Van's Air Force
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Commercial/CFI checkrides in an RV?
- Thread starter BobTurner
- Start date
rocketbob
Well Known Member
DPE's may refuse to take checkrides in experimentals. My go-to DPE is not comfortable doing instrument checkrides in glass panel RV's, due to differing buttonology and difficulty setting up partial-panel. He's comfortable with steam panels and that's what I did mine in. With the change this week for commercial and CFI checkrides I would imagine he would be comfortable doing them in a RV, glass or not.
On the IACRA form you use EXHIB-EXPER-DOM for the aircraft.
On the IACRA form you use EXHIB-EXPER-DOM for the aircraft.
Auburntsts
Well Known Member
Just to be clear, this change to the ACS only eliminates the need to use a complex airplane on the checkride. You still have to log 10 hours of complex time IAW 61.129.
jcaplins
Well Known Member
This seemed too good to be true when I read the FAA email this morning.
When I lived in VA and was getting my commercial, there were no retract aircraft for rent in the local area. The nearest one was a 3 hour drive away. This of course made it much more expensive and inconvenient. This is 1 of the reasons I stopped perusing the CFI after getting the commercial.
I live in CA now, and the cost to rent a complex is still ridiculously high and the thought of it is even worse when I now have a flying RV. I might just peruse the cfi ticket again.
When I lived in VA and was getting my commercial, there were no retract aircraft for rent in the local area. The nearest one was a 3 hour drive away. This of course made it much more expensive and inconvenient. This is 1 of the reasons I stopped perusing the CFI after getting the commercial.
I live in CA now, and the cost to rent a complex is still ridiculously high and the thought of it is even worse when I now have a flying RV. I might just peruse the cfi ticket again.
Excellent News
When I did my instrument check ride (in my RV-6a), my DPE said that he would be happy to do my commercial check ride in two aircraft so that I could do the maneuvers in the RV. Now, we can do it all in the RV! My commercial ticket should be right around the corner!
When I did my instrument check ride (in my RV-6a), my DPE said that he would be happy to do my commercial check ride in two aircraft so that I could do the maneuvers in the RV. Now, we can do it all in the RV! My commercial ticket should be right around the corner!
This is correct. So I suspect much of the benefit will be to CFI applicants. But that raises another question: Since first-time applicants have to go thru the FSDO, are FSDO examiners willing to ride in an EAB?
rocketbob
Well Known Member
The FSDO's have been instructed by DC to no longer do CFI checkrides and instead send the applicants to a DPE assigned to do the ride. Which is BS because its an expensive and exhaustive checkride with the DPE's in my area now authorized to do them. I know a guy who was in his oral for 6 hours and 2.5 hours in the airplane. I was able to get in with a FSDO examiner who told me they still have discresion to continue doing them but most FSDO's are no longer doing them.
Uhhh this is GREAT news! Let me get this straight, you're complaining about doing a CFI check ride with a DPE, and would rather do one with a fed? The cost of the DPE is so minimal compared what it takes to get there, and the chances of actually passing on your first ride is probably a hundred times better than with a fed! Ask any cfi what they think. .
rocketbob
Well Known Member
Around here he DPE's are magnitudes harder to do the CFI checkride with. Very low initial pass rate for the CFI with these guys. The FSDO inspectors are free and the ones I've dealt with have been very reasonable. The FSDO inspector I did mine with enjoys doing the checkrides, and specifically told me he did not like to go over questions about things like the FOI questions to see if the applicant could regurgitate that stuff from memory.
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Understand that you cannot go to a DPE of your choice for an initial cfi checkride-you must go to one specifically authorized for cfi rides by the FSDO.
This all started around 1997 with complaints that cfi?s didn?t know what they were supposed to know. So DC mandated initial checkrides with a FSDO, and ordered them to emphasize the knowledge part of the oral. At the same time, at least here at OAK, they went over paperwork with a fine tooth comb. (While I passed the 4 hour oral, I was sent home with a discontinuance slip when the FSDO couldn?t find a weight and balance entry for a fire extinguisher that was in the rented 172RG I had brought). Now, they are again farming the work out to DPEs - but only certain ones, who are being monitored to make sure the oral exams are up to fsdo standards. Around here, I think they?re charging around $1K for the ride.
This all started around 1997 with complaints that cfi?s didn?t know what they were supposed to know. So DC mandated initial checkrides with a FSDO, and ordered them to emphasize the knowledge part of the oral. At the same time, at least here at OAK, they went over paperwork with a fine tooth comb. (While I passed the 4 hour oral, I was sent home with a discontinuance slip when the FSDO couldn?t find a weight and balance entry for a fire extinguisher that was in the rented 172RG I had brought). Now, they are again farming the work out to DPEs - but only certain ones, who are being monitored to make sure the oral exams are up to fsdo standards. Around here, I think they?re charging around $1K for the ride.
IIRC, the correct answer to every FOI question was ?Motivation?. -
Like Bob, I thought the fsdo inspector was tough but fair on the oral, and easy on the flight portion. (He had me critique a chandelle he did with his feet flat on the floor.)
rocketbob
Well Known Member
Correct. The FSDO assigns specifically who you take a ride with, and basically the DPE can charge what he wants to. DPE's are observed by the FSDO guys and since there's big money involved (DPE's in Florida can make over $300k/year) they do not take any chances in disrupting their revenue stream. So they are harder on the applicants. Many DPE's charge for retakes, so it behooves them financially to fail applicants. This stuff is borderline criminal.
+1.
And on the other side of the coin, ?ordinary? DPE?s have a financial incentive to be easy. Students are willing to pay more for a sure thing. The system drives students away from ?tough but fair? examiners. Once upon a time FSDOs did all the flight tests. When did they decide they didn?t have to do their job? (I suppose the same can be said for EAB A/W inspections. What do these guys do nowadays?)
I'm sitting here with a good friend who is a former inspector and is now in AFS-640, DPE Standardization. Here are his comments:
Depends on the FSDO. Some have been instructed to farm them out based on FSDO workload, but this is not an across-the board true statement.
Again, depends on the FSDO. His comment was that some feds just don't want to do CFI rides, so they'll find some off-the-wall question to fail the candidate and send him home.
Sorta. There are only a very few DPEs who are authorized to give CFI checkrides, so it's not so much "assigning specifically who you take a ride with" as it is "telling you the name of the guy allowed to do it." You're still free to go to any other district and find another examiner; there just aren't that many of them.
All of this makes me happy I did most of my training under Part 141 (in fact, the friend in question was my CFI instructor).
Any other questions y'all would like me to bounce off of him?
Depends on the FSDO. Some have been instructed to farm them out based on FSDO workload, but this is not an across-the board true statement.
Again, depends on the FSDO. His comment was that some feds just don't want to do CFI rides, so they'll find some off-the-wall question to fail the candidate and send him home.
Sorta. There are only a very few DPEs who are authorized to give CFI checkrides, so it's not so much "assigning specifically who you take a ride with" as it is "telling you the name of the guy allowed to do it." You're still free to go to any other district and find another examiner; there just aren't that many of them.
All of this makes me happy I did most of my training under Part 141 (in fact, the friend in question was my CFI instructor).
Any other questions y'all would like me to bounce off of him?
