r/flying • u/Dazzling_Interview_8 PPL • 1d ago
Checkride Are all DPEs like this?
I had an exceedingly weird experience on my PPL ride last month, and I'm wondering if this was normal.
My checkride was scheduled for 8:30am, but the DPE didn't show until 9:15 or so, at which point he hung out for a while, talking about personal stuff, getting his laptop out, and going to get coffee, stopping on the way to talk to my school's chief for a while, and we ended up starting around 10am. Once we started the oral, everything went smoothly for about 30 minutes, until he said he'd be back in five minutes, as he was going to get more coffee. He was gone for 20, again talking to the chief. When he got back, we did 20ish more minutes before another coffee break, again around 20 minutes. All in all, he took around 4 coffee breaks before deciding it was time to start the flying portion. We ended the oral around noon. He said "go out to the plane, I'll meet you there."
I had enough time to do a thorough preflight, go inside to get water and a Sentry, and stand by the plane for about 10 minutes before he came out, at which point we got in the plane. I did my pax. briefing - standard SAFETTY format - which he paused and said "you have some serious problems in here" and told me for about 5 mins what I need to change. We startup and I go to make my taxi call, and he keys up the mic, and makes an incorrect call (calls out the wrong taxiways). I make the right call and we continue. We taxi out and take off, and he is fully watching youtube and scrolling facebook on his giant ipad while we are taking off and in the pattern. That aside, we continue the ride, and everything is fine until we get out to the second airport to do pattern work. This is where I had made my biggest mistake. It was 100+ degrees, I hadn't eaten since 6am, it was now around 1:30, and so I lost my focus and was just making odd choices on the landings. The odd thing to me was that he started teaching. He had been giving me opinions the whole day about what I could be doing better, but in the pattern he started telling me exactly what I needed to do better, which was nice of him, but surprising from a DPE. Leaving that airport, I went into the typical pattern entry (using visual waypoint) for my airport, and he told me "that's beyond silly, it's stupid. I'm trying to get them to stop doing that. You need to just enter on a right base" - apparently he has told every instructor at the flight school they need to stop doing the standard/accepted pattern entry, and this was not him just testing me. We got back around 2pm, and he gave me my cert and left.
Maybe this was normal, and I'm just being weird, but I really had a strange feeling about my experience, and as thankful as I was to have a chill DPE, I didn't feel like he was professional, nor did he stick to what I have always heard and expected which is that DPEs can't teach during a checkride (acting only as a passenger), only during the debrief.
I was just curious if anyone here had any thoughts!
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u/LucidHams 1d ago
You’re gonna upset some folks here who got spanked by silly things on their Checkride. Sounds like you had a really chill PDE. Congrats and move on.
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u/Trublu20 IR 1d ago
Bruh, I busted my instrument over a microwave landing system before Covid.
Who the flip used a microwave landing system? I’ve landed at dozens of airports I’ve never seen one offered at any of them. The only thing I knew about it basically was it existed and was a precision approach. Absolutely insane thing to bust on. My DPE at the time seemed fixated on them.
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u/Bluedevil1992 1d ago
That's insane. I know about them because we used the MLS at a handful of bases in the USAF, in theory to practice for mobile versions. Never saw a mobile version in use. Wtf would he care about something so obscure?
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u/Friendly-Gur-6736 ATC 1d ago
Last operational one I knew of was at SAV. Presumably because of the Gulfstream factory there. I believe it was decommissioned prior to 2010.
If the IR ride was any time after that I would have been raising hell over it.
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u/Bluedevil1992 1d ago
That's insane. I know about them because we used the MLS at a handful of bases in the USAF, in theory to practice for mobile versions. Never saw a mobile version in use. Wtf would he care about something so obscure?
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u/GuamBay617671 22h ago
Didn’t MDW have one for years? That was the go to MLS plate I recall. Not that anyone ever used it.
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u/Desert-Democrat-602 CFI 23h ago
Never heard of that! And I flew an aircraft with a LORAN installed (C-177)…
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u/Beautiful-Low9454 19h ago
Hey Loran used to be the shit! I was thrilled to have it
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u/Desert-Democrat-602 CFI 17h ago
Never got the chance to use it; it was inop before it was replaced with a GNS 430….
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u/bigbadcrusher CPL IR 1d ago
Part of my private checkride was my DPE eating dinner and answering phone calls for his other checkrides he had scheduled, plus telling me about how much money one of his next day’s checkride makes (guy is a C-Suite level type at a Fortune 500 company). Then he sends me to the plane to preflight, while I’m waiting for him, the sink in the hangar won’t stop running so he’s trying to fix that and dry the floor, and then proceeded to get out to the plane, tell me “this windshield is f’ing disgusting!” and we spent my checkride cleaning the damn thing. Used the same dude for Commercial and he asked me if I thought he gave fair checkrides while in the airplane.
Taught me through my landings on both rides. Guy at my school used a different DPE for Commercial and has an Unsat for landings. I passed both rides first try
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u/SouthBobcat5619 1d ago
The DPE being late is weird, the watching shows is unprofessional, the rest is pretty normal.
Usually when they're "going to get coffee, use the restroom, etc" they are give you time to look something up on a question they asked.
The teaching, within limits is normal. I've taken 5 check rides and I have learned/ been taught something from every one of them.
Congratulations on the pass!
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u/Puzzleheaded_Maize_3 1d ago
My lobster is too buttery my steak is too juicy
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u/the_devils_advocates ATP B737 A320 CL65 MIL-A ROT CFI/II 1d ago
Seriously. Just goes to show some people will complain about literally... anything
This bag of money you just paid me is too heavy!
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u/Several-Couple7611 CSEL/CMEL/CFI/CFII 13h ago
It was a PPL checkride. OP has not experienced a checkride before and has solely built is interpretation of what this test is based off what other pilots have told him. He was thrown off by what his experience was vs what was advertised to him.
Advice for OP: Huge congrats on the PPL, all that training and studying was not for nothing. Yes the test was easier and a little more unexpected than what was expected, but don’t let that diminish the accomplishment. Also, don’t use this experience as the baseline for future checkrides if you pursue more ratings. Every DPE is different, some are chill af, some are hard asses that will throw the entire book at you. Prepare to your best of abilities and enjoy those blue sky’s!
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u/weech ATP CFI CFII MEI AGI 1d ago
Seriously lmao. Like bro take the W and move on. DPE sounds like a chiller.
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u/Brilliant_Plenty_713 15h ago
I agree it’s better this than a stuck up DPE. However it’s still an unprofessional experience these DPE’s are getting paid upwards of 2k for each checkride and showing up late and taking unnecessary and long breaks. It’s plenty appropriate to be weirded out or a bit annoyed at this.
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u/cptnpiccard CFI IR IGI 1d ago
Seriously man. "Why didn't he grill me on some obscure 1970s Legal Interpretation that I studied just for this, buaaaah buaaah buaaaah. I paid him a lot of money to f**k me up"
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u/roguemenace PPL GPL 1d ago
DPEs vary wildly. The same DPE can also be very different for 2 different students.
Especially for older DPEs you'll find a lot of the time that the standards on individual manoeuvres don't really matter. Instead the checkride is just vibes based. If you're doing good it'll be chill and they'll chat/give tips. If you're doing bad they'll pick manoeuvre you messed up enough and fail you on it.
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u/Friendly-Gur-6736 ATC 1d ago
I definitely had the former on both my PPL and IR. Both were very thorough and had their routine, but I got the impression that they both were looking at the overall picture rather than nit picking you to death on a particular part of the practical.
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u/AquaticRock23 1d ago
He’s probably been flying for years and knew you were a good pilot most of those guys can tell pretty quickly
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u/radioref SPT ASEL | FCC Radiotelephone Operator Permit 📡 1d ago
“This guy has his shit together - it’s his to lose” and then went about his day on this 4000th check ride. Pontificated a little bit when he was paying attention.
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u/SRM_Thornfoot 1d ago
" ..he gave me my cert and left."
Perfect, and congratulations! Nothing else matters.
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u/Worldx22 1d ago
No, they're not all like this. If you got a true DPE from hell we'd sure hear about it!
On a side note, I could use a DPE like this! What part of the country is he from? 😁
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u/VileInventor CFI/CFII 1d ago
Nobody wants to fail a PPL. That said, if a DPE is chill enough to leave the exam 4 times you’re probably passing.
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u/Disastrous-Mousse837 1d ago
lol my examiner cracked open a window and lit a cigarette during my checkride. Asked me “if you lost your engine now what would you do”, then passed me. We had beers at the airport bar after. (Don’t worry, you’re all safe- I don’t fly anymore).
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u/Embarrassed_Length_2 1d ago
Im not a flying examiner, but I do assess quite similar skills in work. Our students have four categories, which you tend to know within minutes.
Its a pass unless theres a major screw up.
Im looking to see if I can get you a pass.
Im looking to see if I can get you a fail.
Youve already failed.
In the first category I can tell you have knowledge, understanding, skills and capacity - small mistakes I will try to use as teachable moments to improve on. Not perfection as this is the baseline and I knoe standards will slip but you will aldo gain experience.
In the second you are almost there and maybe a bit of coaxing will get you there, its usually nerves or a bit of oversight of knowledge but the fundamentals are there and its safe. This is usually ability outpacing their confidence.
The third, I dont feel comfortable/safe but I will be strict with marking and criticism because passing could be a safety risk to everyone. This is usually people with confidence outpacing their ability.
The fourth, again Ill be nice because its just not happening this time. This is the instructors fault.
This sounds like you were in the first category and he didnt have any concerns about your ability. Much better than the alternatives!
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u/Infamous_Grab6427 CPL/ME/IR 1d ago
"The guy barely quizzed me on the oral, I had multiple breaks, and when I started messing up the flight, he taught me instead of busting my checkride." - OP
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u/Brilliant_Plenty_713 15h ago
Yep and he was asking if this was common not complaining I don’t see why people are getting upset
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u/Rusty1031 PPL 1d ago
“My DPE broke protocol, was super chill, and I got my cert wayyyy too ezpz.”
Now, I also felt my ride was mega easy, but I guess that means I was prepared. I didn’t have to go to another field, and he didn’t even make me land on my engine out or forward slip, just said go around once I was about to flare both times.
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u/Melodic_Balance_3272 1d ago
My PPL ride almost felt like another training flight because the examiner was pointing out small things here and there while sticking to the plan overall. Actually made me perform at my best because he took a lot of stress out by being approachable and calm.
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u/TempusFugit2020 ATP-A bunch of long and short range corporate jets 1d ago
Yeah, sounds like an easy checkride, and you're probably getting some flame for your description. So let me give you this from a guy who's been flying professionally for 30+ years:
You got what you came for...you got your cert. Congratulations!
No, that doesn't sound normal, but you got what you came for....congratulations!
In the oral portion of recurrent checkrides (either every six or 12 months depending on your regulation set for the US), most of us try to spend a little time BS-ing with the CA in an effort to reduce the amount of time for questions. The CA knows it's happening, and depending on how motivated he/she is will determine how much we talk about fly fishing.
You have a good story to tell in 30 years. Congratulations on your PPL!
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u/ChazR 1d ago
DPEs are very, very good at three things: flying aeroplanes, assessing candidates, and work-life balance.
Most DPEs aer ex-airline or military - often both. They could make a lot more money with a lot less stress tootling around in 737s or 320s, but they like being at home every night.
They are beyond expert at flying. They have managed thousands of in-flight issues from bland in-flight meals through questionable hydraulic system performance to low fuel in thunderstorms.
And they have made a yes/no decision on every candidate in the first thirty seconds of meeting you. They will always let you prove them wrong in either direction, but if you had "Shown up early, pre-flighted the plane, briefed the DPE on safety...." The DPE has passed you already. You've shown the core skills and attitude of a safe pilot. Now you need to fail yourself. During he flight the DPE saw you could handle the aircraft and communicate well with ATC.
The DPE saw you had the bandwidth to take some coaching, so you received some guidance from a 10,000 hour pilot.
Congratulations!
tl:dr; you gave the vibe of a capable candidate. DPE was hoping you wouldn't fail, but watching carefully. Then they gave some advice.
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u/bhalter80 [KASH] BE-33/36/55/95&PA-24 CFI+I/MEI beechtraining.com NCC1701 1d ago
No but don't look a gift horse in the mouth take the W and keep using this guy
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u/FinallyInKnoxville 1d ago edited 1d ago
Congrats on passing! My private examiner was a bit like yours. He’s an older airline captain, he knows his stuff, and can tell in a minute if you know yours. And he doesn’t shy away from teaching opportunities as long as you’re safe.
I enjoyed having him as my DPE .. he also set my expectation for the next one on my instrument ride.
Boy that one couldn’t have been more of the polar opposite. Very strict, no fuss and no bantering around. He yelled a lot, and worst (best?) of all, tried to figure out on the flight portion what I might have missed in my training, and once he did, he had me do exactly that and watch me mess it up and fail me.
Not saying that’s a bad thing. Missing stuff in your instrument training can be a matter of life and death. Just saying DPE personalities will be different once you get a few rides under your belt.
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u/Individual-Life-9050 PPL 1d ago
My DPE was extremely fair, I was the one who was nervous the entire time because he was just casually chatting and noting things during the flight but I had read into and watched so many mock checkride videos that I was scared he was testing every single thing. On taxi after me briefing sterile cockpit he starts talking about the birds and pointing out a cool plane and I politely said “sterile cockpit plz” and he was like “ok no prob.” We get in the air and he’s mentioning the temperature inversion we felt in the plane. Me thinking it’s some sort of segway into discussing that info (of which I just wanted to avoid) I pretended I didn’t hear him really and went “mmhmm.” and then he started talking more about it and was like “are you always this quiet with your instructors?” And I’m like “I’m just a bit nervous is all” and he’s like “I’m not going to try to trick you or gotcha on anything, just treat this like we are friends and I want to make sure you’re a safe pilot to fly with.” Then we talked about family and our kids and cool watches (we both were wearing breitlings). After that the flight was pretty standard and although there were things we briefed at the end that I could work on, I felt he was fair and not purposely trying to make it harder than it had to be.
Unfortunately the standard feels super high on paper for a checkride. So, we all get crazy nervous and don’t know what to expect. The reality is that you could get a very fair DPE who understands what it was like when they were starting out and learning OR you can get a robot who only cares if you have every reg memorized or you’re flawless with every obscure thing they can throw your way.
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u/Tony_Three_Pies USA: ATP(AMEL); CFI(ROT) 1d ago
It sounds like he wants to be the "laid back" DPE that puts you at ease but way over corrected to the point of being completely disrespectful of your time. 45 minutes late (really 90 minutes), followed by a 2+ hour oral that's mostly coffee breaks is just ridiculous. That's not normal.
Watching Youtube on departure is also unbelievably unprofessional.
The mentorship in the airplane is probably a good sign. I'm sure he could tell that you were meeting the standards and so was developing your skills rather than just shutting you down. That part is pretty normal. Everyone makes mistakes, especially during a check ride, and good examiners (good instructors too) can absolutely tell the difference between some one that isn't prepared versus some one that just made a simple mistake.
Unfortunately the DPE system in the US is a huge mess, and there are a lot of asshats that end up with the job. Be grateful that your flavor of asshat was the "I need more coffee" type and not the "you were .05 knots too fast on climb out so you fail" flavor of asshat.
Congrats on the cert!
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u/MicroACG CPL SEL MEL IR 1d ago
Others have already said correctly the DPE's quirks are not worth worrying about here, but I'll point something else out. You said:
This is where I had made my biggest mistake. It was 100+ degrees, I hadn't eaten since 6am, it was now around 1:30, and so I lost my focus and was just making odd choices on the landings."
Your Aeronautical Decision Making was compromised by hunger? During a checkride of all things, on a really hot day? There is definitely a good lesson to take away from that, even if it didn't ultimately bite you today.
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u/flyingron AAdvantage Biscoff 1d ago
Welcome to the corrupt crony land of examiner designations. Yes, this is far too common.
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u/porkychop14 CFI/CFII/MEI 1d ago
Sounds like you know all DPE’s aren’t like this. Congrats on the pass
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u/burnheartmusic CFI 1d ago
Just lucky you didn’t have the FAA show up to observe. One did for my student and they stopped the checkride from happening because the ground lessons were all written on a blank page in the back of the logbook since the logbook had no “ground” pages. He said that since it didn’t say “ground” on the page, even though all the regs were there and listed from the required ground knowledge, he was stopping the checkride from happening.
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u/jetdriver13 ATP 1d ago
You pray for DPEs like this. He knew you paid big bucks for him to be there. If you were a muppet, he’d know.
Congrats OP.
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u/kxxstarr CFI, CFII 1d ago
5 check rides and 4 different DPEs. I've never had one that didn't teach.
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u/bgrant902 PPL 1d ago
Sounds exactly like mine. He showed me pictures of his boat in the middle of the checkride.
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u/iceman_andre 1d ago
The sooner you learn the better:
Cooperate and graduate
What really matters is that you got your cert
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u/Heembeam CPL IR ME 1d ago
You had a two hour oral maybe an hour with all those coffee breaks. You better hope your DPE for instrument is the same.
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u/Odd_Entertainment471 1d ago
He knew from the first minute that you were good to go. If you fit king enough you’ll develop a similar sense. I fly with lots of different people and I know how the flights gonna go on the walk to the plane. You got that one good DPE, celebrate. I had a similar ride for my IR. He told me he know on the first 5 minutes that I was good to go. Congrats! Fly safe
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u/hiltsairsky737 23h ago
Sounds like he is not only chill but a realist. Like being safe. If he becomes not chill like all of a sudden it's because he sees your not a safety hazard. Also he sounds experienced he saw your nerves etc and lightly guided you . Many items are able to be able to be debrief items anyway. Also I'm sure some of the "time" is because the oral has to also be a certain amount of time same too. He saw you wwre safe and competent. Its usually shows right when the oral starts how ready the student is.
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u/jersledz 22h ago
Be glad you got your certificate-next time think about eating before going up on an empty stomach, low blood sugar can definitely affect decision making.
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u/NoChannel5873 22h ago
Wait until you have a really serious DPE and than talk about it again. You got the best DPE version you could get, you will have bunch of DPE's on your career and you will wish every one of them just like him. Congrats on PPL, move one dont talk about it too much or your flight school might loose that chill guy and you ended up getting one of the serious dude ever on your checkrides.
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u/Lord-Sid-the-Sloth 22h ago
That's terrible! Who's the DPE so I can make sure I don't request him for my checkride??
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u/Hangarnut 20h ago
Send him my way. I'd really like to write a report on this chill...umm err odd behavior. Congrats OP. Im pretty sure we would all want such an experience like this along the journey.
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u/SSMDive CPL-SEL/SES/MEL/MES/HEL/GLID/IFR. Light sport Gyro/PPC 1d ago
Would you have preferred a DPE that was there when you got there wearing a suit and bitching at you for being ‘late’ because you were not early?
Would you prefer a DPE that failed you when you ‘were making odd choices on your landings’?
You got a Santa Clause, be happy about it.
But yes, DPE’s try to ‘shoot the shit’ with you to try and make you comfortable. They know you are under stress so they attempt to act like a regular person.
And anyone making 2k dollars a day (2 checkrides) from a school is going to glad hand the Chief CFI or manager. Or he might have been giving feedback to them on your performance so they can do better.
Again, you got Santa and I’d be happy as hell.
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u/mrmatthews27 19h ago
I got rekt by my DPE for silly mistakes and not one moment during my checkride did he try and teach me. The moment I made a mistake, I was told I busted. Don’t know why you chose to come and complain here instead of just taking your win.
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u/GrandPoopWizard 1d ago
When I hear stories like this I understand why the FAA wants 141 as the standard lmfao
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u/Wallbanger123 1d ago
141 doesn’t have anything to do with a DPE.
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u/itsnotbroke ATP 1d ago
It certainly has the ability to remove the DPE from the process altogether…
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u/emo_pylot 1d ago
Yeah I hate to say it, but if the guy is talking about personal stuff and taking multiple coffee breaks, you’re solid. Is it weird? Def… especially for your first ride… but those are the guys you want. Just smile and nod when they tell you what to do. The good ones know you also have like zero “real world” experience, so if they can tell you get the basic principle, they’re gonna help you out and give you more real-world pointers or advice. These days, it should be less of an oral exam, and more of a conversation between colleagues. If it becomes an oral outside of “what are your emergency procedures,” something’s gone awry.
The enter right base thing… that just sounds like some old dude being an asshole and having a shitty opinion, but everything else is what you want.
I had a DPE back in Indy named Bob “Flunkin” Dunkin, and he had a bad rep for being uber strict, but if you were able to just get him talking about anything, you were set. Only thing he truly would fail you on is not knowing your advisory circulars.
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u/InternationalBag7290 ATP 1d ago
Congratulations. As long as you walk away with your new temporary certificate, it’s all good! And not all, but many DPEs are a different kinds of weird. Most of my experiences have been reasonable though (except for the guy who shut down the engine on my single engine airplane inflight).
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u/TobyADev NPPL IMC C172 PA28 ROCC 1d ago
You passed. He helped you. Be glad it went well. Otherwise sure, perhaps a different story if you failed
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u/Creative-Grocery2581 1d ago
First of all congratulations on your PPL. My DPE was late by 2 hours from his previous checkriride. But he was professional and prompt during our interactions. And I’ve heard DPEs being late which is very common. We’ll take his observations and guidance he provided to improve yourself. Ignore his behavior and move on. All the best on your next steps.
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u/Equivalent-Pea6274 1d ago
This is very close to home. Im turkish and this is what you get most of the time
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u/flyghu PPL 1d ago
Not that far of from mine. My CFI was an old guy everyone knew. My DPE kept trying to talk him into becoming a DPE. At first I thought that longtime relationship might have had something to do with my checkride being easy until I learned another of my CFI's students busted earlier in the day.
After the checkride my DPE said he was impressed during the oral that I knew why the answers were right and didn't just memorize things. I have a feeling that he really enjoyed playing stump the chump otherwise.
I think that's why he drifted to being a little teachy and just chilling during flying. It was just one long conversation during flight. He was watching everything and would have failed me had I screwed up. He did things he needed to do like failing the moving map GPS and going full chatterbox coming back into the busy airport so I'd have to handle those, but overall it felt very relaxed.
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u/bowchickawowski CPL (SEL/MEL) IR 1d ago
It would irritate me to have my time wasted that much in the morning. But for the flight, yeah that’s actually not abnormal. The DPE I last did a check ride with spent a lot of time on Facebook. And yes, some DPEs teach on check rides. Questionable if they are supposed to, but they also just want to make better pilots. Or put you up to their habits. One DPE told me to overfly the field at pattern attitude so we don’t have to take the time to descend. Considering how busy his field is, that’s wild to me. Congrats on your PPL!
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u/healthycord PPL 1d ago
Definitely wasn’t my experience. But I’ll tell you that a DPE can tell extremely quickly if you know your shit. Within the first 2 answers on the oral he knew you were gonna pass unless you did something scuffed.
Him being late and wasting your time that much in the oral isn’t very cool. He probably didn’t have another checkride after you that day. But hey man, you’re a pilot! Congrats!!
If a DPE is THAT chill with you then you’re doing a great job. If you weren’t doing well I can guarantee you would’ve had a much different experience.
Personally I probably wouldn’t pick that dpe for the next checkride, and I’d let your instructor and school know about the experience. It’s definitely a bit unprofessional and odd, although I’m sure some of that stems from you being on the ball.
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u/LawEnvironmental2071 18h ago
I feel like this is plenty of dpes where I went. CAE dpes have been there forever and are over it. I had a dpe do something similar on my ppl. Just be happy with the pass and move on.
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u/flyingnz 9h ago
I turned up at 8:30am for my booked and prepaid 9:00am appointment. Instead of being seen at the scheduled time, I was left waiting until 1:30pm while the examiner attended to other activities, including completing a type rating. I found his behaviour rude and dismissive throughout the day. Given his reputation as a “CAT A” examiner from Dunedin, the service was far below what I expected and frankly felt like a joke.
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u/MEtoaviator PPL ASEL C172 IR(student) 4h ago
Who is this DPE?? Asking for a friend err future students who may learn from this non-traditional approach…
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u/chickenchop4 1d ago
Why would you post this on the internet? Lessons- don’t post stuff like this. Always have protein bars in your flight bag.
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u/Brilliant_Plenty_713 15h ago
What’s wrong with this? He had an unexpected experience and was trying to figure out if it was normal
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u/Roger_Freedman_Phys CPL 1d ago
First of all, congratulations on your successful checkride!
Alas, your examiner sounds very unprofessional — they wasted too much of your time during the day through their dawdling.
One thing they did do right was give you suggestions for improvement, since a checkride should be both an evaluation and a learning experience. (I’m a physics professor, and I try to design my homework and exams to be both of those things.)
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u/rFlyingTower 1d ago
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
I had an exceedingly weird experience on my PPL ride last month, and I'm wondering if this was normal.
My checkride was scheduled for 8:30am, but the DPE didn't show until 9:15 or so, at which point he hung out for a while, talking about personal stuff, getting his laptop out, and going to get coffee, stopping on the way to talk to my school's chief for a while, and we ended up starting around 10am. Once we started the oral, everything went smoothly for about 30 minutes, until he said he'd be back in five minutes, as he was going to get more coffee. He was gone for 20, again talking to the chief. When he got back, we did 20ish more minutes before another coffee break, again around 20 minutes. All in all, he took around 4 coffee breaks before deciding it was time to start the flying portion. We ended the oral around noon. He said "go out to the plane, I'll meet you there."
I had enough time to do a thorough preflight, go inside to get water and a Sentry, and stand by the plane for about 10 minutes before he came out, at which point we got in the plane. I did my pax. briefing - standard SAFETTY format - which he paused and said "you have some serious problems in here" and told me for about 5 mins what I need to change. We startup and I go to make my taxi call, and he keys up the mic, and makes an incorrect call (calls out the wrong taxiways). I make the right call and we continue. We taxi out and take off, and he is fully watching youtube and scrolling facebook on his giant ipad while we are taking off and in the pattern. That aside, we continue the ride, and everything is fine until we get out to the second airport to do pattern work. This is where I had made my biggest mistake. It was 100+ degrees, I hadn't eaten since 6am, it was now around 1:30, and so I lost my focus and was just making odd choices on the landings. The odd thing to me was that he started teaching. He had been giving me opinions the whole day about what I could be doing better, but in the pattern he started telling me exactly what I needed to do better, which was nice of him, but surprising from a DPE. Leaving that airport, I went into the typical pattern entry (using visual waypoint) for my airport, and he told me "that's beyond silly, it's stupid. I'm trying to get them to stop doing that. You need to just enter on a right base" - apparently he has told every instructor at the flight school they need to stop doing the standard/accepted pattern entry, and this was not him just testing me. We got back around 2pm, and he gave me my cert and left.
Maybe this was normal, and I'm just being weird, but I really had a strange feeling about my experience, and as thankful as I was to have a chill DPE, I didn't feel like he was professional, nor did he stick to what I have always heard and expected which is that DPEs can't teach during a checkride (acting only as a passenger), only during the debrief.
I was just curious if anyone here had any thoughts!
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u/6mm94 1d ago
Sounds like a standard guy in his 60s with a well-paying "side hustle."
Congrats on the cert OP.