David Brooks wrote:
On my instrument ride, the day was very windy giving moderate turbulence
down low and probably a 40K wind higher up. It took me about 3 circuits
to get the holding pattern nailed on both wind correction angle and
timing, but the DE saw that I was getting it closer each time and that
was all he cared about. I think demonstrating good judgement and good
situational awareness is much more important than holding the needle
centered all the time.


Me similar. I got blown right across the inbound track on the first
outbound. Luckily I caught it and my SA recovered enough that I was quickly
back on the inbound course. The only thing he dinged me for was not using
the localizer for added SA on an NDB hold (I was trying to do the NDB hold
without "cheating", I guess).

Yes, it is hard to know what any given DE wants to see. My DE is a
corporate pilot at the company I work for. He was very open while on
the ground about what he wanted to see and told me that he needed to see
each PTS item performed using only the navaids appropriate to each item,
however, he would also ask questions during the ride about what I would
do if an approach like an NDB had an ILS to the same runway also. I
told him I'd use the localizer and marker beacons as additional
confirmations of the NDB and time, and that seemed to be what he wanted
to hear. I felt at ease with him right from the oral part of the test
on through, so if I wasn't sure what he wanted to see, I just outright
asked him. I didn't try to read his mind. And if something didn't go
the way I wanted it to go, I talked out loud about what was wrong and
what I was doing to correct. He seemed to have no problem with that at
all. I talked my way through all three circuits of the hold and kept
saying what I was doing each time and why so that he also didn't have to
try to read my mind.

However, I've heard tales of examiners that really didn't care for
pilots who did that. I guess you just have to try to understand your
DE, just like you had to figure out what any given college professor
wanted to see on tests and papers.


Matt