Darn. Have to change my sig now!

I arrived at FRG around 8:30 am for my 9 o clock checkride. Got the latest winds, DUATS weather, and just did some last minute studying. Frank got here around 9 and we started with the IACRA stuff. Everything was ok so we started the oral. He tells me he doesn't want this to be a question and answer type deal and wanted it to be more of a conversation (like my Instrument oral). He looked at the maintenance sheet my school gives for checkride candidates and says everything looks good. He asks me what kind of documents are required to be on board, airwothiness of the plane, pilot currency, AD compliance, ME list, what to do when we have inoperative instruments. Systems, pitot static, fuel, electrical, landing gear, heating and cooling. Landing gear emergencies, engine out emergencies.V speeds, which speeds aren't on the airspeed indicator. Took a potty break. Sectional charts, described different symbols, my checkpoints/flight plan. Carbon monoxide detection. That was about it. He then said to pre flight the plane and he would be out soon. Short field take off from runway 1 for a Northeast departure to the Northport stacks (first checkpoint). Had me track to the Bridgeport VOR and we listened to the tower to see if we could get in the landings before the manuevers. It was pretty busy so he just told me to set up slow flight and start the manuevers. Did the clearing turns slow flight no big deal. Manuevering during slow fight was fine. Power on/off stalls were good. Steep turns were ok (he told me not to roll out until on the heading. I kind of started a slow roll out and stopped and started the band again). Chandelles and lazy 8's good. Did an emergency descent and siad we lost an engine. Trimmed for best glide ran a flow checklist. Backed up the flow with my checklist. He was satisfied. Did 8's on pylons. They were alright. I lost one of my checkpoints rolling out on the downwind but he just told me to pick another one since there many boats and landmarks to pick. He also told me when the start the turn for the pylon off of my right side. That was fine. Climed back up and started to make our way across the LI sound towards BDR for the landings. Entered the left base for 29. We were now south of the airport and closer to KISP. First landing was a soft field. SUCKED so bad. He asked me if we had square tires! The next lap around was a short field that I greased. Tried to get a power off 180 in but couldn't. He decided to try ISP but was denied by Approach and we had to remain clear of the Class C. Went back to Farmingdale got in the power off 180.Nailed it exactly where he wanted me to put it down. Taxiied back to the ramp and was told I fly very smooth, the first landing sucked he said but I made it up with the 2 other greasers and was now a Commercial Pilot. Went in and did the paper work and gave me my temporary cert. Overall, he is a very fair DPE, never felt pressured, and made me feel at ease the entire ride. Next up is the CFI, which I hope to finish up before my last Spring semester before I graduate college. I'll also probably get my AGI, and IGI so I can start doing ground lessons at a flight school to help me prep for the CFI. And some more good news is I'm going with my dad on his trip to Venice for 24 hrs and get to celebrate!
 
jordane93 said:
Steep turns were ok (he told me not to roll out until on the heading. I kind of started a slow roll out and stopped and started the band again).
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That's the way they should be flown. If you can fly a coordinated turn, you should be able to roll out on the heading at which the roll was initiated. I always thought the 30* lead was cheating and didn't satisfy the maneuver.

Congrats.
 
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Cpt_Kirk said:
That's the way they should be flown. If you can fly a coordinated turn, you should be able to roll out on the heading which the roll was initiated. I always thought the 30* lead was cheating and didn't satisfy the maneuver.

Congrats.
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Yea i kind messed that one up but altitude and airspeed were fine he said. He says just make sure I do it right for the CFI ride!
 
jordane93 said:
Yea i kind messed that one up but altitude and airspeed were fine he said. He says just make sure I do it right for the CFI ride!
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That's one ride I hope I never have to take. The ATL FSDO has a 90% failure rate the first time around.
 
Congrats man!
 
congrats! sounds similar to a ppl checkride with a coupl'a commercial maneuvers thrown in (chandelles, lazy 8's...)?
 
eman1200 said:
congrats! sounds similar to a ppl checkride with a coupl'a commercial maneuvers thrown in (chandelles, lazy 8's...)?
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Its kind of like a PPL on steroids. Commercial is all about smoothness, how well you stay ahead of the plane, and finessing the plane
 
Frank is by far the best examiner out there. He doesn't make you feel pressured. He is fair. All around great guy. If anyone says they don't learn something from him on a check ride is full of it.
 
TommyG said:
Frank is by far the best examiner out there. He doesn't make you feel pressured. He is fair. All around great guy. If anyone says they don't learn something from him on a check ride is full of it.
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For sure. Does everything by the PTS and doesn't BS you. Commercial ride was a breeze with him as my DPE
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
That's one ride I hope I never have to take. The ATL FSDO has a 90% failure rate the first time around.
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I'd suggest rechecking the source of your number. There were about 3500 initial CFI practical tests given last year, with pass rates of 66.5% and 68.4% for FSDO's and DPE's -- with the higher pass rate going to the FSDO's! Of the 296 initial CFI tests disapproved at FSDO's, a staggeringly large fraction would have to have been at the ATL FSDO, and I guarantee HQ would have noticed that and done something about that large a deviation from the national average.

BTW, regarding the OP, FSDO's don't do a lot of initial CP-Airplane rides -- only very special cases. The national averages for 2013 show that FAA Inspectors conducted less than 1% of the over 7500 initial CP-Airplane tests, and their pass rate was 75.5% compared to the DPE's pass rate of 77.8%. Given those numbers, I estimate (without actually pulling out my statistics texts) that the difference in pass rate is statistically insignificant.
 
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Ron Levy said:
I'd suggest rechecking the source of your number. There were about 3500 initial CFI practical tests given last year, with pass rates of 66.5% and 68.4% for FSDO's and DPE's -- with the higher pass rate going to the FSDO's! Of the 296 initial CFI tests disapproved at FSDO's, a staggeringly large fraction would have to have been at the ATL FSDO, and I guarantee HQ would have noticed that and done something about that large a deviation from the national average.
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I should have reworded my original statement. I "heard" it was a 90% failure rate. Just small talk around the flight school when someone busted their CFI oral. On another note, those percentages are good news for me when I do get around to taking it. The inspector couldn't have been over 30 by the way he looked. It sure threw us all off.
 
Congrats! I love Frank! He did my PPL checkride. I got pumpkins drawn into my logbook because it was so close to Halloween.
 
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