Questions from the written on the check ride day?

Paul Hamilton is one of the first persons to become a DPE (Designated Pilot Examiner) for sport pilots. As a full-time author and sport pilot expert, he writes books and produces DVD's for Aviation Supplies and Academics (ASA). Now Paul has graciously agreed to answer your questions here. Thanks Paul! For more information about Paul, please visit www.Paul-Hamilton.com and www.Sport-Pilot-Training.com.

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CTLSi
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Re: Questions from the written on the check ride day?

Post by CTLSi »

3Dreaming wrote:
CTLSi wrote: Guess you don't know the 'code' matches the on-line practice test banks. It's easy to look them up by that code. In any case, the examiner wanted to see the ones missed, he was provided those....since I only missed three, he seemed satisfied to ask a general question about the VOR question I missed.

I do not have a VHF nav/comm receiver in my plane. I use a Garmin 796 WAAS GPS. And I have all Dynon glass so I never fly with steam gauges. So I had to study those things in virtual mode. Missing just three considering a lot of questions were on steams and VOR I thought was pretty good.
I know quite well where to find the question pool for the FAA codes. I have reviewed the questions missed by students like you several times, so I could endorse them to take their checkride.
I am not a student...but like everyone else flying, always learning something new.
rezaf_2000
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Re: Questions from the written on the check ride day?

Post by rezaf_2000 »

drseti wrote:Missing three is more than "pretty good". :)
I only missed 4, and one of them was a pretty ambiguous one, you absolutely had to memorize the wording of the sentence to answer it (two of the answers meant the same meaning). I am still annoyed about my score (90%), I think I should have done better given how much I studies. Well, ... Maybe I'll do better in the near future for the private pilot written test :D
200 hours of flight and counting
rezaf_2000
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Re: Questions from the written on the check ride day?

Post by rezaf_2000 »

3Dreaming wrote: I know quite well where to find the question pool for the FAA codes. I have reviewed the questions missed by students like you several times, so I could endorse them to take their checkride.
Mine were:

PLT104
AC 60-22 - Aeronautical Decision Making
Human Factors ----> ADM ----> Risk Management

PLT247
FAA-H-8083-25 - Pilot`s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge
Aerodynamics ----> Principles of Flight ----> Forces acting on aircraft

PLT463
14 CFR part 61 Certification: Pilots, Flight Instructors, and Ground Instructors
Regulations ----> 14CFR Part 61 ----> 61.15 Offenses Involving Alcohol or Drugs

PLT518
AC 00-6 - Aviation Weather
Weather ----> Hazardous ----> Wind shear
200 hours of flight and counting
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FastEddieB
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Re: Questions from the written on the check ride day?

Post by FastEddieB »

rezaf_2000 wrote: PLT247
FAA-H-8083-25 - Pilot`s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge
Aerodynamics ----> Principles of Flight ----> Forces acting on aircraft
That was a lot like mine. Makes one wonder what the question could possibly have been!

I also saw someone quoted in another post. Their defense of their missed question makes me wonder if there shouldn't be restricted licenses available.

With a restrictions like:

NOT VALID IN AN AIRCRAFT WITHOUT GPS

Then again, I assume any pilot would want to be well rounded enough to have the aeronautical knowledge to fly any plane out there.

Unless I'm assuming too much! :evil:
Fast Eddie B.
Sky Arrow 600 E-LSA • N467SA
CFI, CFII, CFIME
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3Dreaming
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Re: Questions from the written on the check ride day?

Post by 3Dreaming »

CTLSi wrote:
3Dreaming wrote:
CTLSi wrote: Guess you don't know the 'code' matches the on-line practice test banks. It's easy to look them up by that code. In any case, the examiner wanted to see the ones missed, he was provided those....since I only missed three, he seemed satisfied to ask a general question about the VOR question I missed.

I do not have a VHF nav/comm receiver in my plane. I use a Garmin 796 WAAS GPS. And I have all Dynon glass so I never fly with steam gauges. So I had to study those things in virtual mode. Missing just three considering a lot of questions were on steams and VOR I thought was pretty good.
I know quite well where to find the question pool for the FAA codes. I have reviewed the questions missed by students like you several times, so I could endorse them to take their checkride.
I am not a student...but like everyone else flying, always learning something new.
You were a student when you missed the questions. And in fairness my students are nothing like you. If they were they would need to find a different instructor.
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dstclair
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Re: Questions from the written on the check ride day?

Post by dstclair »

I one of those that test well and didn't miss any questions on my private or instrument written. My examiner commented something to the effect "I guess we don't have much to talk about" :D We still had a 'conversation' on flying where he deftly fit in questions into the conversation. Things like "I see we're going up in a Warrior today. That one has 42 gallons and Lycoming 360, right?" Which, of course, was intentionally wrong. He was pretty good at ferreting out information while calming the students nerves.
dave
3Dreaming
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Re: Questions from the written on the check ride day?

Post by 3Dreaming »

Just thought I would throw this out there. I have heard some examiner say that if they see a 100% on a test score they figure the applicant memorized the answers. In this case they really drill them on the oral to see that they do have the required knowledge and not just the spoon fed stuff from the Kings.
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FastEddieB
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Re: Questions from the written on the check ride day?

Post by FastEddieB »

3Dreaming wrote:Just thought I would throw this out there. I have heard some examiner say that if they see a 100% on a test score they figure the applicant memorized the answers. In this case they really drill them on the oral to see that they do have the required knowledge and not just the spoon fed stuff from the Kings.
That sounds implausible.

To memorize all the answers would mean memorizing over 1,000 questions, assuming the pool of test questions is still published and no larger than that.

While possible, hard to do it without learning the subject matter along the way, even accidentally.

And I think it would be easier to just learn how to do W&B calculations, let's say, rather than memorize every single question involving W&B calculations.

I don't doubt that you heard it. But I wonder if anyone had actually heard an examiner say that.
Fast Eddie B.
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3Dreaming
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Re: Questions from the written on the check ride day?

Post by 3Dreaming »

FastEddieB wrote:
3Dreaming wrote:Just thought I would throw this out there. I have heard some examiner say that if they see a 100% on a test score they figure the applicant memorized the answers. In this case they really drill them on the oral to see that they do have the required knowledge and not just the spoon fed stuff from the Kings.
That sounds implausible.

To memorize all the answers would mean memorizing over 1,000 questions, assuming the pool of test questions is still published and no larger than that.

While possible, hard to do it without learning the subject matter along the way, even accidentally.

And I think it would be easier to just learn how to do W&B calculations, let's say, rather than memorize every single question involving W&B calculations.

I don't doubt that you heard it. But I wonder if anyone had actually heard an examiner say that.
Like I said in my post I have heard it said by more than one examiner.

No need to memorize all the questions in the pool, just the ones the FAA was using for that version of the test. In the past several years the FAA has been changing the knowledge test to do a better job of testing the knowledge. The first test they was the CFI test, and when they did the was a sudden rash of failures.

http://flighttraining.aopa.org/magazine ... swers.html
http://www.nafinet.org/news.aspx?id=539
Merlinspop
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Re: Questions from the written on the check ride day?

Post by Merlinspop »

FastEddieB wrote:
3Dreaming wrote:Just thought I would throw this out there. I have heard some examiner say that if they see a 100% on a test score they figure the applicant memorized the answers. In this case they really drill them on the oral to see that they do have the required knowledge and not just the spoon fed stuff from the Kings.
That sounds implausible.

To memorize all the answers would mean memorizing over 1,000 questions, assuming the pool of test questions is still published and no larger than that.

While possible, hard to do it without learning the subject matter along the way, even accidentally.

And I think it would be easier to just learn how to do W&B calculations, let's say, rather than memorize every single question involving W&B calculations.

I don't doubt that you heard it. But I wonder if anyone had actually heard an examiner say that.
I scored 100% on the written and the examiner looked at the results and said (to the effect of), "well, I don't have any specific areas to recheck you on, so I guess we'll just have to go over everything."
It really wasn't so bad, though. It was more like a 4 to 5 hour conversation about airplanes and flying. I even got to ask some follow on questions of my own.
- Bruce
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FastEddieB
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Re: Questions from the written on the check ride day?

Post by FastEddieB »

Interesting data point.

Not bragging, but I went into all of my orals with high scores*, and it seemed to make for an easier oral.

But thinking about it, I have no reference for comparison, so maybe they just seemed easy because I was prepared.


*But never 100%. Kudos!
Fast Eddie B.
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3Dreaming
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Re: Questions from the written on the check ride day?

Post by 3Dreaming »

Eddie, did you check out the links in my earlier post? 2 minutes to take the 60 question private pilot written just seems crazy.
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