Local DPE got fired

[Timbeck2]

I knew he was a little wonky as did everyone else who got a check ride with him. He got into hot water when he was doing an ATP check ride on a pilot with an FAA examiner examining him and another examining the examiner. He chose that ride to be his wonky self, asking a question, getting the textbook answer and then saying that the book was wrong. He also pulled the mixture to idle cut off on the critical engine on take off.


Waiting for the letter from the FAA:

If you have received a certification from (wonky guy) in the past year, you will have to reschedule another check ride with another DPE within 90 days.

I hope that letter never comes but you never know.

 

[MAKG1]

Why would you expect that?

That happens when there is reason to suspect unqualified pilots have been passed, e.g. from fraud. I see incorrect fails and safety concerns here.

 

[frfly172]

I would hope the FAA examiner finished the ride,with the student being tested. If I was failed by the DPE I would be seeking justice in the civil court system.

 

[Checkout_my_Six]

ya....that'll be a big pay out.

 

[RotorDude]

I can see perhaps people flocking to an "easy" DPE, but if a DPE is known for being extra hard or unpredictable, why would anyone send him/her their students?
I fail to see (pun unintended) why you'd want to go to anyone but a known good DPE.

 

[ChemGuy]

so what area of the country is this, (since xenforo doesn't display location info)?

 

[mulligan]

AND where do you find this easy DPE thing you are talking about No, really, I want one for my IFR

 

[MauleSkinner]

We had a local examiner who was known for shutting fuel off on one engine of the Seminole as the pulled onto the runway for takeoff...couple hundred feet up, the engine would quit.

Between that and some other things I heard about, he should've lost his designation, but I guess nobody complained.

 

[Caramon13]

AND where do you find this easy DPE thing you are talking about No, really, I want one for my IFR

You really DON'T want an easy DPE for your IFR, trust me . I was fortunate to have one that while pretty casual, was also very good at what he did.

 

[mulligan]

You really DON'T want an easy DPE for your IFR, trust me . I was fortunate to have one that while pretty casual, was also very good at what he did.

The DPE I'm using just gave a 5:30 hour IFR oral. I don't think I can sit in the hot seat for 5:30 hours. 2:30 sure. 5:30 is hitting my attention span limits

 

[EdFred]

AND where do you find this easy DPE thing you are talking about No, really, I want one for my IFR

If you know your ****, all DPE's are easy.

 

[Caramon13]

The DPE I'm using just gave a 5:30 hour IFR oral. I don't think I can sit in the hot seat for 5:30 hours. 2:30 sure. 5:30 is hitting my attention span limits

Yeah, that is a bit long. I'm about to do my CPL checkride and I'm hoping it's not that long, but who knows...

 

[coloradobluesky]

Make sure your signoff for each certification is correct. That one can come back to haunt you on an airline interview even if accepted by the DE and you get the cert ok. They will frown on ones that aren't right and you might get kicked.

 

[Witmo]

The DPE I'm using just gave a 5:30 hour IFR oral. I don't think I can sit in the hot seat for 5:30 hours. 2:30 sure. 5:30 is hitting my attention span limits

I wonder just what the DPE guidelines say about the length of an oral. Five and a half hours is bordering on the ridiculous for the IR in my opinion.

 

[ARFlyer]

I wonder just what the DPE guidelines say about the length of an oral. Five and a half hours is bordering on the ridiculous for the IR in my opinion.

My IR oral didn't take longer then 2 hours. When ever I did rides with our students, my questioning never lasted more than 3 hours. My attention span won't last much longer then 3 solid hours. I'd know quite quickly if I was going to fail the kid.

 

[hindsight2020]

These kind of DPE shenanigans is what gives part 61 its reputation for lacking quality and standardization. Which is why the airlines behave in a way that seem to favor "known quantity" products, such as the military, much to the resentment of many civilian trained pilots who are perfectly capable of performing the job with the utmost professionalism in their own right.

We had a local examiner who was known for shutting fuel off on one engine of the Seminole as the pulled onto the runway for takeoff...couple hundred feet up, the engine would quit.

Yep, and this is what can happen http://flighttraining.aopa.org/fsb/news/111216engine-failure-too-much-for-fit-pilots.html

MEI's are still pulling that kind of stupidity on the seminoles. My buddy just had a nightmare experience with allATPs in KGTU. Apparently the DPE they're using got the flight school in New Braunfels shut down because he hooked 5 candidates in a row and killed business for the school. My buddy managed to get a letter of discontinuance in order to avoid the railroad, out almost 5K sunk into allATP though. He's currently looking for other schools to get this thing knocked out. This area is booming with population and is very word of mouth.

As to the training, so my buddy goes to the aforementioned fly-by-night location addition to get his ATP practical knocked out as a GA-unfamiliar guy (all military time), and the "kid" closed the fuel selector on one of the engines without telling him. When my buddy auto-switches to game face on and turning around to declare an emergency, the "kid" fesses up about what he did. I would have given him his "semenhole" back and told him fly us home, we're done here. We don't play that type of games with Uncle Sam's equipment, since they throw the book at us for the smallest infractions. I'd imagine it's a culture shock for my buddy to see a green time builder MEI pull stuff like that on him and not think much of it, especially when the experience disparity in judgement and decision-making between the applicant and the instructor almost insultingly favors the applicant. It's one of those axioms we use on the mil side: "The thing about SA is....if you don't have it, you won't miss it".

 

[paflyer]

He also pulled the mixture to idle cut off on the critical engine on take off.

If some guy did that to me he'd have a bigger problem than the FAA....

 

[Mason]

That kind of crap is what the simulator is for. Shouldn't have to die for a stupid rating.

 

[Sundancer]

Ride ends there, he gets told to shut up, sit there, don't move. Next call is to FAA DC, to whatever jag-off is the current political appointee running that sewer, copy to senator and congressman. Maybe some FOIA requests on the moron's history, and see if a local or national news oulet is interested in an imbecile FAA "employee"/ contractor attempting a murder/suicide event.

 

[Timbeck2]

Why would you expect that?...

Because I've worked for the government for way too long.

Rotor Dude - he was the only DPE in town. It isn't like everyone "flocked to him" and he wasn't easy. We didn't have much of a choice other than to go somewhere else.

 

[KSCessnaDriver]

Make sure your signoff for each certification is correct. That one can come back to haunt you on an airline interview even if accepted by the DE and you get the cert ok. They will frown on ones that aren't right and you might get kicked.

Haha, what airline has the time to sit and look at your CFI signoffs for checkrides? More importantly, why would anyone even provide that to an airline, unless it's requested.

 

[mscard88]

Haha, what airline has the time to sit and look at your CFI signoffs for checkrides? More importantly, why would anyone even provide that to an airline, unless it's requested.

Yeah I was thinking the same.

 

[BillTIZ]

This happened around here a few years ago. I forget the number, but about 500 people needed to redo their check rides, unless they had completed another rating check ride with another examiner since their ride with the bad DPE.

 

[Timbeck2]

This happened around here a few years ago. I forget the number, but about 500 people needed to redo their check rides, unless they had completed another rating check ride with another examiner since their ride with the bad DPE.

That is what I'm afraid of but it was on his cert to sign off ATP applicants so I'm banking that all the others won't be affected.

 

[hindsight2020]

They ought to just nix that stupid license. It attracts seedy "cash-only" vultures, it's redundant vice the commercial PTS, it requires no endorsement anyways, and more often than not you end up having the instructor be of much less judgement and airmanship experience than the applicant.

Flight time and insurance minima can get the part 91/135 employers taken care of. The part 121 side can just mil-comp the mil guys; civi guys just give them qualification in-house with the type rating course, especially in this hiring environment where regionals are paying for people's CTP and ATP anyways. Doing a couple flights in a semenhole sight unseen in order to display competency to apply for a B737/A320 job is a joke anyways.

 

[MauleSkinner]

Given the number of pilots who can't fly to the ATP level, I'd say it's not "redundant".

The FAA apparently agrees that it hasn't been given proper training emphasis, though, since they now require the CTP course. I've only seen one applicant through that process so far, so I can't say whether it's helping or not. Not that I have tremendous confidence that it will, mind you.

 

[Palmpilot]

Given the number of pilots who can't fly to the ATP level, I'd say it's not "redundant"...

I was under the impression that the knowledge test for ATP was quite a bit more extensive, too.

 

[jordane93]

Given the number of pilots who can't fly to the ATP level, I'd say it's not "redundant".

The FAA apparently agrees that it hasn't been given proper training emphasis, though, since they now require the CTP course. I've only seen one applicant through that process so far, so I can't say whether it's helping or not. Not that I have tremendous confidence that it will, mind you.

I'm a proud graduate of the CTP course lol.