Recent Reviews
The latest checkride reviews from pilots across the country.
Showing 1–5 of 5 reviews in CA
Category Ratings
The ACS was the guiding principle that was used during the check ride (as it should be). We did everything that was in the ACS and nothing that was not. I felt he was a very fair and consistent with the application of the ACS.
The de-brief was good. After the check ride was completed, he shared some additional tips and strategies for maintaining instrument currency and being a professional instrument pilot.
The expectations for the check ride were clearly explained both prior to the check ride beginning and during the check ride. Eric made it clear of when and where I was to show up. He also made it clear how the day would progress and what he would expect out of me as a candidate. I knew exactly what was expected of me and there were no surprises.
Eric was friendly and accommodating. He was professional during the check ride and he made time to "hangar talk" with me after the check ride concluded. He is an interesting person to talk to.
Eric explained exactly how the day would progress and what to expect as far as the oral and practical exam. The oral portion was about 2.5-3 hours and the practical portion was about 1.5 hours.
Preparation advice:
Work on making sure you have strong ADM skills. A lot of the questions that Eric asks involve higher-order thinking skills. It isn't just sufficient to apply the FARs or knowledge that you've obtained. You should have a correlation level knowledge of topics.
Expectations:
The expectations before and during the check ride were clear. Prior to the check ride, he sent an email that described what would be required of me (paperwork, etc). Prior to the check ride commencing, he described the expectations and also talked about what happened if I didn't meet the expectations. The ACS was applied consistently and fairly.
Additional notes:
Eric will come to KSNS from KPRB for an additional fee.
Category Ratings
Preparation advice:
Be prepared for an extremely quick checkride. Oral will be about an hour and the flight will be between a 1.3 and a 1.5 on the Hobbs. He was extremely fair.
Expectations:
He made all of his expectations clear before both the Oral and the flight
Additional notes:
He doesn’t talk much. Be extremely careful, he will let you dig yourself into a hole and won’t even stop you. So make sure you have your references in case you need to verify your answers.
Category Ratings
Preparation advice:
Be ready to talk about lost comm procedures (91.185) in-depth. I only did the flight portion of the checkride with Ken because I discontinued after some instrumentation failure with my first DPE. Even with just doing the flight portion, he still wanted me to explain lost comms procedures in the air while I was setting up for the approaches.
Expectations:
He explained exactly what he expected of me before the flight so there were no misunderstandings.
Additional notes:
Even though I only did the flight portion, we still talked for over an hour and a half before we got into the plane so be prepared for him to talk….a lot.
Category Ratings
I did not know I passed the checkride until about 20 minutes after I landed.
Ken was very thorough in what he expects from you during the practical portion of the checkride.
Overall, we breezed through the oral and had sufficient time for a break between the oral and the practical for a quick lunch break.
Preparation advice:
Be prepared to answer questions about what references you used to find your answers. If you are unsure about something, make sure you have your resources available to look up anything you don't 100% know the answer to. Ken is very fair and thorough.
Expectations:
The day before the checkride I was sent an email with information on where to plan my paper nav log. If using an electronic EFB, make sure applicant understands where the data sources get their information. Ex- where does foreflight pull weather data from and how can you tell when it has been updated and if it is accurate.
Category Ratings
There were no surprises nor curveballs, nor perceived desire to "stump the chump"
Preparation advice:
Ken is a mainline pilot with high expectations and a desire to pass a well-qualified pilot. You should be prepared to match his professionalism.
Expectations:
Ken ensures the plan is completely clear, including the routes and procedures to fly so that you have no 'I didn't have time to brief' excuses -- this mimics what IFR should be like in real life. There is no YOLO here.
Additional notes:
We were flying a new (at the time) G1000 plane and trying to understand how best to do partial panel. Ken was hesitant but gracious when I asked ATC to allow me to go transponder-off for the POC approach, since that would allow me to kill the AHARS via breaker. I appreciated his flexibility.