PP-ASEL Checkride – Oral

Well, today was supposed to be the day for the whole thing, but it didn’t turn out that way.

I got to the airport about an hour early to make sure everything was in order. Mark Boss – the designated examiner – told me to plan a cross country from Van Nuys to Las Vegas, and to compute a weight and balance for the both of us. I had everything ready and popped into his office (it’s right on the field) right on time.

The first thing we did was go through my paperwork and logbook to be sure everything was in order. I was careful to get this all right, because I’d been told that DE’s HATE to deal with paperwork problems. Then the oral began. We started with questions on certification, regulations, varying passengers for hire, etc. Then we went through the aircraft logbooks. I got a good tip from a friend to put post-its in the logbooks at each spot where there was a current inspection (annual, 100 hour, etc.) to speed things up. Mark was impressed. He asked how often an ELT needed to be inspected, and I said every 24 months. Wrong. I did it myself during the annual, so I should have known that. No problem.

Next was my cross country planning. He went over my plan, asked some questions, probed a bit, and then had me put the plan away. He then gave me some figures to calculate takeoff performance and density altitude, and left the room. My trusty electronic E6B made quick work of it. He came back in and said “OK – what’s the pressure altitude you came up with?” I didn’t know. I didn’t think it mattered. Only it did – you need to use pressure altitude to calculate performance numbers – not field elevation. I admitted I messed up the performance numbers (although the density altitude was still correct), and explained why. He seemed satisfied with that, and we moved on.

Next was airspace. Lots of it. He asked about just about every symbol you might find on a sectional. I knew most of it, and those I didn’t were easy to find. Then he pointed at Baker airport and said “What kind of airspace is this?” I blanked. Something inside me wanted to say Class E – so I said it. He said no. I said Class G. He asked to what altitude. I blanked again. I told him I could look it up in the FAR’s. He said go ahead. I couldn’t find it. He said we’d come back to that.

We went to a few other items – weather, airport operations, runway markings, and then came to airworthiness. He asked what items were required for VFR flight. I told him. He asked if a stall warning horn is required. Still thinking about VFR flight, I said no. In fact it IS required. At that point he had me pull out my sectional again. He asked about Baker airport, and what the airspace was. I started sweating. He said he was leaving for 5 minutes, and to try and find the answer. I looked, and couldn’t come up with it. He came back in, and asked if I knew. I said no, and he said this was something that I needed to know.

He went on to explain that the FAA has two major problems, especially in LA – people busting airspace and people flying unairworthy planes. I missed key questions on both of those. He had no choice but to fail me. I was devastated. I left feeling incredibly stupid. Both of the things I blew it on were in the manuals he was ALLOWING me to use! I rescheduled for the following week, and went home to study.