he just missed getting a letter for a Seminole.

RT
 
zaitcev said:
You're just spoiled by Western roads. But I heard that flying from Pittsburgh to Boston area only takes a couple of hours, but the drive takes 7 hours or so, thanks to horrible roads out east. West of Missisippi I use the following rule of thumb: part 103 is slower than car, C-150 is half faster, common LSA or Cherokee is twice faster, and a travelling airplane is 3x as fast. It works pretty well, considering. For example, a drive from Albuquerque to Las Vegas takes 10 hours, LSA covers it in about 7, and Arrow in about 5. Albuquerque to Phoenix takes 7 hours (worse roads), Arrow covers it in 3 (or a bit less). However, in New England even C-150 gains an advantage -- if weather cooperates. Or so I heard.
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It's 5-8 hrs by car on I-15 from LAS to LAX, depending on traffic.
2 hrs or less by T-41B.
 
Aeric said:
I thought GA was in decline? Doesn't really seem so after reading that. :dunno:
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That's not nation wide..that's just because of the training intensity there much of which is foreign.
 
So their fix for their lax oversight -- which led to the re-takes for hundreds of pilots in LAS -- is to limit the number of tests any particular DPE can give? Not up the number of DPEs and fix the oversight problem?

Man, that's some pretty incredible bureaucratic nonsense, right there...
 
Wow.....

:The examiner intends to raise the rate from $450 to $700 to make up the lost income he will incur as a result of the fewer number of flight tests he is allowed to administer," Gibbs said.


Gibbs said his understanding is that some DPEs in Las Vegas were doing two or three exams a day and there were questions raised :..

That adds up to some serious coin..:yes:
 
jesse said:
That's not nation wide..that's just because of the training intensity there much of which is foreign.
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Exactly. Due to the weather, the Southwest is home to several foreign airline pilot training schools, and schools that specialize in training foreign students.
 
I don't really see two checkrides a day being an issue, MEL add-ons and comm rides don't typically take long.
 
I thought two rides a day is normal... But not more than that.
 
That whole thing is a little hard to believe. 200 a year @ $700 comes to $140,000.00 per year. Not too shabby for part time work. I have not taken any check rides in many years but, $400 for 2-3 hours work seems pretty high. I think DPE's in general are allowed to give 2 a day max. That is $800 per day.
I know things are MUCH different now and there is some more to learn. When I took my PP check ride in 1977 three of us took a check ride that morning. After the three check rides all of us including the DPE and our instructor went for a late lunch. All three check rides took about 5 hours total.
It is hard to understand how a PP check ride could take more than 2 hours, maybe 2.5 including paper work. That is just me and I am sure I am wrong.
 
ronnieh said:
That whole thing is a little hard to believe. 200 a year @ $700 comes to $140,000.00 per year. Not too shabby for part time work. I have not taken any check rides in many years but, $400 for 2-3 hours work seems pretty high. I think DPE's in general are allowed to give 2 a day max. That is $800 per day.
I know things are MUCH different now and there is some more to learn. When I took my PP check ride in 1977 three of us took a check ride that morning. After the three check rides all of us including the DPE and our instructor went for a late lunch. All three check rides took about 5 hours total.
It is hard to understand how a PP check ride could take more than 2 hours, maybe 2.5 including paper work. That is just me and I am sure I am wrong.
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I was doing a rough figure in my mind and estimated the income of a DPE, who wanted to work their a$$ off, go 7 days a week and three reviews a day @ 700.00. Thats 764,400.00 for one calendar year.:hairraise:.

Now figure 90% of his clients are foreign and he/she demands cash, that works out to 688,000 and change.... He files his taxes based on the 76,400 a year and pockets the difference.... Sweet gig if you can get it.:yes:..
 
So basically the liberal bureaucrats at FAA were resentful of the money and decided to peg him down a size, with 500 innocent pilots constituting collaterial damage. Jealosy is a terrible thing.
 
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Now, figure that you have delays, cancellations, weather or TFR issues, etc.

Figure you want a normal life - 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year (that's full time with a month off).

two rides a day is 480 per year. At 500 per ride, that's 240,000. Still high, but figure out how many you rides you actually get in a year. I have no idea what the cancellation rate is like.
 
ja_user said:
I don't really see two checkrides a day being an issue, MEL add-ons and comm rides don't typically take long.
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I don't either, but I guess the Vegas FSDO does...I know they limited both Sheble sr. and Sheble jr. to one checkride per day each.
 
My checkride for PPL took about four hours total. About 1.5 hours for the initial check o my paperwork, and then oral examination, about 1.5 hours for the actual flight, 20 minutes to get from the FBO to the plane and preflight, 10 minutes to shut down the plane, do tie downs, and walk back to the FBO and 30 minutes after the flight for post flight briefing, pictures, get temp certificate, etc. My IFR with same DPE took about same amount of time.

PPL was in 2011, IFR in 2012.

Doug
 
The entire DPE system seems like a huge, government approved monopoly for a few of the "in-crowd". How do they decide who gets the cushy, 250k a year DPE jobs?
 
Why is everyone assuming a DPE works at 100% duty cycle? There just don't seem to be anywhere near enough new pilots to do that, even for a couple of DPEs handling 10,000 square miles.

Checkrides get canceled or delayed for uncontrollable reasons like excessive wind, turbulence, dust and rainstorms, smoke/haze/fog, etc.
 
MAKG1 said:
Why is everyone assuming a DPE works at 100% duty cycle? There just don't seem to be anywhere near enough new pilots to do that, even for a couple of DPEs handling 10,000 square miles.

Checkrides get canceled or delayed for uncontrollable reasons like excessive wind, turbulence, dust and rainstorms, smoke/haze/fog, etc.
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Count the new pilots.... Look at the territories... Do the math...


The article says the new price will be 700.00 a ride.. Time 2 a day=1400.00... times 5 days a week = 7000.00... time 52 weeks a year = 364,000... That sir is a 100% duty cycle.:yesnod:..... 250,000 a year is realistic... And I still contend that most rides are paid for in CASH.. How much does the DPE report to the IRS? :dunno::dunno::dunno:.

I am betting very little.:rolleyes:
 
So, basically, you're assuming a 100% duty cycle because you're assuming a 100% duty cycle?

I just don't see the market for that. The few DPEs I've interacted with do several per week during the summer (no more), and less than that at other times. And almost all of the checkrides I've seen given have happened on the weekends, plus maybe Friday.

And it really must be nice to live where the flying weather is always good.

I think your estimate of 100% duty cycle is about an order of magnitude high, averaged throughout the year, without even taking weather into account. And then there are overheads like insurance, transportation, etc. It just doesn't seem all that cushy.
 
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A 100% duty cycle would get the DPE $364k per year.

What Ben is saying is that a DPE can work a 68.8% duty cycle and still bring home $250k.

All this discussion has led me to believe I am in the wrong field of business. :D
 
livitup said:
What Ben is saying is that a DPE can work a 68.8% duty cycle and still bring home $250k.

All this discussion has led me to believe I am in the wrong field of business. :D
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It's about how much an engineer is paid in my field of business. Barely enough to rent an Arrow from a local FBO once in a while. The biggest problem is that he starts to get hit with AMT at about that level.
 
Katamarino said:
The entire DPE system seems like a huge, government approved monopoly for a few of the "in-crowd". How do they decide who gets the cushy, 250k a year DPE jobs?
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The local Flight Standards District Office, I believe.

Though - so far as who get's the cushy jobs? Mostly the high-volume flight schools who establish the relationship with certain DPE's.
 
livitup said:
What Ben is saying is that a DPE can work a 68.8% duty cycle and still bring home $250k.
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A figure pulled out of one's posterior is still fiction. I question a ~70% duty cycle as well. And you can only arrive at that figure if you assume no overheads and no retests or discontinuances.

Do you guys have any evidence of that? You guys are claiming around 500 checkrides per year per DPE, most of them new pilots. That seems ridiculously high.
 
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