"Shirley" wrote in message
...

I'd like to hear from a DE that has tested
students coming from both re skill, knowledge/understanding, safety,
and
confidence. How do the majority compare?

It's difficult to get rock solid scientific data on how REALLY GOOD a
specific pilot is when taking the flight test for several reasons, the
least of which is the fact that for flight test purposes, the DE is
testing for a known and published MINIMUM STANDARD. If that minimum
standard is met, the pilot is passed. It's important to recognize that
the minimum standard has been determined to be a demonstration of safe
operating practices.
This establishes a sort of paradox in a way. You can establish data for
a pass/fail ratio according to training method used, but it's extremely
difficult to establish how much better above the minimum standard a
specific pilot might have performed during a flight test, since the
upper limits of the tested pilot's performance by test definition are
not tested!
There are pilots who specialize in operating as check pilots who DO
operate in the area of exploring a specific pilot's maximum limits of
comprehension and performance. This is a highly specialized skill and
requires an extremely well qualified check pilot.
The reason I mention this is because the process of evaluation involved
in checking a pilot for a minimum standard and the process involved in
checking a pilot for a maximum competence level are entirely different
procedures. For the minimum standard, if the pilot can perform to that
standard, the procedure doesn't require additional exploration above the
standard point to establish additional data on the pilot being tested.
On the other hand, a pilot being tested for maximum performance levels
will be asked to perform at the highest level possible and within the
closest tolerances possible for the pilot/airplane combination being
used for the test.
Since most of the check flights I performed were involved with extremely
high performance airplanes, I adopted early on, a check flight procedure
that truly tested the upper limits of the pilots I was flight testing.
Keep in mind this wasn't the DE scenario, so I had much greater latitude
in which to operate.
We discovered however, through the use of our procedures in flight
checks, that using the same method we were using for high performance
airplanes for check outs in light GA airplanes; produced an extremely
desirable result; that being a solid look at the ACTUAL performance
levels of the pilots we were checking out in our airplanes. By testing
for a maximum level instead of a minimum level, we discovered that many
pilots who were "safe" could be made a hell of a lot "safer".
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired
For personal email, please replace
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