I saw no indication that it was an emergency, and unlike the engine-failure descent and approach Tasks in the Emergency Operations Area, there's nothing in the PTS automatically making this Task in the Navigation Area an emergency action. As I said, I think this was all a matter of self-imposed stress by the applicant without any help from the DPE, and that's not a good sign for good aeronautical decision making in the future -- too much like get-there-itis.
We're not talking about perfection, we're talking about meeting the minimum standards -- which she failed to do.
You can do that if you want, but I see no need for it -- I never deliberately memorize anything I can look up when the need arises. I don't think anyone needs to memorize the TPA of every airport along their planned route of flight -- just have the A/FD with them, and consult it if they do have to divert somewhere they did not plan to land. And that's the standard she failed to meet.
And the FAA doesn't like 
Yes, lots of airports like that. My CFII spent about 5 minutes thumbing through the A/FD last weekend looking for 1D2, a.k.a. Canton Plymouth Mettetal. He eventually found it, but I don't even remember what city it was under.
) I don't want to be thumbing through the A/FD and hoping I'm looking in the right place.You have fallen into the same trap as the OP's applicant -- time is not of the essence on this non-emergency diversion.Yep, this is exactly my point. When time is of the essence and getting info fast is required (such as a diversion
Yep, this is exactly my point. When time is of the essence and getting info fast is required (such as a diversion
200' requires a dramatically larger pattern?
Not an emergency? You mean with "everything ... weathered in" you were not "concerned about safety"?
Then time is not of the essence. Again -- misplaced sense of urgency.
Sure, great, wonderful -- do that whenever you can on the ground ahead of time. But you don't always have that luxury, and you may have to look it up in flight -- and that's what this Task is designed to test.
I know you don't, and that's the point I'm trying to get across. You have to command the airplane, not he other way around. How about doing a 360, or setting up some other sort of delaying maneuver while you look up the data?
In this situation, it's not unnecessary.
If it takes you "minutes" to look up an airport in the A/FD and determine the TPA, you're not safe for solo. And you should have been taught how to check pubs in flight without being "heads down" for an extended period.
Correct. The only exceptions are if the DPE has reason to fear for his/her safety if s/he tells the applicant of hat failure in flight, or if the DPE and applicant arrange otherwise before the flight.
Well, you're entitled to that opinion, but that's not how the FAA Order on point says it's to be done. Each task/maneuver is graded pass/fail, and failure of any maneuver is a failure of the practical test no matter how well you did everything else. Probably the main reason for this is to keep the test as objective as possible, thus reducing the opportunity for examiner malfeasance in either direction, and making it harder for anyone to argue about whether or not the evaluation was fair.
You need to go back to the Pilot/Controller Glossary and review the meaning of the word "emergency." Weather closing in such that you have to land at once without even checking the book on the airport you choose certainly fits the definition of "urgency," and that's an emergency. Engine fire would be a distress condition, and also an emergency, but the term "emergency" is not limited to conditions where there is immediate danger to life. I know it's been a problem as long as I've been flying getting pilots to understand that, but it is what the words mean, and it opens the 91.3(b) door to a lot of options you do not otherwise have.
