Tricky examiners

A couple tricks come to mind. The Arrow turn on the exterior lights
to dim the gear down lights. This did not catch me since i was warned
by a friend who had an Arrow. Another cute trick is for the examiner
to place a piece of safety wire under the engine compartment to see if
the pilot performing the pre-flight will find it.

My favorite trick happened during my multi-engine check ride. I
noticed another plane in the vicinity while performing clearing
turns. My attention was locked on it until it was clear. Imagine my
surprise when the right hand engine quit! The examiner had his hands
in his lap! I went thru the shut down and restart procedure and found
that he had turned the fuel off when I wasn't looking. He previously
had covered the throttle quadrant with a chart when pulling an engine.

On Thu, 03 Jan 2008 14:13:42 -0800, Jim Stewart wrote:

The instructor looked at the field and said "I
don't think you can make it".

Unreal... I had almost exactly the same experience word for word except my
examiner really didn't think we could make it. I posted an account in RAS
last month if you don't believe me.

We must have had the same DPE....

:- )

--
Dallas

On Fri, 4 Jan 2008 00:19:39 -0600, Dallas
wrote:

On Thu, 03 Jan 2008 14:13:42 -0800, Jim Stewart wrote:

The instructor looked at the field and said "I
don't think you can make it".

Unreal... I had almost exactly the same experience word for word except my
examiner really didn't think we could make it. I posted an account in RAS
last month if you don't believe me.

We must have had the same DPE....

:- )

My examiner may be a distant relative as when i did my skills test
(PPL) my practace forced landing was on a bit of ground 500 feet
higher than the surrounding countryside.
The altimeter was set to sea level and the low countryside was very
close to that. as I decended to 1000 feet qnh I said to my examiner
that the altimeter was not a lot of use as the terrain was much
higher.
He was happy with that and i passed )

Dallas wrote:

What other favorite examiner tricks are out there?


After finishing my preflight on my PPL ride, I had to go back inside to
get a hood. While I was inside, the examiner reattached the tail tiedown.
Fortunately, an embarrasing incident as a student had taught me do a quick
review of the exterior before climbing in and firing up. I caught it. He
told me that about half of his examinees didn't catch it.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

--
Message posted via AviationKB.com
http://www.aviationkb.com/Uwe/Forums...ation/200801/1

On Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:17:32 GMT, JGalban via AviationKB.com wrote:

While I was inside, the examiner reattached the tail tiedown.

That's completely rotten and unfair! That would never happen in real life
and pretty much serves no purpose during a checkride, except to un-nerve
the poor student who is already in a pretty frazzled state already.

I call foul!

--
Dallas

Dallas wrote:
On Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:17:32 GMT, JGalban via AviationKB.com wrote:

While I was inside, the examiner reattached the tail tiedown.

That's completely rotten and unfair! That would never happen in real life
and pretty much serves no purpose during a checkride, except to un-nerve
the poor student who is already in a pretty frazzled state already.

I call foul!

Years ago I was showing a buddy of mine a new pistol I had bought and
went to take a whiz.

When I came back, I picked up the gun from the table where he had left
it and dropped the hammer without first checking the chamber.

He had put in a blank while I was in the can.

After my screaming stopped, he just smiled and said, "I'll be you'll
never, ever pick up a gun again without checking it".

He was right.

The moral to both stories:

Never assume that some asshole hasn't "helped you out" while your
back was turned.

I've had people "help me out" by putting the tie downs back on after
a preflight while doing a quick sump dump before takeoff.


--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

"Dallas" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:17:32 GMT, JGalban via AviationKB.com wrote:

While I was inside, the examiner reattached the tail tiedown.

That's completely rotten and unfair! That would never happen in real life
and pretty much serves no purpose during a checkride, except to un-nerve
the poor student who is already in a pretty frazzled state already.

I call foul!

--
Dallas

I'll disagree with you. It shows how the student reacts when something
unexpected happens.

Does the student simply apply full power and try to move?

Does the student use the elevator/rudder to try to break free?

Does the student immediately shut down to diagnose the problem?

On Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:46:30 GMT, Steve Foley wrote:

I'll disagree with you. It shows how the student reacts when something
unexpected happens.

But if the student didn't react well to the trick, would that be grounds to
bust the checkride?

Asking a candidate to come up with a ground frequency while in a stressful
situation falls under "Cockpit Management" and is a DPE checklist item.

Looking through the PTS, I don't see anything on the examiner's test
checklist that requires the student to be tested or pass something like
this.

Most candidates don't get a lot of sleep before exam day and to start off
the flight with a sneaky trick like this could have the poor fellow
completely distracted waiting for the next trick. This one just seems
outside the boundaries of fairness and it could jeopardize the candidate's
checkride over an issue that is not required by the PTS.


--
Dallas

On Fri, 4 Jan 2008 14:08:35 -0600, Dallas
wrote:

On Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:46:30 GMT, Steve Foley wrote:

I'll disagree with you. It shows how the student reacts when something
unexpected happens.

But if the student didn't react well to the trick, would that be grounds to
bust the checkride?
..
Looking through the PTS, I don't see anything on the examiner's test
checklist that requires the student to be tested or pass something like
this.

Just playing devil's advocate, how about II.A - Preflight Inspection?
Tiedowns are on the checklists for the aircraft I fly, and I was
always taught to re-check things if I had to go away from the aircraft
for any length of time just because some nice line guy might chock or
tie it back up.

It's called "Distraction"... the DPE is required to try and distract you to
see how you prioritize and handle the distraction.

BT

"Dallas" wrote in message
. ..
On Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:46:30 GMT, Steve Foley wrote:

I'll disagree with you. It shows how the student reacts when something
unexpected happens.

But if the student didn't react well to the trick, would that be grounds
to
bust the checkride?

Asking a candidate to come up with a ground frequency while in a stressful
situation falls under "Cockpit Management" and is a DPE checklist item.

Looking through the PTS, I don't see anything on the examiner's test
checklist that requires the student to be tested or pass something like
this.

Most candidates don't get a lot of sleep before exam day and to start off
the flight with a sneaky trick like this could have the poor fellow
completely distracted waiting for the next trick. This one just seems
outside the boundaries of fairness and it could jeopardize the candidate's
checkride over an issue that is not required by the PTS.


--
Dallas