First IR - Proficiency test

I have always found the FAA oral to be the hardest part of the test.

On the subject of FAA orals mine were very practical lasting around an hour – on one I had to brief on Detroit’s notams highlighting taxi closures and runway incursion hot spots. There is no formal oral on the CAA but the examiner can and will ask questions eg minima, aircraft systems, V speeds.

Not sure if urban myth but have heard some FAA orals, eg for FI, lasting all day with the practical being taken the next day.

My FAA examiners were all well rounded, ultra experienced, agreeable bunch. The CAA crew also very pleasant, although some are of the professional examiner disposition, and you half expect they have time in an Ealing comedy on their CV, perhaps channeling their inner Terry Thomas.

My FAA PPL oral was a joke. The examiner was an Iranian DPE visiting Europe. His accent was so heavy I could not understand much of what he said.

I was doing OK – had 500hrs at the time. At one point he said “tell me what you know about SEGMENTS” (loudly – he was aggressive). I could not recall anything about segments, from the FAR-AIM or anything else. We stormed out, literally throwing the FAR-AIM book on the table and telling me to call him when I found out about segments.

But he left his interview notes on the table and I looked over at them. It was SIGMETS! After that it was OK. This guy had a reputation which preceeded him but the FAA scene in Europe never had many options.

The subsequent checkride was worse. I terminated it due to extreme interference, telling him that he was endangering the flight. It was a partial pass, and was re-done the next day when he behaved fine. 2x the fee…

The examiner profession (like most) self selects on character profile so along with the good professional ones you get some crazy ones. In the UK, the old CAA staff FEs were mostly good, with just 1 or 2 sadists. But when the CAA moved to “industry examiners” they picked up more crazy ones. One who used to work at Shoreham would spend several hours debriefing an IR test, by which time the student was obviously totally exhausted (and it didn’t matter because he/she passed).

And you get some funny students. One CAA staffer told me about a lady student who, when told she passed the IR, was so elated she could not land the plane. He had to land it for her. She still passed because an IRT does not test landings etc

My IR examiner was a CAA staffer and was totally professional. The best examiner I ever flew with. Ex RAF too (F4).

Good luck with your test @pmh

A few years ago I had the honor to do my (FAA IR) oral with two examiners, one doing the supervision of the FE who questioned me. He really wanted to show off doing everything by the book and after two hours of spanish inquisition I felt really exhausted and opted not to take the practical test that same day. And btw I initially failed because of not being specific enough on some detail concerning VFR limits. The retest with the same FE but without supervision preceding the practical test took exactly 2 minutes. Go figure.

I should have been suspicious when my FI went pale as soon as the FAA supervisor entered the briefing room. He slowly started to shake his head and “encouraged” me by telling me not to expect to pass on the first try.

The FIE or Senior Examiner just acts as a ‘dummy applicant’ for examiner tests – indeed CAA Standards Document 21 says this is the preferred way due to the pressure two examiners can put on the applicant. I’d never do my FE revalidation on a live test as it would just make life much harder for all concerned.

lenthamen wrote:

If you are asked to have another examiner during a check ride, you should always object!

I don’t know if you can object. Because if everybody did, how would examiners be examined? And without examined examiners, there would soon be no examiner left to examine us.
I remember one checkride like that with two examiners on board. They were so busy chatting about what they did since they last met and their children and holidays and whatever else that I could have flown inverted without them noticing anything.

A friend of mine failed his initial IR exam last month. He accepted to have two examiners on board, where one examiner assessed the other.
If you are asked to have another examiner during a check ride, you should always object!
It brings extra stress and the chance for failing is much higher as there are four eyes watching all your movements.

I failed once. The examiner needs a check flight every 3 years, and I had accepted to be doing the flying while he “examined”, and the check pilot was in the back. I busted one of the margins on the approach, do not remember which one, and then the examiner had to bust me, or he would have failed himself.
Apart from that, I think I learned from most of the Prof Checks I have done. Although it is supposed to be checking, not training, examiners do not want to waist their time any more than you do, so they will (in my experience) discuss things you may be unsure of, and give advice, mostly very good advice.
Of course there was that special check where my vacuum failed just as we departed into broken at 700 ft, and flew approaches for more than an hour on old fashioned partial panel in IMC. The examiner realized the exceptional training opportunity and went along. Invaluable.