Going for my checkride next week, what should I know for the oral part?

[Rik]

My school found a new DE (took a few weeks) and I am the lucky one that gets him first!

 

Scheduled for next week and possibly reading horror stories as no one ever seems to talk about happiness on the Internet, what are the key things I need to prep for on the oral?
 

Fog

Instruments

Density Altitude

Air Space

Weight & Balance

Stalls/Spins

Cockpit Management

Pilotage

Cross Country Planning

 

Got any questions I should bounce off of for this part of the exam?
 

 

Thanks!

[bonal]

The examiner will have the results of you written exam and will cover all questions you answered incorrectly

[jetdriven]

It's all in the ASA oral exam guide. Get that and study it. Chances are he'll pull that same book out and ask you questions from it. And if you don't know the answer it's not a bust. Just tell him where you'd look it up.

[flyboy0681]

I took my check ride last year and spoke to several people who had different DPE's. What I gleaned from it was that each examiner runs his or her own show. They all have their own style and each places a different emphasis on the material they cover during the oral. You have a unique situation where the DPE is an unknown entity. Down here in South Florida there are about a dozen DPE's who are called upon through the various flight schools and it's easy to get the lowdown on each examiner by simply speaking to those that took a ride with them (a Google search can also reveal an awful lot as well). Since each examiner conducts their rides in pretty much the same way each time, speaking to those that recently took the ride will usually reveal exactly what to expect, and it was that way for me too. I spoke to a guy who used the same examiner that I did and he filled me in on his ride in great detail. When the day of my ride came, it was pretty much as the guy described, same airports, same approaches and pretty much the same oral topics.

 

I'll tell you what my CFI told me a few weeks before the ride: it doesn't hurt to be over-prepared. If you know the material then you'll breeze through it, but do not under any circumstances try to BS your way through an answer. If you don't know the topic, tell him so and that you'd like to look it up.

 

Based upon my oral, flight planning will be important as well as knowing the various weather forecasts. Little emphasis was placed on weight & balance and cockpit management. About 15 minutes was taken up by interpreting low altitude IFR charts, so know them inside out. He will try to trip you up on some things, especially since Mexico will be on your chart. Impress him by knowing what QFE, QNH and QNE are ( I blew this when my examiner pointed to a QNH notation on the Bahamas section of the chart, but he didn't hold it against me).

 

Know the material and you'll be just fine.

[Raptor05121]

Your best bet is to find someone that has taken that DPE before.

[Rik]

Thanks. I spoke with an Airline Type Rating guy and he said "call up someone who has used him for a check ride!, your supposed to use all available information you can and that's doing exactly that"

 

I googled his name and it didn't provide much other than one school that has his name listed as an approve examiner in the SF Bay Area. Thought about following advice and asking if they knew him. 

 

Jeff Heitzberg is the DE.. 

 

Watching over and over again the YouTube  video "Private Pilot Oral" and I have ordered the ASA book should be here tomorrow I believe and that will give me a week to read it.

[StinkBug]

Which checkride is this? PPL, Instrument, Commercial?

[Rik]

Sorry.. PPL

[ArtVandelay]

For the oral;

Having a high written usually means a shorten oral.

Also DEs sense weakness, they throw out a couple of ?s and if stumble over them or don't seem confident then they probe further.

Study the PTS guide.

[Deb]

I don't know yor examiner; however, he's probably going to start by looking over your documents and the aircraft's documents. Have them laid out and/or marked in an organized manner. (He may ask some questions with respect to currency requirements for you and the plane.) Try to find out how much he weighs before the exam; otherwise do a W&B assuming 170 lbs, then do one on the spot with his correct weight (including his flight bag – EFBs are your friend for this.) He will review with you the flight he asked you to plan. Have that planned out with easy to find waypoints circled, with times you expect to reach them and headings (to correct for winds). Know about the airports at takeoff and destination, density altitude, performance, fuel burn, etc. He'll review the sectional with you, airspace, special use areas, MTRs, etc, as well as NOTAMS and weather. He'll want to know your thinking on go / no go decisions (impress with I'M SAFE.) He'll ask you about all the airspeeds for your plane, and some systems and instruments.

Try to be relaxed, knowledgeable and confident (OK, that probably won't happen.) As others have said, if you don't know or are unsure, say so and ask to look it up in the appropriate place (FAR/AIM, AFD, chart legends, etc.) Just go over your normal pre-flight planning and be prepared for questions on what you didn't volunteer.

For the flight test, expect to start out on the cross country, so note clock at takeoff, and time/heading to first one or two checkpoints. That way you'll be able to tell him whether the winds are as expected, or how you'll have to correct (you'll see the heading, and you'll see whether you're early or late.) Be prepared for him to have you divert for some situation, so have a close alternate planned. Look at the chart, tell him which airport you're going to, the approximate distance, time and heading to the airport, and turn to the airport. Point out something you're aiming at in between you and the airport if you can't see the airport. Pull up the ATIS, get the tower/ground frequencies and tell him you'd contact tower with the reason for the diversion. All of this is kind of an extension of preflight planning and the oral; it's easier to have it preplanned rather than be surprised at the beginning of the flight portion.

As TeeJay said, review the PTS, particularly the guidance to the DPE section. He'll probably try to make you feel comfortable and at ease. They can usually tell how you're going to do early on. A better score on the written will help. As others have said, expect questions on what you missed on the written.

Good luck!

[rbridges]

It's all in the ASA oral exam guide. Get that and study it. Chances are he'll pull that same book out and ask you questions from it. And if you don't know the answer it's not a bust. Just tell him where you'd look it up.

My examiner went through it verbatim. Ugh. What a long day.

[carusoam]

It's been a long time since my PPL check ride....

I didn't see emergency situations on your list. Or did I miss it?

There won't be much time to read up on what to do when he pulls the throttle back to idle...

Then there are the real life Mooney issues...

Engine-out, fires, VFR flight into IMC, and high density altitude take-off performance issues.

Good luck and best regards,

-a-

[Ftlausa]

The oral exams are supposed to be scenario based now, so be prepared to apply your knowledge to practical situations.  For instance, the examiner may use your flight plan as the scenario and ask you questions surrounding it designed to elicit your knowledge, with "what ifs" thrown in.  Someone else recommended asking around about your particular DPE.  That is good advise as he probably has scripted scenarios already.

[Marauder]

The emphasis of the check rides these days has much more emphasis on decision making and risk management as well.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Yetti]

This is what I prepped with. http://dovesnestfarm.com/wordpress/questions-for-the-oral-flight-exam/  I also had my Dad's manual slide rule E6B.   The DPE was an engineer on a bomber in WWII so we played with the E6B for awhile. ie not having to answer questions during this time

 

I would highly  recommend breaking up the oral for an evening and the practical the next day.  That way you have time to recover mentally from any drubbing.   My flying goes down hill after I start mentally messing up.   For a normal PPL you are better than you will every be at flying the plane.

[N33GG]

All of the above are good.  Here are a few things I frequently see asked:

 

Be able to tell which antennas go with which system (comm, nav, xpdr, marker, etc)

 

Be sure you can succinctly and correctly tell him when and where a transponder is required.

 

Be ready for questions about visibility and cloud clearance in all types of airspace, and communications required.

 

Review runway and taxiway signage and markings (runway incursions are a big emphasis right now.)

 

Some of them like to throw in a tower light gun signal question.

 

Make sure you don't have any expired charts on you or in the plane.

 

Relax.  They know you don't know everything.  Most of the DE's I have worked with are really great and remember what it was like.  They just want to make sure you will be safe, and give you your first license to really start learning.

 

Good luck!

[bonal]

I wanted to add a couple things before it gets crazy here at work,  You are flying out of Gnoss so be prepared to answer questions on the SFO bravo and expect him to randomly point at something on the sectional and ask you to explain the meaning.  Also if you have the time and have not visited all the local fields around Santa Rosa take a flight with your instructor to ones you have not been to get familiar as you will likely be diverted. Also make sure to have good organization in the aircraft charts airport guide etc it makes it better for your stress and also impresses your examiner when you have it together. we are also dealing with a lot of TFR's locally for the fire fighting and you may be asked on that subject.

Have fun (that's what this is all about) and good luck

[Deb]

OK, to summarize for you: Know everything and improve from there!

Seriously, this is probably very sound advice:

Relax. They know you don't know everything. Most of the DE's I have worked with are really great and remember what it was like. They just want to make sure you will be safe, and give you your first license to really start learning.

Good luck!

[mike_elliott]

OK, to summarize for you: Know everything and improve from there!

Seriously, this is probably very sound advice:

I haven't prepped anyone for the PPL oral, but suffice it to say ADM is a hot button right now with the FAA, know your acronyms IMSAFE, PAVE, DECIDE etc.... Get the King Video's for an oral checkride and be prepared for the best snooze you have had in a long time. Review the entire PTS well. Be able to interpret METARS, Prog charts, depc. charts, etc. Know what are vacuum instruments, what are pitot static instruments, what happens when one becomes inop, Be able to do a w&B, explain your flight plan with an emphasis on safety for your route.

These and about 150,000 other possible topics are for review. Good luck, you only have to get 70% of the answers right, and like what was said, don't be afraid to haul in your books and look up the answer.

[N1026F]

I's been a while since I sat for the PPL. Do you get to use the iPad and Foreflight yet?

[flyboy0681]

Sorry.. PPL

 

Oh, PPL. I thought it was for instrument which is what my response was based upon.

 

My advice to you, once you pass your private, start on your instrument.

[Rik]

Thanks! Received my ASA Private Oral Exam book a few minutes ago. Have to read it ASAP!

 

One could only wish that they could use FF on the exam. Even though it's a EFB its not allowed for the test nor the flying part.

[Heloman]

If you have a good instructor you've already learned more then the DE will ask for. Be confident, don't BS an answer, and if it's a yes or no question, answer with yes or no; DONT TALK MORE THEN YOU NEED TO!

[Raptor05121]

I took my checkride 5 months ago. I was failed when he diverted me on the XC portion and I didn't compensate for altitude. It seems like some DPE's have nit-pick areas. Mine was weather. He wanted me to explain BR, RA +/-, etc on TAFs and METARs.

The FAA is also doing random quality-assurance after checkrides. They called me and asked if he did this and asked this ,etc.

[Rik]

I took my checkride 5 months ago. I was failed when he diverted me on the XC portion and I didn't compensate for altitude. It seems like some DPE's have nit-pick areas. Mine was weather. He wanted me to explain BR, RA +/-, etc on TAFs and METARs.

The FAA is also doing random quality-assurance after checkrides. They called me and asked if he did this and asked this ,etc.

 

When you say you didn't compensate for altitude do you mean that the diversion required you to climb to an airport at a higher field elevation or that there were clouds in the area and you had to clear them?

 

I like the idea of the FAA asking the student questions. Takes a bit out of the DE to be a jerk.