Scheduling Checkride Protocol?

kenjr

kenjr

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Aug 18, 2013
Messages
745
Location
Austin, TX
Display Name
Display name:
KenJr
There are a couple examiners in my area that my school uses and my CFI and I talked about getting this scheduled late last week. I was told they'd call me when they had some dates/times. It's a week later and nothing. A few days ago I stopped by and they said that had emailed them and hadn't heard back...so no idea exactly on how proactive they are being with this.

Is it bad form for the student to contact the DPE directly? Should the CFI/School be the first to contact?

Just curious...
 
For my first two attempts at getting the ride scheduled (DPE cancelled or postponed :mad:), my school made the arrangements.

Now I have passed the oral and need to do the practical portion only my school is having me arrange it directly with the DPE.

I would think having your school do it is easier because they know the availability of the aircraft. I don't think there is any hard and fast rule.
 
I have my own plane, so that's not an issue. I travel a bunch for work so I have a weird schedule and going back and forth through my school to the DPE and back trying to get something worked out will certainly be a PITA...when they even get back to me.

I was just thinking of reaching out since I have their emails/phone numbers and doing the introduction, talking schedules, etc... and then throwing it back over to my CFI to talk to either of them if there's reason to.

I just didn't want to call or reach out and then have the DPE be like, why are YOU calling me?
 
kenjr said:
There are a couple examiners in my area that my school uses and my CFI and I talked about getting this scheduled late last week. I was told they'd call me when they had some dates/times. It's a week later and nothing. A few days ago I stopped by and they said that had emailed them and hadn't heard back...so no idea exactly on how proactive they are being with this.

Is it bad form for the student to contact the DPE directly? Should the CFI/School be the first to contact?

Just curious...
Click to expand...

You may go to the examiner of your choice and normally the student schedules the test with the examiner.
 
If I remember right, my instructor contacted the DPE and gave him my contact info, then the DPE reached out to me and we scheduled it.
 
If it's nothing more than strangers exchanging phone numbers and scheduling a date, it probably doesn't matter. If your CFI has a relationship and reputation with the DPE that might work to your advantage, let him run interference for you.
 
When you do talk to him, remember to ask how fat he is, for your W&B calculation. :D
 
John221us said:
If I remember right, my instructor contacted the DPE and gave him my contact info, then the DPE reached out to me and we scheduled it.
Click to expand...

wabower said:
If it's nothing more than strangers exchanging phone numbers and scheduling a date, it probably doesn't matter. If your CFI has a relationship and reputation with the DPE that might work to your advantage, let him run interference for you.
Click to expand...

That's basically what happened when I was ready. My instructor was good friends with the DPE, so he called him up and said something like "Hey John, Fred here. How are ya? How are the kids? Doing well? Hey listen, I've got a student ready for his private checkride." Etc etc. The DPE got in touch with me and we made specific arrangements from there.
 
...it's pretty clear to me that my CFI has no relationship with either of these guys. I'm not even sure he talks to them - he told me that he had passed the info to the owner/Chief CFI to call...I'm sure she has but what I'm not sure about is the follow-up. I can't imagine that any DPE would just not respond to a request for a ride for a week...let alone two of them.
 
kenjr said:
...it's pretty clear to me that my CFI has no relationship with either of these guys. I'm not even sure he talks to them - he told me that he had passed the info to the owner Chief CFI to call...I'm sure she has but what I'm not sure about is the follow-up. I can't imagine that any DPE would just not respond to a request for a ride for a week...let alone two of them.
Click to expand...

I would say a quick call to the chief CFI and then call the DPE, if you aren't feeling the love.
 
Call DPE and schedule your check ride. CFI can help you but at the end of the day it is YOUR check ride. I did that for PPL and for IR.
 
I found and scheduled the DPE for my PPL and IR rides.
 
I called the DPE directly. Actually my instructor gave me a list of his 'preferred' guys and their contact info. He said set it up while looking at the plane schedule for the school to ensure availability.
 
It all depends on the relationship between the school and the DPE. Sometimes, it's done through the school. Sometimes your instructor tells you how to find a DPE and you're on your own from there. Sometimes it's somewhere in the middle. Talk to your instructor about this.
 
Clip4 said:
You may go to the examiner of your choice and normally the student schedules the test with the examiner.
Click to expand...

Normally? News to me.

Bob Gardner
 
as I'm sure you're realizing based on this thread, it seems there is no one answer. My CFI just gave me the DPE's contact information and had me schedule when the time came. If I were in your shoes, I'd make a call to your instructor... it's frustrating just sitting around waiting to schedule your checkride when you know you're ready.
 
yeah, I may just have to do a quick courtesy call with the DPE. Both the owner/Chief CFI and my CFI left for a long weekend to fly a plane up to an airshow in Canada. *sigh* I may try to reach out to both DPE's this afternoon with a little bit of context that I *think* my school has contacted them but that I haven't heard anything back yet. I was hoping to get this on the books for late next week in anticipation of some work travel that will get my schedule out of kilter for a couple weeks...

But yes, sounds like there's no 'official' answer here and as experienced as these DPE's are (they both have been doing it for many years) I'm sure I'm not the first student to follow-up with them.
 
Ron Levy said:
It all depends on the relationship between the school and the DPE. Sometimes, it's done through the school. Sometimes your instructor tells you how to find a DPE and you're on your own from there. Sometimes it's somewhere in the middle. Talk to your instructor about this.
Click to expand...
My DPE had to travel some 40 miles, so my school tried to arrange 2 checkrides that day, they work with each other alot, I was reschedule twice, I never worried about it, since you can solo, take the opportunity to get some more practice in.
 
for my private my instructor set up the checkride.the night before the DPEcalled and asked me to plan a trip i forget exactly where and he gave me his weight and a few mock passengers and luggage we were to taking to make sure i could do weight and balance correctly. i did my instrument training with a different school and they set up everything for me also but instead of getting a callfrom the DPE they told me to plan a trip to kbwi. idk why the DPE didnt want to call me, but it didnt really matter. i think a lot of the flights schools will handle the scheduling part for you
 
I called for my PPL, and then I double checked with my CFI. I guess it depends on the personalities of everyone involved. I made it clear I wasn't stepping on toes, but I have a schedule to work around, also.
 
well, I thought I was scheduled for Friday...turns out the owner of my school changed me with a commercial student because he's got to return to college or something on Monday. *sigh*

I did reach out proactively to the DPE. He said he actually prefers hooking up immediately with the pilot but most schools want to manage that on the backend (at least down here) so they can move candidates around or deal with people that aren't ready or whatever.

I don't know what DPE's are charging in other parts of the country but this guy charges $500 if you fly over to a private strip in his area. For him to drive 30 minutes to my airport he wanted another $100 - so $600 to do a PPL checkride. You have got to be kidding me?

Anyway, at this point I have no idea when I'll get a ride. I'm out for work all next week and this DPE doesn't have availability until 10/2. There's another DPE at an airport about 35 minutes (by air) from me - he charges $400 so by the time I deal with gas, etc... it's around $500 to take a ride with him.

Frustrating...
 
kenjr said:
well, I thought I was scheduled for Friday...turns out the owner of my school changed me with a commercial student because he's got to return to college or something on Monday. *sigh*

I did reach out proactively to the DPE. He said he actually prefers hooking up immediately with the pilot but most schools want to manage that on the backend (at least down here) so they can move candidates around or deal with people that aren't ready or whatever.

I don't know what DPE's are charging in other parts of the country but this guy charges $500 if you fly over to a private strip in his area. For him to drive 30 minutes to my airport he wanted another $100 - so $600 to do a PPL checkride. You have got to be kidding me?

Anyway, at this point I have no idea when I'll get a ride. I'm out for work all next week and this DPE doesn't have availability until 10/2. There's another DPE at an airport about 35 minutes (by air) from me - he charges $400 so by the time I deal with gas, etc... it's around $500 to take a ride with him.

Frustrating...
Click to expand...
Why can't he do 2 in 1 day??
My DPE drove a hr or more, $500, but he wanted to do multiple CRs, ...and extra $100 for a 30 min drive?!? :yikes:
 
Typically all issues when trying to plan for a checkride mine took a month a half .
 
kenjr said:
well, I thought I was scheduled for Friday...turns out the owner of my school changed me with a commercial student because he's got to return to college or something on Monday. *sigh*

I did reach out proactively to the DPE. He said he actually prefers hooking up immediately with the pilot but most schools want to manage that on the backend (at least down here) so they can move candidates around or deal with people that aren't ready or whatever.

I don't know what DPE's are charging in other parts of the country but this guy charges $500 if you fly over to a private strip in his area. For him to drive 30 minutes to my airport he wanted another $100 - so $600 to do a PPL checkride. You have got to be kidding me?

Anyway, at this point I have no idea when I'll get a ride. I'm out for work all next week and this DPE doesn't have availability until 10/2. There's another DPE at an airport about 35 minutes (by air) from me - he charges $400 so by the time I deal with gas, etc... it's around $500 to take a ride with him.

Frustrating...
Click to expand...
$300 is the standard in my area.
 
In Florida, 400-500 was the norm with a possibility to find a DPE for next day normally.
 
I paid $400 for my instrument checkride in February. PPL checkride was 40-50 minutes away, and instrument checkride was 30 minutes away. If you're renting a plane, it would be cheaper if you paid the extra $100 and used someone local, but I wouldn't let that be your main reason for picking one or the other.
 
I cannot for the life me understand why the FAA doesn't regulate this in some way. There's a DPE that came into to do a checkride for a guy today and from last week raised his price $200 freggin dollars. He 'normally' charges $500 but since he had to drive 40 minutes to get to the airport, he charges $200 more (he lives on a private strip that's only a skip away by plane - he 'only' charges $100 if he can fly over...how nice of him). No, I'm not kidding. $700 f'ing dollars for a checkride. The student (a commerical candidate) was told $500 and went and got the owner of the school who came in and said WTF? He's like, yeah I raised them a few weeks ago... She was like, um, you can't just raise your prices and then come in here and tell students that we've already scheduled with you and told them $500 that it's $200 more now.

Sadly, the dude's an old grumpy a-hole to boot. I don't know how you can be grumpy making $1400 a day pointing at sectionals and asking what this or that is and sitting in an airplane telling someone to do a steep turn or a soft field landing.

What a damn racket. And the FAA wonders what's happening to GA?

The DPE I'm using for my PPL charges $400 and is booked 2 a day for the next 3 weeks straight. All cash. Good gig if you can get it. One of the Partners in my plane is a retired SWA captain and inquired with the head of the FAA here in Texas about becoming a DPE...he was told that we have plenty. That's why it's taking me a month to get on someone's schedule and I have to fly 40 minutes to get there.

Gotta love the government...
 
Last edited:
If a DPE pulls a stunt like that, just tell him to sod off and find another one. Its a lucrative business for them, there will be someone who will happily do that checkride without being a grumpy a-hole.
 
kenjr said:
I cannot for the life me understand why the FAA doesn't regulate this in some way. There's a DPE that came into to do a checkride for a guy today and from last week raised his price $200 freggin dollars. He 'normally' charges $500 but since he had to drive 40 minutes to get to the airport, he charges $200 more (he lives on a private strip that's only a skip away by plane - he 'only' charges $100 if he can fly over...how nice of him). No, I'm not kidding. $700 f'ing dollars for a checkride. The student (a commerical candidate) was told $500 and went and got the owner of the school who came in and said WTF? He's like, yeah I raised them a few weeks ago... She was like, um, you can't just raise your prices and then come in here and tell students that we've already scheduled with you and told them $500 that it's $200 more now.

Sadly, the dude's an old grumpy a-hole to boot. I don't know how you can be grumpy making $1400 a day pointing at sectionals and asking what this or that is and sitting in an airplane telling someone to do a steep turn or a soft field landing.

What a damn racket. And the FAA wonders what's happening to GA?

The DPE I'm using for my PPL charges $400 and is booked 2 a day for the next 3 weeks straight. All cash. Good gig if you can get it. One of the Partners in my plane is a retired SWA captain and inquired with the head of the FAA here in Texas about becoming a DPE...he was told that we have plenty. That's why it's taking me a month to get on someone's schedule and I have to fly 40 minutes to get there.

Gotta love the government...
Click to expand...

Where are you?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top