If you’ve ever been a student pilot preparing for a checkride, you’ve probably done this: You text someone who already took the ride.
“Hey… how was your DPE?”
Or maybe:
“What did they ask on the oral?”
If you’re lucky, you get a long text back, maybe even a few screenshots of notes. If you’re not lucky, you get:
“It was fine. Just know the ACS.”
Technically correct, but not exactly very insightful.
The reality is that checkrides vary a lot depending on the examiner, the airport, and the type of ride. Even though everyone is evaluated against the same standards from the FAA (the ACS), the experience itself can feel very different. For example:
- Some DPEs run long, scenario-heavy orals and others focus more on practical application.
- Some DPEs keep things relaxed and conversational and others run the ride very formally.
None of this is inherently good or bad, but if you’re about to take a checkride, it’s helpful to know what to expect.
The Problem
Right now, most checkride information lives in random places:
- group chats
- flight school rumors
- Reddit threads
- scattered notes passed between students
That information disappears quickly, and it’s usually hard to verify.
A student might hear something like:
“That examiner always fails people on steep turns.”
This may or may not actually be true. The problem isn’t that students talk about checkrides. In fact, they should. The problem is that there’s no structured place where those experiences live.
What a PIREP Is (And Why It Makes Sense Here)
In aviation, pilots file PIREPs — pilot reports — to share real-world conditions with other pilots. If someone reports turbulence or icing, that information helps the next aircraft flying through the same area. We think that checkride experiences are similar. They’re not about “gaming the system” or memorizing answers. They’re about understanding:
- how a ride is structured
- how an examiner tends to run the oral
- what kinds of scenarios come up
That context helps pilots prepare better and walk into the ride with fewer surprises.
Why We Built FlyPirep
The idea behind flyPIREP is simple: create a place where pilots can share structured checkride reports so others can learn from them. Instead of scattered posts and rumors, the goal is to build a growing database of real checkride experiences. Things like:
- what the oral focused on
- how long the ride lasted
- what parts of the ACS were emphasized
- what surprised the applicant
None of this replaces actually studying the ACS or training with a CFI, but it can help answer the question every student asks before their ride: “What was it actually like?”
The Goal
The goal isn’t to rate or judge examiners. It’s simply to document experiences so other pilots can learn from them. Over time, a collection of checkride reports can help students:
- reduce unnecessary stress
- understand how different rides are structured
- prepare more effectively
- And ideally, make checkride preparation a little less mysterious.
If You’ve Taken a Checkride Recently
If you recently completed a checkride — whether it was private, instrument, commercial, or multi-engine — consider writing a short report while the experience is still fresh. It doesn’t need to be long, just share what the ride was like and what stood out. Someone else preparing for that same checkride might find it incredibly helpful.