It's entirely possible that the DPE has absolutely no experience what-so-ever landing that LSA power-off...entirely possible that ride is the first time the DPE has even been in the type. It's just hard to say.
I know the DPE... there's zero doubt in my mind he could have flown it VERY well.
He suffers from degenerative rheumatoid arthritis in his hands, but never once let that stop him flying anything with wings.
I might be willing to speculate that utilizing the applicant as his hands while giving guidance was probably just the simplest form of crew coordination in the moment.
It'll be interesting to read the story.
He's truly an asset to the local aviation community. After he learns that someone in the area has attained their IR (especially if they took their ride with him, of course, since that's an easy list), he puts their aircraft and name on a list and as he joked, "works his way down the list from most interesting aircraft to least interesting" whenever flyable Actual pops up around here, offering to jump in and teach/coach anyone who needs the Actual time on a trip on a moment's notice, if he's available. He knows none of us here get enough Actual. As just one example of things I know he does.
When I first met him in the 90s, he was a CFI only, and later when I returned to aviation and heard he'd been appointed a DPE, the reaction was... "Wow. Of course he was." One of those rare folk you just know belongs doing that job.
It's really hard to catch him on the ground. He's booked solid with flying. No grass growing under that guy!
