Checkride...

mchesney

mchesney

Pre-Flight
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Messages
77
Location
Jackson, MI
Display Name
Display name:
Mike
How long do they usually last? Was it tougher than you had imagined? Did you feel "comfortable" as a pilot after passing? If not, are you now and how long did it take?

This is my first post here so I guess I should add "Hello, my name is Mike".
I'm getting back into training after a 5 year layoff. I had accumulated 49 hours and passed my written...only had to do the 3 legged solo crosscountry and woulda been ready for the checkride but life got in the way and I think I was still concerned over my "nervousness" while flying solo. It's funny...I fly in helicopters everyday for work and am completely comfortable flying in any aircraft but not so much with me behind the controls. Anyway, I did my first lesson the other day and flew close to standards despite the long layoff but still need some polishing. I appreciate any responses! Tell me your experience!
 
How long they last is a function of the examiner, but the flight portion generally is an hour to an hour and a half for a private, depending on the location and weather and....

The oral can be an hour or so as well. Most examiners I know block 4 hours for a checkride.

When I completed my checkride I felt ready to fly within the boundaries of the certificate AND my area. I wouldn't have tackled mountain flying, for instance.

I moved on to the instrument rating because I wanted to be able to make trips more reliably and not be grounded by weather as often. I didn't scare myself into it.

In my opinion, if you don't feel comfortable acting as PIC, you're not ready for the checkride. You shouldn't feel "Ready to tackle anything" but you should feel "ready for any reasonable event". It's hard to put the difference into words, for me at least. You know that you know what you are supposed to know, and you know that that's not all there is to know.
 
Last edited:
Private pilot checkrides are usually about four hours from handshake to handshake. The ground and flight portions are usually about an hour and a half each, with the rest of the time taken up with administrative matters -- the examiner is required to explain a lot about the process before actually starting the test.

I took my PP ride in 1970, before the Practical Test Standards existed, and the test was a lot more whatever the examiner felt was how things should be done rather than the way it is now. Because the DPE with whom I flew had his own odd ideas about how things should be done, the ride was a lot longer and more stressful than I had expected. As for being "comfortable" after the ride, the next day I left on a long journey from Michigan to Montana and back with another new PP (we had 135 hours between us when we started). We had a wonderful time, and after that trip, we were both a lot more confident about our abilities.
 
Mine was about 2.5 hours total. 45 minutes oral.. about an hour in flight. Rest was administrative stuff, preflight, etc.

It probably helped that my instructor has sent a ton of students through this DPE and they have known each other for awhile. Not a buddy/buddy relationship but a professional one.

I passed with 40 something hours and started pecking away at the IR around 70 hours TT.

As Tim said.. I felt comfortable doing normal private pilot stuff in my "area". You should take things slow and don't hesitate to call off a trip if you feel nervous about the weather or anything else.

I never really got comfortable doing long x/c flights until recently. It takes awhile to get a feel for weather, trip planning, talking to atc, and flying to new airports. Then stringing that all together at once in a dynamic environment where things don't always go as planned.

If you want to take passengers right after you get your license, I strongly suggest you take them to an airport you've been before, on a day with good weather. You'll know what to expect, and the added distraction and anxiousness you'll likely have the first few times you fly with passengers will be much easier to deal with. Do your exploring solo for awhile, until you have put many notches in the belt (airports, not women) and will know what to expect when you fly into new places.
 
My oral was a good 2 hours and the checkride was at least an hour and 45 minutes. Paperwork was 30 minutes. Everything was a little longer because I was using a Light Sport airplane for my PP checkride and it was the first time the examiner had ever done a checkride in one. The aircraft code wasn't available for the IACRA system and the examiner wanted to see FAR's concerning light sport aircraft rules.
 
dell30rb said:
If you want to take passengers right after you get your license, I strongly suggest you take them to an airport you've been before, on a day with good weather. You'll know what to expect, and the added distraction and anxiousness you'll likely have the first few times you fly with passengers will be much easier to deal with. Do your exploring solo for awhile, until you have put many notches in the belt (airports, not women) and will know what to expect when you fly into new places.
Click to expand...

Better yet, take some pax on you during X/C lessons, so you get used to flying a loaded airplane, and they get comfy with you too.
 
Welcome Mike. Keep asking questions - you're doing the right thing. There's a good group here with lots of experience that won't bite your head off like some other forums. Your Instructor will know when you're ready. My oral/check rides were tremendous learning experiences.
 
Welcome to POA Mike!

My story as of last Spring was VERY similar to your current situation. I had about the same amount of time and items checked off in my logbook except I had been out of it for TWENTY years.

A five year lay off is nowhere near as bad as twenty. Many people here say that you will be an hour behind for every year off. I was much more behind than that, but alot of it was that I sort of started over again in a taildragger.

As far as the checkride goes, mine was about an hour of actual interaction during the oral. It took longer than that, but my instructor was there visiting with the DPE and other things happened. You will have to bone up and do your written over again, so that will most likely be plenty of prep for the oral.

After the oral we spent 1.4 hours in the air and it was a very compact process of going through all the required things that must be checked. He had done it a zillion times before so he had it down to a very orchestrated sequence of things.

My advice would be to not even worry about the checkride. It will be nothing more than just another lesson. Work on getting your flying skills back while you're in the air. And work on studying your ground stuff while you're NOT in the air.

After you've flown a little, you will feel completely comfortable with flying and with doing the long cross country.

I think that apprehension about solo is a natural thing. At least I know that I went through it. Once you solo again, just go spend an hour or two doing touch and go's and you'll get comfortable pretty fast.

Best of luck and keep us posted. We really enjoy hearing about flying and learning. Also, you will find this site to be an incredibly valuable resource. Whatever kind of problem with your training or question, there are many here who can and will offer lots of help.
 
The most important piece of checkride advice I received was this... If the examiner gives you another maneuver, you passed the last one. Get your head out of any mistakes you might have made on the last one and get focused on the next one. My examiner was grumpy and critical of virtually everything I did, but after the last landing he said my flying "wasn't bad" and he did the paperwork.

I talked to two other students that did their checkride with him and they both had similar experiences.
 
Compared to my strict CFI the checkride was a walk in the park. I found the most awesome DPE and felt like we were "friends" not taking a "test." I did not do as well as I had hoped, but still passed. I cried when he took off his aviators and said "you are the world's newest private pilot" and shook my hand and said he could tell I really wanted this. I assured him that I did indeed.
 
Mine was just last month and I think we had 1.1 on the Hobbs. The oral was 45-50 minutes.

The test wasn't as tough as I expected. I wasn't sure about my readiness, but my CFII told me to call and schedule it or he would.
He said I was flying the best he'd seen me fly and I should go while I was flying well.
 
My oral (November 2011) was 70 minutes. 1.4 on Hobbs.

20-30 minutes post flight briefing and paperwork
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Compared to my strict CFI the checkride was a walk in the park. I found the most awesome DPE and felt like we were "friends" not taking a "test." I did not do as well as I had hoped, but still passed. I cried when he took off his aviators and said "you are the world's newest private pilot" and shook my hand and said he could tell I really wanted this. I assured him that I did indeed.
Click to expand...


And if they're doing it right, that's how it should be. Heck, even my CFI oral was conversational (the DPE I did it with in Vegas has been at it for longer than I've been alive, so his experience in giving practical tests definately showed).

To OP: Most DPEs are pleasant people who want to see you pass. Just demonstrate what you've been practicing and you'll be fine.
 
Hi everyone. Just got back from my oral part of my check ride. Passed and did well! The whole thing was about 45 minutes. The flight part is tomorrow because of the snowstorm in the northeast today.

The DPE was great. Very nice and clearly wanted me to do well. I got almost every question right but the ones I did not he went over with me at the end. A few things I think were worth sharing. I think it helps if you do well on your written test. I got in the upper 90s and he noticed that before the test. He commented on it when we filled out the paperwork. He knew I knew my stuff. Also, if you are taking the oral soon be over prepared! I studied like crazy and did not need to look up answers and felt ready to explain things. I think this helps the DPE feel confident you worked hard to prepare. The test is kind of a means to an end and the preparation is the important part.
 
Here's a question too. I know who my DPE will be. Is there some way to get more info on him? Like check who else took a ride with him, how was it, etc?

If anyone knows him, or took his ride, it's Paul Senyak, at KXLL (Allentown, PA)
 
Your CFI has probably sent others to him, that would be a good source.;) I've had 4 check rides since 1984, and they were all different, my IR and multi were with the same DPE. He was based at my FBO, we spent a lot of time hangar flying, so my second ride with him was much more relaxed.:D Not easy, but I was more comfortable, even flew through the localized on a single engine localized approach!:yikes: But, I recognized it, went missed, rejoined and landed! :D My worst check ride from a flying aspect, was my Citation type rating, I actually thought I failed! :hairraise: But, either I flew better than I thought or the DPE was in a generous mood.:lol:
Meanee said:
Here's a question too. I know who my DPE will be. Is there some way to get more info on him? Like check who else took a ride with him, how was it, etc?

If anyone knows him, or took his ride, it's Paul Senyak, at KXLL (Allentown, PA)
Click to expand...
 
A long time coming but I did finish and passed my checkride on December 11th!

I don't post much but I frequent this and other forums often (PoA being my fav of course!)...I consider them a valuable resource and I learn A LOT reading them. Perhaps when I garnered enough experience I'll have more opinions and post more but for now I'm just trying to learn as much as I can and mitigate risks through knowledge.

As for the checkride, it went well. 3 hours on the oral but probably on an hour and half of actual direct questions. We did a lot of talking on aviation which helped me get more comfortable. The practical portion also went well. I was really nervous about it...kept thinking if I did ONE thing wrong I was gonna fail but that's not how it went at all. As long as I acknowledged a departure from expected standards and corrected it he was fine. It turned out to be a great flight and and despite a 10 knot direct crosswind I nailed all my landings! The examiner said we could try and find another airport with better runway winds but weather was strarting to come in and I wanted so bad to finish that day that I chose to try it out with the crosswinds. He had me do a normal landing at first to see how I would do with the conditions and I made the best crosswind landing to date...whew! Short field and soft fields both went great and even landed upwind wheel first for both! A pleasant ride back to the FBO and I was done!

It's still sinking in and I have yet to take anyone up yet. Work and weather prevented me from going up at all until the day before yesterday. I got checked out on a Diamond DA20-C1. That's another story I'll put in a separate post but I really liked flying it!!

Thanks to all,
Mike
 
mchesney said:
A long time coming but I did finish and passed my checkride on December 11th!

I don't post much but I frequent this and other forums often (PoA being my fav of course!)...I consider them a valuable resource and I learn A LOT reading them. Perhaps when I garnered enough experience I'll have more opinions and post more but for now I'm just trying to learn as much as I can and mitigate risks through knowledge.

As for the checkride, it went well. 3 hours on the oral but probably on an hour and half of actual direct questions. We did a lot of talking on aviation which helped me get more comfortable. The practical portion also went well. I was really nervous about it...kept thinking if I did ONE thing wrong I was gonna fail but that's not how it went at all. As long as I acknowledged a departure from expected standards and corrected it he was fine. It turned out to be a great flight and and despite a 10 knot direct crosswind I nailed all my landings! The examiner said we could try and find another airport with better runway winds but weather was strarting to come in and I wanted so bad to finish that day that I chose to try it out with the crosswinds. He had me do a normal landing at first to see how I would do with the conditions and I made the best crosswind landing to date...whew! Short field and soft fields both went great and even landed upwind wheel first for both! A pleasant ride back to the FBO and I was done!

It's still sinking in and I have yet to take anyone up yet. Work and weather prevented me from going up at all until the day before yesterday. I got checked out on a Diamond DA20-C1. That's another story I'll put in a separate post but I really liked flying it!!

Thanks to all,
Mike
Click to expand...

Congrats!
 
My oral was 2.5 hours and the flight was 1.6 on the hobbs. I started at 1pm and was done about 530 after admin/preflight break between etc. I was surprised how short the flight was.
 
Mine was about the same, as I recall about 2 hours for the oral (after all the paperwork checking), then 1.3 logged for me as PIC by the examiner. Congrats to the OP and fly safe! :cheers:
 
mchesney said:
How long do they usually last? Was it tougher than you had imagined? Did you feel "comfortable" as a pilot after passing? If not, are you now and how long did it take?

<snip> Tell me your experience!
Click to expand...

Half a day for everything.
It is so great to get rid of that damn CFI after the checkride is passed!
 
Both of my orals I think were shorter than average. There's two kinds of instructors out there. One who hits a bunch of topics and if the student appears to know the subject cold just moves on to something else. The other decides to play stump the chump asking more detailed questions until he finds one that the student can't answer. Fortunately I didn't get one of the latter. We could have been there for hours playing that game.
 
I think my checkride was 2.5 to 3 hours long. The examiner loved to try stumping me, or digging further into my answers, and one of the best I could give, if I didn't know exactly, was to tell him I didn't know, but I could look it up and where I would look it up. The flying portion was a little over an hour long, with a lot more focus on emergency procedures than my ability to complete turns or cross country check points.
 
My experience has been pretty similar to most. The oral was probably about 2 hours, flying was 1 hour hobbs according to my log book though I think it was longer. My DPE has a reputation of being tough, but I think that is more his gruff New York exterior, and droll New York sense of humor. Worked fine for me as I am the same. The night before I was nervous as could be, and I have done some much more grueling oral and practical tests in my life where failure was not an option, but as soon as it started I calmed quite a bit, and took it for what it was worth, a chance to learn. In retropsect, I was more nervous and scared on my first solo(just around the pattern).
 
flyingron said:
Both of my orals I think were shorter than average. There's two kinds of instructors out there. One who hits a bunch of topics and if the student appears to know the subject cold just moves on to something else. The other decides to play stump the chump asking more detailed questions until he finds one that the student can't answer. Fortunately I didn't get one of the latter. We could have been there for hours playing that game.
Click to expand...

Ha yeah...my sport pilot DPE was a stump the chump sort of guy. Oral lasted somewhere between two and three hours. Don't remember. Other guy for PPL was a hit it and move on if you know it cold sort of guy...but he liked to talk. He talked at me about crosswind landings for a good 40 minutes at least (probably more). Made the oral last just as long (if not longer).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top