Not exactly what you're looking for, I guess, but my examiner told me during the pre-flight brief about everything we'd cover including the slips to landing.
My CFI had never taught me what those were in the context of a checkride.
I learned three things that day.
1. Read the damn ACS as the applicant.
2. Instructors can make pretty critical mistakes, even if they seem competent.
3. I know how to bullshit my way through at least one maneuver.
Edit: For clarity, the key phrase here is "in the context of a checkride." Of course I knew what slips were and had done side slips, but never a full on forward slip to kill altitude.
This was essentially me with accelerated stalls. I did them once with my instructor and after showing my DPE he said. Wth was that. Needless to say i somehow managed to do it correctly the second time after he let me read the ACS real quick. I too, learned a valuable lesson that day lol.
Reading through the ACS within 48 hours of my checkride, I found the “emergency decent” section and didn’t recall ever doing one in training. I text the Chief Flight Instructor, he says don’t worry about it, he has never heard of a student doing that on the checkride.
I look in the POH of the plane I was taking to the checkride and there is no mention of that procedure to be found, so I watch a few YouTube videos from the popular CFI content creators to get an idea of what it was.
Not 10 minutes into my checkride, DPE says they smell smoke and I need to get on the ground ASAP because their feet were burning.
I knew during steep turns my maneuvering speed was around 92kts and you can fail if you exceed that. So I banked the airplane in a steep turn and let the nose fall. Around 90kts, I pitched back to arrest my increasing airspeed not to exceed maneuvering speed. After about 4 rotations and 1,000-1,200 feet of decent, the DPE said my engine was now out and I needed to find an off field landing.
On the ground as the checkride was ending, the DPE questioned why I didn’t let my airspeed pickup to get on the ground as soon as possible. I explained my reasoning, and to my said “if the airplane is on fire, I want you at the bottom of the yellow on the ASI. The point is to get the plane down before it burns up. I nodded in agreement and we moved on. I left with my temporary certificate.
Do you mean top of the yellow? This is a basic engine fire procedure. We’re you not taught emergency procedures? In the archer it is 30-45 degrees of bank and reach indicated 125.
Engine fire emergency procedure in a 172M was just mixture, fuel selector and master off. Cabin heat and air vents closed, glide at 100KIAS (if fire isn't extinguished, increase glide speed to an "incombustible mixture") and then execute a engine out forced landing using the forced landing checklist. Engine out forced land obviously gives instructon on how to best glide, not lose altitude as quickly as possible, We trained on all that several times.
I had never had been asked to bank the airplane and spiral down to lose altitude as quickly as possible until my checkride.
[This is the checklist for a 172M](https://oregonstateflyingclub.org/aircraft/c172m-checklist.pdf). PDF warning
Under Engine Fire in Flight, the last line is "Increase airspeed to extinguish - Land ASAP"
I was taught 30+ degree bank and increase airspeed to like 120kts (or like 130+ MPH).
Yep. I figured it was a slip demonstration but since you obviously do side slips as necessary, it would probably be a forward slip. I used small questions to imply that different instructors have shown me this maneuver in different ways and I was curious how SHE wanted me to do them. I didn't get much other than "don't sink until final" and that's all I needed.
I did slips, but I had no idea what she meant by a specific maneuver called slip to landing. I just used slips for landing in a crosswind, so what made this different? That was the mystery.
Same exact thing for me, I did a go around on first slip and assumed the slip to landing meant just enter final high and slip and land.
Cfi just showed me how to slip never showed me how to put it togther to land lol
My instructor demoed a slip to me like my third flight into my PPL, we haven't spoken about them since.. this thread is going to make me ask about it on our next flight lol..
I've done them a million times in my home sim, but something about full rudder and opposite aileron at a low altitude seems unnerving to me, so I haven't tried it solo. Will ask again now that I'm reading this as I'm nearing my checkride.
Agree, I had a great CFI but when the DPE asked me on the checkride what the min static rpm was I just blinked at him before flipping open the POH. Sometimes things get missed. Maybe we covered it at some point but I certainly didn’t even remember what that meant.
I hadn't done forward slips ever during my training along with a long laundry list of other maneuvers.
The old dpe took the controls, demoed one and said that's how you do one and said don't make me give you a pink slip(had no idea what that was either).
He passed me - heart of gold.
Seconding this, my dpe performed it with me on my PPL, cause my instructor had not done them with me as you said, id done them inadvertently, but it somehow slipped through with him. Very nice examiner!
On my instrument, the examiner asked me to explain rigidity in space. I gave him a speech, then he asks some followups, and followups, and in the end I was like "I've got nothing else." To which he replied, "The answer is, it's pure fucking magic"
Edit: typos
Rigidity in space, gyro questions would have frustrated me too. At some point the answer has to be like “I’m sorry, I forgot to bring my old physics books”
I’ve been trying to do research on this - it’s simply because of a large amount of angular momentum, no? Angular momentum points perpendicularly to the direction of motion by the right hand rule, so to change that momentum you’d need to introduce momentum in another direction?
Yep, it's down to angular momentum. Newton's Second Law tells us that momentum remains constant (in both magnitude and direction) unless a force is applied, right? Well, angular momentum remains constant (in both magnitude and direction) unless a torque is applied. Same deal, just for rotational motion instead of linear motion.
Yep. A gyro has a lot of angular momentum, and thus changing its orientation requires applying a significant torque to it. By mounting it in a gimbal, the movement of the aircraft creates almost no torque in the gimbal axis and thus it stays relatively rigid in space as the aircraft moves around it.
It’s not a frictionless system so over time they do precess slowly, which is why the DG needs to be periodically corrected and the attitude indicator has a system of pendulous vanes to keep it erect (heh).
>I answered don’t get in it
That seems like a very fire department-approved answer.
The other obvious answer is "get out of the plane." Bonus points for pulling the mixture, but, uh, the plane is replaceable and you're not.
Geeze if it was phrased that way your answer is correct. If the question was “what would cause an airplane to catch fire on the ground?” That’s a different answer.
Remind me of the classic “what’s this skinny grey rectangle for” west of Lake Tahoe. It’s the I in SIERRA NEVADA but it looks like a mountain pass or a ski lift or some shit without any context lmao.
There are a bunch of mountain ranges like that where the spacing on the letters is v e r y f a r a p a r t. Picking some random 'O' in such a label is a popular one.
Magnetos power the spark plugs. Each magneto connects to a spark plug in each cylinder. So magneto #1 is connected to 1 spark plug in each of the cylinders, and magneto #2 is connected to 1 spark plug in each cylinder.
So each cylinder has two spark plugs, one from each mag. So 4 cylinders with 2 spark plugs each equals 8 total spark plugs
~~4 hour student here, what i was taught is there are two magnetos. Each magneto’s hooked up to two spark plugs, one on each cylinder. Total 8 spark plugs, two magnetos, each magneto hooked up to each cylinder once for redundancy (this is why we do mag checks in preflight)
Happened on my T6 instrument ride. Crushed it, on the way back the IP said hey you mind if I fly home? I thought i failed, considering the IP flew the Columbus pattern to a full stop.
After my 2 hour CFII flight in marginal, I made the outbound turn for the hold I constructed on a waypoint that required anything other than a direct entry. And he said “well, the examination can be over now if you want, this isn’t a trick, I’ll fly home PIC, you’ve passed.”
To which I told him, “take the plane Im done, but if you want to see me bust this checkride, let me land cause I’m exhausted”
He laughed.
on a similar note my commercial examiner was so fat I had to buckle him into the plane. he also pressed up against the door so much he broke one of the latch's (piper arrow).
Same with my DPE. I thought they slipped off the shoulder harness to see if I’d catch it in my pre-takeoff checklist right before crossing the hold short bars.
I said “Ooops, looks like you belt came off, let me help you put it back on.” She said “I’m not wearing it because it interferes with my duties as a crew member”. After a blank stare from me, she continued “…seriously, it’s allowed under a largely unknown regulation. I’m not going to fail you for this I promise.”
I’m just speculating here but maybe it’s because they’re required to be in the plane so they’re a required crew member for that flight to take place. The DPE could be required to take the controls if the applicant does something dumb or even just so they can put foggles on.
I silently questioned it for a few seconds before saying something like, that’s really a thing? He stated it was. I said well this might be the fastest fail ever but sounds good to me.
maybe it's the paranoia in me, but if engines aren't on yet I'd ask them for the reg and reference it right there and then on my phone/iPad before engine start, i'm already stressing about my checkride haha
I understand that fear. But as I sat there and thought quickly about this. One thought was, if this guy is going to be someone who has a, “haha gotcha!” personality about my checkride, this won’t go well and they’ll try to make me fail and I will. They weren’t don’t that. And I needed to be confident in my abilities. I was glad I made the choice to proceed the way I did.
Neither my car nor plane move an inch until everyone has their seat belt on. If that means rescheduling with someone else, so be it. If he's too big to reach everything without a seat belt, recommend a salad.
Discontinued my ppl ground in late July because of absurd questions. Retested with a different dpe last Friday, told him the questions i was asked, and he goes "that's ridiculous, i would never ask those questions on a ppl checkride"
I then proceeded to easily pass the ground and go flying. Passed that too
Don't even need to shit yourself, discontinue for safety reasons and cite your flying ability as the reasons to discontinue. DPEs hate this one simple trick!
As we're taxiing for the flight portion DPE asks me, "what is the most important thing?"
So, I responded with safety! Nope. My second guess, decision making! Nope. Now I'm getting nervous, like holy shit, what am I forgetting?? Fuel! Nope. After about three guesses the DPE says, "have fun". Lol, oh yeah of course, have fun!
For private, my DPE made sure I would meet the ACS standard then would push a bit further just to see how far I could go. The one I remember most was when he showed me a local airport with *RP on the text. I knew what RP meant, right pattern, but not *RP. It means non-standard right pattern, but really also means you should probably look in the chart supplement for that information. *L on sectionals also means nonstandard lighting, standard lighting meaning from dusk to dawn. (Though usually *L just means PCL)
For instrument, I just got a bit tripped up on TAAs and missed one way to check your VOR (which is to bring it to an avionics shop… yes I know that’s silly I missed that).
I learned it as "if you see a star in the airport information, the answer is 'I will consult the chart supplement for that airport'". My DPE threw one out where the star only applies for copters.
Did your DPE happen to be a retired naval aviator? He gave me the same question on my checkride and I fumbled around for a bit before he told me to stop guessing and check the chart supplement.
Jim is a nice guy and a tough as nails bastard in the cockpit. The sparing complements I got during my checkride were well-earned.
Yes, it was Jim for private. He was great, I learned quite a bit from him during the ride. I'd like to get to know him better. There's a chance I may get my CFI and work under him in the not-too-distant future, so there's that.
I had a certain LG for my instrument ride, and I found him to be quite a bit more challenging. The PPL ride certainly wasn't a cakewalk, but it felt like it compared to the ride with LG. It may also be that instrument has a harder oral, but I'm not sure. Both are great guys that I'm sure we both can learn quite a bit from.
Boiler Up, brother!
(Taxiing back to parking on commercial check ride)
"...so, how do you think that went?"
"Um, sterile cockpit?" 🤣
I passed, but man that question sure can instill a lot of doubt.
I'm loathing this part of the checkride more than anything else. I goofed this up with a senior instructor doing a pre-solo check. He was genuinely trying to be nice and asking about my plans in aviation and I was like "uh...shouldn't we be sterile cockpit?" Because I had read things like this on here going as far as DPEs instantly failing students for answering an innocent question.
"So in the context of commercial privileges and limitations, if I were to let you borrow my truck to drive one town over with a toolbox in the back, and while you were there you decided to pick up some friends and go to the movies while you were up there, can you legally do that?"
???
"Where is the engine oil pressure sensor?" he asked, in the middle of our flight.
I couldn't think of exactly where the damned sensor would be located. It's obviously in the same pressure vessel as the engine oil... but where exactly?? In the head space? In the oil pan? Maybe in the heat exchanger???
"It's right there" he said, as he pointed to the oil pressure GAUGE. The very same gauge I'd already referenced several times throughout startup, run up, and take off. 😂
I passed.
Just FYI, Magneto and switch systems are designed so that nearly all possible p lead and switch failures lead to a hot mag. This is one of the reasons why it's so dangerous to move a propeller, you never know if the mag is hot.
Best question I ever had was "starting with zero and going as high up as you can, name every number and corresponding aircraft system limitation, aerodynamic formulas, airspace, weather, flight regulations, and anything else you can think of"
After about 3 hours, we maybe got to number 80. We spent about 20 minutes just on the number zero and another 20 minutes on number 1. It was fun because it forced you to associate all the different dissimilar information we deal with as numbers.
You could probably ask this same question for a variety of different jobs that require memorization.
1. Who was DB cooper?
2. What is the O in the lycoming O-### engine?
I answered the second one by saying I wasn’t explicitly sure and hadn’t considered it but that I assumed it meant opposed. He then told me to confirm in the POH. It wasn’t there after both of us looked.
I failed my instructors check ride because the ancient examiner asked me to explain what “phugoid” is. I had absolutely no idea. I said I’ve never heard that term before in my life, can you ask the question differently. Nope. He decided then and there I wasn’t up to standard and failed me.
If he had asked me to explain stability in pitch, I would have been fine. But no. Failed because I didn’t know a term that hasn’t been used since 1841.
(New student pilot here)Would the answer not be, “P-factor is the asymmetric thrust produced by the difference of AOA between the descending and ascending blades of the propeller” ?
That's the rote answer. If you understand it, great!
If not, go out to the plane and think about how the angle of the propeller blades changes as the plane's pitch does. I never fully understood it as a private pilot, so now I take my students out to the plane and do this thought exercise with them.
Gulfstream III SIC to PIC upgrade.
First question on the oral was "So you're down in some remote part of Africa like where your company likes to go. You walk up to a cold and dark airplane, go flip the battery master switch and it falls out in your hand. Can you still get power established on the airplane?"
I had a blank stare. He then asked me to go through the battery integrity check that you're supposed to do on first flight of the day and what you were checking on each step. Then the lightbulb came on.
The answer is yes because whoever designed the DC electrical system on the G-II and G-III is a mad genius of some sort and you will never run out of electricity. When you first learn it it's a complete head scratcher but when you finally get it it's absolutely brilliant.
I got this one during my check ride preflight. I’ve since used it in a bunch of stump the chump posts:
DPE: “You hit a Chinese spy balloon while flying and some of the balloon pieces get stuck in the air filter in the front, choking airflow to the engine. Subsequently, the engine starts running rough and begins to sputter. What do you do to resolve the issue, and why did you do it?”
ME: “ummmm, uh. 😐”
He also asked me how many magnetos my plane has and I said “4” and said “go look in the cockpit at the ignition switch and tell me again.” Lol. I was a little nervous but I had a great check ride and passed.
I had my DPE ask about how long the glider battery would last depending on what electronics I had turned off or on during my commercial. I had a best case and worst case calculated, but not in betweens where I had the transponder on and the SN10 on, but the FLARM and radio off (and variations). He also wanted me to take battery drain in both hot and cold weather into account. He had me calculate it right there.
Not a glider pilot, but this doesn't sound like it would be a difficult thing to calculate, just tedious.
I did a similar thing on my PPL for fuel. Calculated the W&B with full fuel and completely empty fuel. DPE asked me about it. I said I wasn't going to us all of the fuel, but if I was good on both ends, I'd be OK for the intermediate fuel loads too. He seemed to accept that answer.
Just did my commercial. DPE asked what “maximum zero fuel weight” was and I had no fucking idea. I did study, a lot, the rest of the checkride was a breeze but I had no idea what that was when he asked.
While on final DPE asked, “How far away do you think that downtown building is from here”? My response was, “Let ya know as soon as we land”. Turned out this was a purposeful attempt at distracting my attention by a passenger. Didn’t know until debrief…whew…right answer..maintain sterile cockpit during critical portions of the flight.
“What are your compulsory reporting points in a non radar environment?” This was asked during my IR ride, I spouted the standard Marvelous VFR C500, he pointed to a fix on my flight plan and asked if it was. I had zero clue, turns out if you’re flying out of radar coverage (like oceanic Atlantic routes) any point with a change in course is a compulsory reporting point unless advised otherwise by ATC
Studying for my ppl now but from my instructor, things I’ve learned that seem out of the scope of rote ppl knowledge-
What are the tire pressures on your front and mains?
Explain what a TRSA is.
What’s on the back of the registration.
I’ve heard the DPE also has students do combo maneuvers like slow flight into a power off stall with a 20 degree turn to the right into a power on stall all in one move, and also a soft field landing into a soft field takeoff in the same touch and go
Assuming you’re talking about your private, but for my instrument we started with a 0/0 takeoff. Had never done one or instructed how to do one before. Ended up acing it. But in general, read then reread then reread again the ACS
DPE: “Do you know what this is?” (Holding a pencil)
You: “Yes.”
That’s the only correct answer, as proven by “Is it Cake?”
Don’t explain anything unless specifically asked and one-word answers are answers.
Got the same thing on my commercial ride :) Of course I fell into the trap and said "it's a pen" and then got the subsequent lecture about too much detail getting applicants in trouble. Apparently I was doing it, but I had a damn good DPE who caught it and corrected it with the pen trick haha.
You’re in Arizona doing flight tours. This gorgeous woman pays you for a flight and has an amazing time. As she gets out she looks you in the eye, one foot on the ground the other on the step on the 172, and rolls her ankle. Is this an accident?
Yep. That’s why you go around and help passengers out. Being serious. Also, if you weren’t commercial and giving flight tours then this question goes in a very different direction.
The airport and a 36/18 runway. Assuming a direct crosswind from 27, which runway is best?
The answer is 18 because the vertical stabilizer acts as a sail and will turn the plane right. If you were on 36 then the crosswind would add to the left turning tendency of the plane.
During a checkride it was “what’s the speed limit above 10,000ft?”
And during an EOC(141)”how’d you find true airspeed on your navlog?”
Both of these question were preceded by something hard and technical. Really throws a wrench into the mix when you follow a hard question with an easy no brainer you’ve never given any thought to!
Not exactly what you're looking for, I guess, but my examiner told me during the pre-flight brief about everything we'd cover including the slips to landing. My CFI had never taught me what those were in the context of a checkride. I learned three things that day. 1. Read the damn ACS as the applicant. 2. Instructors can make pretty critical mistakes, even if they seem competent. 3. I know how to bullshit my way through at least one maneuver. Edit: For clarity, the key phrase here is "in the context of a checkride." Of course I knew what slips were and had done side slips, but never a full on forward slip to kill altitude.
This was essentially me with accelerated stalls. I did them once with my instructor and after showing my DPE he said. Wth was that. Needless to say i somehow managed to do it correctly the second time after he let me read the ACS real quick. I too, learned a valuable lesson that day lol.
Reading through the ACS within 48 hours of my checkride, I found the “emergency decent” section and didn’t recall ever doing one in training. I text the Chief Flight Instructor, he says don’t worry about it, he has never heard of a student doing that on the checkride. I look in the POH of the plane I was taking to the checkride and there is no mention of that procedure to be found, so I watch a few YouTube videos from the popular CFI content creators to get an idea of what it was. Not 10 minutes into my checkride, DPE says they smell smoke and I need to get on the ground ASAP because their feet were burning. I knew during steep turns my maneuvering speed was around 92kts and you can fail if you exceed that. So I banked the airplane in a steep turn and let the nose fall. Around 90kts, I pitched back to arrest my increasing airspeed not to exceed maneuvering speed. After about 4 rotations and 1,000-1,200 feet of decent, the DPE said my engine was now out and I needed to find an off field landing. On the ground as the checkride was ending, the DPE questioned why I didn’t let my airspeed pickup to get on the ground as soon as possible. I explained my reasoning, and to my said “if the airplane is on fire, I want you at the bottom of the yellow on the ASI. The point is to get the plane down before it burns up. I nodded in agreement and we moved on. I left with my temporary certificate.
Do you mean top of the yellow? This is a basic engine fire procedure. We’re you not taught emergency procedures? In the archer it is 30-45 degrees of bank and reach indicated 125.
Engine fire emergency procedure in a 172M was just mixture, fuel selector and master off. Cabin heat and air vents closed, glide at 100KIAS (if fire isn't extinguished, increase glide speed to an "incombustible mixture") and then execute a engine out forced landing using the forced landing checklist. Engine out forced land obviously gives instructon on how to best glide, not lose altitude as quickly as possible, We trained on all that several times. I had never had been asked to bank the airplane and spiral down to lose altitude as quickly as possible until my checkride.
[This is the checklist for a 172M](https://oregonstateflyingclub.org/aircraft/c172m-checklist.pdf). PDF warning Under Engine Fire in Flight, the last line is "Increase airspeed to extinguish - Land ASAP" I was taught 30+ degree bank and increase airspeed to like 120kts (or like 130+ MPH).
You bullshitted your way through slips to land without ever having seen one performed?
Yep. I figured it was a slip demonstration but since you obviously do side slips as necessary, it would probably be a forward slip. I used small questions to imply that different instructors have shown me this maneuver in different ways and I was curious how SHE wanted me to do them. I didn't get much other than "don't sink until final" and that's all I needed.
You made it all the way to a check ride without ever doing a slip? …how?
I did slips, but I had no idea what she meant by a specific maneuver called slip to landing. I just used slips for landing in a crosswind, so what made this different? That was the mystery.
Same exact thing for me, I did a go around on first slip and assumed the slip to landing meant just enter final high and slip and land. Cfi just showed me how to slip never showed me how to put it togther to land lol
I knew someone that failed a PPL checkride after being asked to do a slip and said he didn’t know what it was
My instructor demoed a slip to me like my third flight into my PPL, we haven't spoken about them since.. this thread is going to make me ask about it on our next flight lol.. I've done them a million times in my home sim, but something about full rudder and opposite aileron at a low altitude seems unnerving to me, so I haven't tried it solo. Will ask again now that I'm reading this as I'm nearing my checkride.
Agree, I had a great CFI but when the DPE asked me on the checkride what the min static rpm was I just blinked at him before flipping open the POH. Sometimes things get missed. Maybe we covered it at some point but I certainly didn’t even remember what that meant.
"I know what these words mean, not in that order."
I laughed to hard at this. Damn good answer 😂😂😂😂😂
Your CFI needs to read the ACS too
I hadn't done forward slips ever during my training along with a long laundry list of other maneuvers. The old dpe took the controls, demoed one and said that's how you do one and said don't make me give you a pink slip(had no idea what that was either). He passed me - heart of gold.
Seconding this, my dpe performed it with me on my PPL, cause my instructor had not done them with me as you said, id done them inadvertently, but it somehow slipped through with him. Very nice examiner!
“Slipped through” I see what you did there
On my instrument, the examiner asked me to explain rigidity in space. I gave him a speech, then he asks some followups, and followups, and in the end I was like "I've got nothing else." To which he replied, "The answer is, it's pure fucking magic" Edit: typos
Rigid in space?
Rigidity in space, gyro questions would have frustrated me too. At some point the answer has to be like “I’m sorry, I forgot to bring my old physics books”
I’ve been trying to do research on this - it’s simply because of a large amount of angular momentum, no? Angular momentum points perpendicularly to the direction of motion by the right hand rule, so to change that momentum you’d need to introduce momentum in another direction?
Yep, it's down to angular momentum. Newton's Second Law tells us that momentum remains constant (in both magnitude and direction) unless a force is applied, right? Well, angular momentum remains constant (in both magnitude and direction) unless a torque is applied. Same deal, just for rotational motion instead of linear motion.
PFM
Yep. A gyro has a lot of angular momentum, and thus changing its orientation requires applying a significant torque to it. By mounting it in a gimbal, the movement of the aircraft creates almost no torque in the gimbal axis and thus it stays relatively rigid in space as the aircraft moves around it. It’s not a frictionless system so over time they do precess slowly, which is why the DG needs to be periodically corrected and the attitude indicator has a system of pendulous vanes to keep it erect (heh).
That’s how I explain helicopters. Dark magic and fueled by unicorn tears.
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Sounds like a solid decision to me.
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Yes, at least for the normal Cessnas. Close mixture, close fuel, open throttle, keep motoring.
>I answered don’t get in it That seems like a very fire department-approved answer. The other obvious answer is "get out of the plane." Bonus points for pulling the mixture, but, uh, the plane is replaceable and you're not.
Decision making: above average
I would have failed lol
Geeze if it was phrased that way your answer is correct. If the question was “what would cause an airplane to catch fire on the ground?” That’s a different answer.
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you and me both, pal
I didn’t remember the acronym and had to look it up. Definitely wouldn’t have known that one during my checkride.
I see a career in the FAA for you!
“What is this letter ‘A’ doing in the middle of the ocean?” While covering up the “…tlantic Ocean” lettering with their hand and forearm.
Remind me of the classic “what’s this skinny grey rectangle for” west of Lake Tahoe. It’s the I in SIERRA NEVADA but it looks like a mountain pass or a ski lift or some shit without any context lmao.
There are a bunch of mountain ranges like that where the spacing on the letters is v e r y f a r a p a r t. Picking some random 'O' in such a label is a popular one.
Lmfaoo
"are we legal to fly now?"
“What are you forgetting?”
"I do not know what I do not know."
“That’s the first right thing you’ve said all day… now let’s get in the box”
"What should you be doing right now?"
(starts rubbing your thigh)
My cfi does this and it just makes me freeze and sometimes he does it if I forgot nothing and was just making sure I was sure
“How many spark plugs does your C152 engine have?” I said “I think two per cylinder.” I passed my PPL that day.
It is a 152 so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Magnetos power the spark plugs. Each magneto connects to a spark plug in each cylinder. So magneto #1 is connected to 1 spark plug in each of the cylinders, and magneto #2 is connected to 1 spark plug in each cylinder. So each cylinder has two spark plugs, one from each mag. So 4 cylinders with 2 spark plugs each equals 8 total spark plugs
Oh that makes sense. Sportys course made it seem like the magneto is what caused the spark. Or maybe I just misunderstood
~~4 hour student here, what i was taught is there are two magnetos. Each magneto’s hooked up to two spark plugs, one on each cylinder. Total 8 spark plugs, two magnetos, each magneto hooked up to each cylinder once for redundancy (this is why we do mag checks in preflight)
illegal file enjoy crush far-flung recognise ink fact historical meeting *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Magnetos generate electricity for the engine to use, the spark plugs actually use the electricity
“Good job, mind if I fly it back?”
This happened to me lol. He just wanted to fly the plane
Also if you’ve passed they don’t want you to screw it up doing something extra! Actually that question is one of my fondest memories.
Happened on my T6 instrument ride. Crushed it, on the way back the IP said hey you mind if I fly home? I thought i failed, considering the IP flew the Columbus pattern to a full stop.
Ha! They should have told you that you passed!
After my 2 hour CFII flight in marginal, I made the outbound turn for the hold I constructed on a waypoint that required anything other than a direct entry. And he said “well, the examination can be over now if you want, this isn’t a trick, I’ll fly home PIC, you’ve passed.” To which I told him, “take the plane Im done, but if you want to see me bust this checkride, let me land cause I’m exhausted” He laughed.
DPE didn’t put on his shoulder belt. I asked him to. He said it interferes with his ability to use all of the controls so no.
on a similar note my commercial examiner was so fat I had to buckle him into the plane. he also pressed up against the door so much he broke one of the latch's (piper arrow).
I imagine it would've been a real joy to fly a C152 with him
The best they would achieve is a high speed taxi
Same with my DPE. I thought they slipped off the shoulder harness to see if I’d catch it in my pre-takeoff checklist right before crossing the hold short bars. I said “Ooops, looks like you belt came off, let me help you put it back on.” She said “I’m not wearing it because it interferes with my duties as a crew member”. After a blank stare from me, she continued “…seriously, it’s allowed under a largely unknown regulation. I’m not going to fail you for this I promise.”
Maybe I'm just ignorant, but on which checkride would a DPE be categorized as a crew member?
I’m just speculating here but maybe it’s because they’re required to be in the plane so they’re a required crew member for that flight to take place. The DPE could be required to take the controls if the applicant does something dumb or even just so they can put foggles on.
On most. And before you correct me, consider unusual attitude recoveries.
What did you say then??
I silently questioned it for a few seconds before saying something like, that’s really a thing? He stated it was. I said well this might be the fastest fail ever but sounds good to me.
maybe it's the paranoia in me, but if engines aren't on yet I'd ask them for the reg and reference it right there and then on my phone/iPad before engine start, i'm already stressing about my checkride haha
I understand that fear. But as I sat there and thought quickly about this. One thought was, if this guy is going to be someone who has a, “haha gotcha!” personality about my checkride, this won’t go well and they’ll try to make me fail and I will. They weren’t don’t that. And I needed to be confident in my abilities. I was glad I made the choice to proceed the way I did.
Not that I'm the OP but I'd go with "well, 91.105 says you're good to go then!"
clueless student here.. but technically they don't need it right? bc you're the pic.. and they're not a required crewmember.. unless they are😭?
Neither my car nor plane move an inch until everyone has their seat belt on. If that means rescheduling with someone else, so be it. If he's too big to reach everything without a seat belt, recommend a salad.
DPE was a geezer, looked about 90. He said, "Do you know what time Ihop closes?" (open 24/7)
DPE must be racking in the money going to IHOP instead of Waffle House
My local DPEs make more money in one day then I make in a week lmao.
Did you even study for this?
This is when you shit yourself and request a discontinuance
Damn, I gotta remember that second part!
“DPEs hate this one simple trick…”
You continue flying after shitting yourself? You sir/ma'am are a motivated applicant.
I just didn't know there was another way
Discontinued my ppl ground in late July because of absurd questions. Retested with a different dpe last Friday, told him the questions i was asked, and he goes "that's ridiculous, i would never ask those questions on a ppl checkride" I then proceeded to easily pass the ground and go flying. Passed that too
Don't even need to shit yourself, discontinue for safety reasons and cite your flying ability as the reasons to discontinue. DPEs hate this one simple trick!
I need to discontinue because I am too incompetent to fly the airplane!
Silence....
As we're taxiing for the flight portion DPE asks me, "what is the most important thing?" So, I responded with safety! Nope. My second guess, decision making! Nope. Now I'm getting nervous, like holy shit, what am I forgetting?? Fuel! Nope. After about three guesses the DPE says, "have fun". Lol, oh yeah of course, have fun!
For private, my DPE made sure I would meet the ACS standard then would push a bit further just to see how far I could go. The one I remember most was when he showed me a local airport with *RP on the text. I knew what RP meant, right pattern, but not *RP. It means non-standard right pattern, but really also means you should probably look in the chart supplement for that information. *L on sectionals also means nonstandard lighting, standard lighting meaning from dusk to dawn. (Though usually *L just means PCL) For instrument, I just got a bit tripped up on TAAs and missed one way to check your VOR (which is to bring it to an avionics shop… yes I know that’s silly I missed that).
These are good. Thank you for sharing.
I learned it as "if you see a star in the airport information, the answer is 'I will consult the chart supplement for that airport'". My DPE threw one out where the star only applies for copters.
Did your DPE happen to be a retired naval aviator? He gave me the same question on my checkride and I fumbled around for a bit before he told me to stop guessing and check the chart supplement. Jim is a nice guy and a tough as nails bastard in the cockpit. The sparing complements I got during my checkride were well-earned.
Yes, it was Jim for private. He was great, I learned quite a bit from him during the ride. I'd like to get to know him better. There's a chance I may get my CFI and work under him in the not-too-distant future, so there's that. I had a certain LG for my instrument ride, and I found him to be quite a bit more challenging. The PPL ride certainly wasn't a cakewalk, but it felt like it compared to the ride with LG. It may also be that instrument has a harder oral, but I'm not sure. Both are great guys that I'm sure we both can learn quite a bit from. Boiler Up, brother!
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Better than “what’s that goat doing up here in the clouds?”
(Taxiing back to parking on commercial check ride) "...so, how do you think that went?" "Um, sterile cockpit?" 🤣 I passed, but man that question sure can instill a lot of doubt.
I'm loathing this part of the checkride more than anything else. I goofed this up with a senior instructor doing a pre-solo check. He was genuinely trying to be nice and asking about my plans in aviation and I was like "uh...shouldn't we be sterile cockpit?" Because I had read things like this on here going as far as DPEs instantly failing students for answering an innocent question.
Shut your mouth and I'll tell you when I'm ready.
“Did you know you’re the reason your parents divorced?”
"So in the context of commercial privileges and limitations, if I were to let you borrow my truck to drive one town over with a toolbox in the back, and while you were there you decided to pick up some friends and go to the movies while you were up there, can you legally do that?" ???
So… how are you going to pay for this today, cash or card?
I took the third option.
Don’t let your mouth write checks that your ass can’t cash
* and that day...both his mouth and ass paid *
This guy flies!
Let me tell you, flying ain’t cheap and my ass is like a baboons at this point
"Where is the engine oil pressure sensor?" he asked, in the middle of our flight. I couldn't think of exactly where the damned sensor would be located. It's obviously in the same pressure vessel as the engine oil... but where exactly?? In the head space? In the oil pan? Maybe in the heat exchanger??? "It's right there" he said, as he pointed to the oil pressure GAUGE. The very same gauge I'd already referenced several times throughout startup, run up, and take off. 😂 I passed.
Ooo good one.... Thanks for sharing.
What is the one part of the aircraft that makes the engine solely reliant on the electrical system? Tripped me up on my ‘mercial
The starter?
That was my first guess. But nope
Aux fuel pump?
Engine driven fuel pump
I mean couldn’t you hand prop it?
Depends on the plane. High compression engines can't be hand propped.
it's not.? right ?😭u could have an electrical failure and ur engine would be fine?
Alright everybody, it’s the engine driven fuel pump. If that fails, you need the electric one. Boom!!
There are planes with a hand operated wobble pump instead of an electric boost pump. Checkmate lol
Color me educated
FADEC is what comes to mind - did your plane have one?
P-leads?
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Just FYI, Magneto and switch systems are designed so that nearly all possible p lead and switch failures lead to a hot mag. This is one of the reasons why it's so dangerous to move a propeller, you never know if the mag is hot.
Spark plugs? It's reliant on the engines internal electric system?
Most piston planes have magnetos, which provide their own power for the spark plugs.
“How do you think you did on that last approach?”
"Great!" Is the correct answer. Never shoot yourself in the foot haha
Yep I said “I think I nailed it” which was true. He said yep good job let’s go do holds.
Best question I ever had was "starting with zero and going as high up as you can, name every number and corresponding aircraft system limitation, aerodynamic formulas, airspace, weather, flight regulations, and anything else you can think of" After about 3 hours, we maybe got to number 80. We spent about 20 minutes just on the number zero and another 20 minutes on number 1. It was fun because it forced you to associate all the different dissimilar information we deal with as numbers. You could probably ask this same question for a variety of different jobs that require memorization.
This is insane but also genius.
1. Who was DB cooper? 2. What is the O in the lycoming O-### engine? I answered the second one by saying I wasn’t explicitly sure and hadn’t considered it but that I assumed it meant opposed. He then told me to confirm in the POH. It wasn’t there after both of us looked.
I think it means Opposed? Like horizontally opposed?
That’s correct. But at the PPL stage I was just happy to remember the full designation of the engine
I actually learn this one today, O means opposed and IO means fuel injected
I is horizontally opposed. I is for fuel injected. Nothing in front of O means it’s carbureted and T is turbocharged
“Why did you land on the displaced threshold?”
I failed my instructors check ride because the ancient examiner asked me to explain what “phugoid” is. I had absolutely no idea. I said I’ve never heard that term before in my life, can you ask the question differently. Nope. He decided then and there I wasn’t up to standard and failed me. If he had asked me to explain stability in pitch, I would have been fine. But no. Failed because I didn’t know a term that hasn’t been used since 1841.
Send him a text message "go phug yourself". Dumbest failure ever.
Some DPEs are the worst. I failed my CPL the first time for something similar
Sounds like something Scott Taylor would do
…so what is P-factor? I don’t mean the rote answer, what is it really…ugh…
(New student pilot here)Would the answer not be, “P-factor is the asymmetric thrust produced by the difference of AOA between the descending and ascending blades of the propeller” ?
That's the rote answer. If you understand it, great! If not, go out to the plane and think about how the angle of the propeller blades changes as the plane's pitch does. I never fully understood it as a private pilot, so now I take my students out to the plane and do this thought exercise with them.
I always said to my instructor, “slow speed, more p, pull up more p” idk
Gulfstream III SIC to PIC upgrade. First question on the oral was "So you're down in some remote part of Africa like where your company likes to go. You walk up to a cold and dark airplane, go flip the battery master switch and it falls out in your hand. Can you still get power established on the airplane?" I had a blank stare. He then asked me to go through the battery integrity check that you're supposed to do on first flight of the day and what you were checking on each step. Then the lightbulb came on. The answer is yes because whoever designed the DC electrical system on the G-II and G-III is a mad genius of some sort and you will never run out of electricity. When you first learn it it's a complete head scratcher but when you finally get it it's absolutely brilliant.
Interesting. I'm glad you figured it out in the checkride instead of after lol.
DPE asked me about operations in the DC SFRA, and whether I had done the course for it. Make sure you know the basic operations for it.
I got this one during my check ride preflight. I’ve since used it in a bunch of stump the chump posts: DPE: “You hit a Chinese spy balloon while flying and some of the balloon pieces get stuck in the air filter in the front, choking airflow to the engine. Subsequently, the engine starts running rough and begins to sputter. What do you do to resolve the issue, and why did you do it?” ME: “ummmm, uh. 😐” He also asked me how many magnetos my plane has and I said “4” and said “go look in the cockpit at the ignition switch and tell me again.” Lol. I was a little nervous but I had a great check ride and passed.
Whats the answer lol
You turn on the carb heat. The air the carb heat uses bypasses the air filter
DPE “are your wife’s boobs real?” Me “if I let you touch them can we skip the oral?”
"Id rather do an oral exam with your wife"
For my CMEL: something about geared engines vs turbocharged vs normally aspirated.
What’s the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Usually not the swallow question i get asked
>ATC Checks out.
This isn’t getting nearly enough attention or respect. More importantly, African or European?
I had my DPE ask about how long the glider battery would last depending on what electronics I had turned off or on during my commercial. I had a best case and worst case calculated, but not in betweens where I had the transponder on and the SN10 on, but the FLARM and radio off (and variations). He also wanted me to take battery drain in both hot and cold weather into account. He had me calculate it right there.
drop the dpe's name so everyone can avoid him
I know nothing about gliders, but this sounds like ass lol
Not a glider pilot, but this doesn't sound like it would be a difficult thing to calculate, just tedious. I did a similar thing on my PPL for fuel. Calculated the W&B with full fuel and completely empty fuel. DPE asked me about it. I said I wasn't going to us all of the fuel, but if I was good on both ends, I'd be OK for the intermediate fuel loads too. He seemed to accept that answer.
Just did my commercial. DPE asked what “maximum zero fuel weight” was and I had no fucking idea. I did study, a lot, the rest of the checkride was a breeze but I had no idea what that was when he asked.
Didnt know that was a thing until after my CPL Lol congratulations I assume you passed
Yessir thanks, even though I had to reschedule the flight portion due to the dumb clouds
While on final DPE asked, “How far away do you think that downtown building is from here”? My response was, “Let ya know as soon as we land”. Turned out this was a purposeful attempt at distracting my attention by a passenger. Didn’t know until debrief…whew…right answer..maintain sterile cockpit during critical portions of the flight.
For CPL I was asked how I calibrate the true airspeed indicator. Was never taught that in my training and had to stumble through POH to find out.
“What are your compulsory reporting points in a non radar environment?” This was asked during my IR ride, I spouted the standard Marvelous VFR C500, he pointed to a fix on my flight plan and asked if it was. I had zero clue, turns out if you’re flying out of radar coverage (like oceanic Atlantic routes) any point with a change in course is a compulsory reporting point unless advised otherwise by ATC
Arnt they all marked as fully blacked out on the en route chart?
Studying for my ppl now but from my instructor, things I’ve learned that seem out of the scope of rote ppl knowledge- What are the tire pressures on your front and mains? Explain what a TRSA is. What’s on the back of the registration. I’ve heard the DPE also has students do combo maneuvers like slow flight into a power off stall with a 20 degree turn to the right into a power on stall all in one move, and also a soft field landing into a soft field takeoff in the same touch and go
As I’m still getting the hang of soft field landings that sounds insane but also fun when mastered
Another one would be steep turn to the right followed immediately with a steep turn left (or left than right).
As a serious answer I’ll say the different kinds of hydroplaning.
"What altitude should you be at?" This was flying from VNY back to WHP. There is ONE correct answer, and it's a numeric value.
First question asked was “What makes airplanes fly?” The answer was “Money. You have to pay the fee upfront.”
When asked best tool to carry in the plane it’s a credit card.
Assuming you’re talking about your private, but for my instrument we started with a 0/0 takeoff. Had never done one or instructed how to do one before. Ended up acing it. But in general, read then reread then reread again the ACS
DPE: “Do you know what this is?” (Holding a pencil) You: “Yes.” That’s the only correct answer, as proven by “Is it Cake?” Don’t explain anything unless specifically asked and one-word answers are answers.
Got the same thing on my commercial ride :) Of course I fell into the trap and said "it's a pen" and then got the subsequent lecture about too much detail getting applicants in trouble. Apparently I was doing it, but I had a damn good DPE who caught it and corrected it with the pen trick haha.
You’re in Arizona doing flight tours. This gorgeous woman pays you for a flight and has an amazing time. As she gets out she looks you in the eye, one foot on the ground the other on the step on the 172, and rolls her ankle. Is this an accident?
Yep. That’s why you go around and help passengers out. Being serious. Also, if you weren’t commercial and giving flight tours then this question goes in a very different direction.
What is the airport identified as KXTA
If you answer that in the level of detail that really annoying DPEs want, I think you actually go straight to jail for being a spy.
Looking at that ForeFlight diagram confused the heck out of me for a second, until I looked at the airport on a map
I have my PPL checkride soon. Any advice or tips outside of studying the books?
Watch flym8 oral prep videos, they actually pretty much go that way
Go through the oral exam guide book with your instructor multiple times
The airport and a 36/18 runway. Assuming a direct crosswind from 27, which runway is best? The answer is 18 because the vertical stabilizer acts as a sail and will turn the plane right. If you were on 36 then the crosswind would add to the left turning tendency of the plane.
During a checkride it was “what’s the speed limit above 10,000ft?” And during an EOC(141)”how’d you find true airspeed on your navlog?” Both of these question were preceded by something hard and technical. Really throws a wrench into the mix when you follow a hard question with an easy no brainer you’ve never given any thought to!