Questions on your check-ride that caught you off guard?

PBristolJr

PBristolJr

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I'm shooting to take my checkride next month, if I can get the rest of my hours in by then ;)

What were some of the questions asked by the examiner that caught you off guard? I've been studying like crazy but..you can never know too much.

Thanks
 
I don't think anything he asked or did caught me off guard. That's not to say I could answer all his questions.

The checkride is done according to the PTS. If you study and familiarize yourself with the PTS, you should have no surprises.

Best of luck! You will do fine!
 
I'll say the same thing to you as my CFI said when I asked a similiar question. "Be prepared to learn something during your checkride. It's not that I haven't taught it to you but it's a different way of doing something" Feel free to talk outloud during the Oral - its surprising what you may say that could be right. The first time I took the checkride (go ahead search for my story) he asked "What is wind shear?" I paused and thought *crap I have no idea* but I started with "I don't presume that has to do with cutting does it?" DPE: "Keep talking I'm interested to see where this goes" I think eventually I got around to the answer with his help. Don't you know this time around I KNOW what wind shear is!
 
Seriously.... if you are not a complete uneducated tool you will not have any issues unless of course your DPE is some kind of supreme commander of the universe mega-tool.

At least that has been my experience. If you have really hit the books then the questions I was asked and they way they were asked led themselves right into one word answers.

My instrument DPE asked me how VORs work - I asked him, do want me to give you the book answer or how it really works (i have an electronics background) - so I told him how it really works, and he agreed. We then talked about why the Chief Pilot of the 141 school didn't like my answer when I gave him the same one. The "technical" questions stopped there and we then only discussed scenarios from there on out which really didn't have "right or wrong" answers - more about ADM. Like - what would you do if you made it this far on your XC and this happened ? easy.
 
1. I got asked about DC airspace and was very unprepared for this. I am on the east coast but never ventured towards DC so i never really learned anything about it other than your standard class B rules. He had me plan my XC to front royal, VA which is right inside the 60nm DME from the DCA VOR. Little did I know, you need to have taken the SFRA course to even go in that arc. I had planned my flight into an airport that I wouldn't even have been allowed to go into. I thought he would fail me on this but he let it slide.

2. Are classes B, C, D airspace floors and ceilings in AGL or MSL? (I thought class C was AGL but apparently I was wrong)

3. Minimum Equipment List vs. standard day VFR requirements

4. symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning (I blanked on this one-headache was what he was looking for):mad2:
 
david0tey said:
1. I got asked about DC airspace and was very unprepared for this. I am on the east coast but never ventured towards DC so i never really learned anything about it other than your standard class B rules. He had me plan my XC to front royal, VA which is right inside the 60nm DME from the DCA VOR. Little did I know, you need to have taken the SFRA course to even go in that arc. I had planned my flight into an airport that I wouldn't even have been allowed to go into. I thought he would fail me on this but he let it slide.

2. Are classes B, C, D airspace floors and ceilings in AGL or MSL? (I thought class C was AGL but apparently I was wrong)

3. Minimum Equipment List vs. standard day VFR requirements

4. symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning (I blanked on this one-headache was what he was looking for):mad2:
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Soooo.... you had four areas you were weak on but you still earned your license right ?

:wink2:

I think this is in Capn Ron's check ride advice - RELAX RELAX RELAX

:D
 
My examiner asked me the voltage output of the alternator. Make sure you are very familiar with the airplane you're taking the check-ride in.
 
My examiner seemed to be some sort of holy God of the FARs. There must be some others of his kind. He could rattle off exactly where to find everything in the regs, and he asked me a few questions about specific parts (as in, "what FAR prohibits ___") that I had no clue how to answer. I knew that it was prohibited, but I had no idea what section in the FARs prohibited it. He must have spent some quality time with the FARs...maybe they're his bedtime story of choice. I'm pretty sure he had them all memorized. Naturally, he didn't care that I didn't know exactly which paragraph of what part prohibited X--just that I knew that it was prohibited--so don't worry if you can't answer its location. But I'm sure you could impress an examiner by whipping out a few numbers.

Also, I don't know where you live, but as has been mentioned, if you're anywhere close to the DC area, make sure you know cold what you need to fly around there. Crazy airspace around here, and NOT somewhere you want to find yourself lost.
 
Nothing really, no trick questions. They get more detailed the deeper into a subject you get. As long as you get the first three, you're good, when you're stumped, do not BS or try to pull something out of your azz. "Don't know, I suppose I'd find that answer _____" is the correct response.

Become very familiar with the odd things on the sectional chart legend. Look close and find everything you can and learn it, I promise no matter how hard you study it he'll still point at something that makes you go "WTF?"
 
Henning said:
Become very familiar with the odd things on the sectional chart legend. Look close and find everything you can and learn it, I promise no matter how hard you study it he'll still point at something that makes you go "WTF?"
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True that. I thought I knew the sectional cold, but the examiner managed to point out some sliver of a weird SUA right on the edge of the thing and ask me about that, which I had not the slightest idea.

For the OP, they're not out to get you (usually). Most of the examiners are decent people and want you to pass. Just know the PTS, and don't try to bluff, because they WILL know in about a half-second if you're trying to BS your way through.

And I got asked about the DC airspace too, so if you're anywhere near the east coast, I'd at least review the basics.
 
BrianR said:
True that. I thought I knew the sectional cold, but the examiner managed to point out some sliver of a weird SUA right on the edge of the thing and ask me about that, which I had not the slightest idea.

For the OP, they're not out to get you (usually). Most of the examiners are decent people and want you to pass. Just know the PTS, and don't try to bluff, because they WILL know in about a half-second if you're trying to BS your way through.

And I got asked about the DC airspace too, so if you're anywhere near the east coast, I'd at least review the basics.
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Humility and acceptance of your lack of knowledge and the willingness and ability to go to the correct reference; attitude is a major factor. Betty Faux, a long time DE and former WASP with great stories told me that when she was satisfied the candidate was safe, that was when she would pass them in her mind. At that point she would fill in the rest of the hour giving the candidate some advanced instruction. I got lucky on my ME ride because we discontinued my ride for the landings because the fog hadn't cleared and we couln't do the landings SVFR. We had basically had everything else done in 20 minutes and were flying around waiting for the fog to clear and she was showing me how to milk everything out of the plane OEI. Since she had like 4000+ dual given in a BE 95, she knew her stuff. Next day we did another hour and 3 landings all for the same $100. :eek: She's another one SoCal aviation is lesser without.
 
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The thing I noticed on my check ride is that when the DPE would catch me struggling in an area, that is where he tended to ask me more questions. For me, I got more frustrated in questions pertaining to weather, so that is where I ended up getting more questions asked.
 
When taking my commercial check ride the DE, who I had known for sometime, diverted me to a nearby airport after he had failed almost everything on the panel. He then told me my gear breaker had just popped and asked me what I was going to do. I told him I was going to fly the plane and he was going to extend that little handle on the deck and start pumping. He started laughing and said no one had EVER asked him to do that. I laughed right back and said "CRM is part of the test, right?" He let me "breakout" at 2500 and pulled my hood off, still laughing.
 
What airspeed do you rotate at at some high density altitude airport.. why?

during the ride, we did the simulated instrument portion, then the unusual attitude recovery, when i looked up to recover, he had blocked my view so I had to recover on the instruments, prior to that I was flying on the instruments. Then he told me to go to 6S5... I had been there before and it's right in the middle of the valley and I couldn't find it.... He had guided me to DIRECTLY over it.
 
bartmc said:
What airspeed do you rotate at at some high density altitude airport.. why?
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You always rotate at the same speed-- at a high density altitude it just takes longer to get to the Vr speed.

Yea! Finally a question I knew!
 
On the check ride, the turn around a point was to the right. That is when I realized that I had practiced them all to the left. For simulated engine out, the DE didn't pull the throttle initially. He asked me what I would do if the engine quit now. I said that I was close to being able to make the runway. He then pulled the throttle and said "see if you can". That's ok but make sure that you point out some closer field that would definitely be reachable.
 
Tracey said:
You always rotate at the same speed-- at a high density altitude it just takes longer to get to the Vr speed.

Yea! Finally a question I knew!
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Correct. I had to go into air density and how it effects airspeed and explain WHY it took longer to get to rotate speed.

And the follow up question, assuming no winds, what will your ground speed be at 7,000' DA vs Sea Level at rotate speed.
 
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Another thing that caught me off guard was that I had the weather reports and text codes burned into my brain, we walked over to a computer and he pulled up all the "visual" ones... I had a tough time reading them and fessed up that I had concentrated more on reading the text based reports and hadn't seen much of the visual ones, so instead of a berating, I got about 1.5 hour lesson on the "other formats" for weather products.
 
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