172driver wrote:
Examination for a FAA license or rating (except the multi-engine which does not have a written portion) comes in three parts:
- written
- oral
- practical
And the oral is the catch here. In the EASA system for CPL/ATPL there is only the written (much broader and deeper than the FAA written) and the practical. Even if one had to redo the practical it should not be a major issue for an atoll pilot in good training (one basically does a very similar flight every year anyways for the revalidation of IR and TR).
The orals are a different thing: If I had done my CPL 15 years ago and would now receive a letter from my CAA that I have to redo the orals within the next 14 days I would feel “kind of uneasy”.
Rwy20 wrote:
As they say in the US, “if you can breathe, then you can fly”.
I’ve never heard this anywhere…
Malibuflyer wrote:
In the EASA system for CPL/ATPL there is only the written (much broader and deeper than the FAA written)
Well, well, not sure about that. While I don’t know the EASA ATPL written, the FAA one now includes a classroom and sim training course, see more here Also, there is no QB for the FAA tests.
Btw, you can get an FAA ATP SEL that’s a written/oral/checkride ‘only’ but that’s more for fun and giggles, not really something valuable in the real world, other than perhaps island commuter flying.
As they say in the US, “if you can breathe, then you can fly”.
Never heard that one. What is becoming obvious is that pilot medicals are almost useless predictors of in-flight incapacitation, but even EASA AMEs have said that openly.
BackPacker wrote:
I have always asked my examiners for actual copies of their paperwork.
The only time I’ve ever flown with an examiner who wasn’t known to me personally was on my PPL skills test.
He insisted on showing me his paperwork. I probably wouldn’t have thought to ask for it at the time, but knowing what I know now I would.
Graham wrote:
He insisted on showing me his paperwork
The examiner in the current case had completely fine paperwork and was even assigned to do skill test by the FAA – still doesn’t protect the candidates, obviously.
In Germany (and I guess in most EASA states) I would agree that you don’t need to check paperwork if the examiner was assigned to you by the local CAA: You can trust that the CAA inly assigns examiners to you that have correct paperwork and if not, it’s the CAAs problem not yours.
I don’t believe the UK CAA gets involved in assigning examiners for PPL skills tests, but I could be wrong. I believe the ATOs just make arrangements with examiners they know or employ.
Certainly I just turned up and they’d arranged someone.
Graham wrote:
I don’t believe the UK CAA gets involved in assigning examiners for PPL skills tests, but I could be wrong. I believe the ATOs just make arrangements with examiners they know or employ.
Certainly in Sweden, the CAA is not involved. As you say, the A/DTO makes arrangements examiners they know.
In the US there are two options:
- in a school environment, the school arranges for the DPE
- in a freelance (club, own airplane, etc) situation either your CFI does it or you phone around to find one yourself.
The FAA does not get involved in either scenario (although they may show up to check on the DPE during your checkride).
I think there is an onus on the pilot in these cases as well.
If my check ride had lasted only long enough to fly around the pattern, I would have been concerned.
I didn’t do perfectly on my checkride, but we checked all of the well defined test points, which are clearly laid out in FAA materials.
We spend a lot of time studying and learning so that we can demonstrate our skills.
Clearly, if the check ride wasn’t testing of the pilot’s skills, it wasn’t a test.
I’ve had a number of business opportunities where everything was similar to this; all too easy.
I learned that those moments all end similarly, all too hard.
Especially in less law abiding counties…
Our aviation community has a stellar reputation in the general public, and pilots are respected everywhere I’ve ever been.
Inflicting strict penalties for situations such as these help to keep us above reproach, and remind us that at the end of the day, we are responsible for ensuring the safety of our aircraft, and that requires the utmost diligence and responsibility.
If I lost my license due to this, I would easily retake my checkrides and do far better than I did the first time!
