"Shirley" wrote in message
...
"Dudley Henriques" wrote:

Your following comment, "A competent,
conscientious examiner digs on rote answers
to determine the comprehension level behind
them." is inconsistent with my experience,
and in fact is antithesis to the DE's legal
requirement to pass or fail on a minimum
standard demonstrated by the examinee.
This being said, there most surely are DE's
out here who do as you suggest, but they are
in no way required to do this and in doing so, do
so to satisfy no current FAA requirement for
certification.

If a DE is not legally required to get anything beyond a rote answer
from an
applicant: (a) why require an oral exam? If all that is required is an
accurate
rote answer, the knowledge (written) test satisfies that; and (b) why
would it
be necessary for someone with the qualifications of a *DE* conduct the
oral
exam? Nearly ANYONE is capable of asking questions that merely require
only a
rote answer. What would be the point of that kind of oral exam?

I understand what you're saying about meeting the "minimum standard"
.... but
there's obviously some discretion and responsibility within the
"standards"
framework given to the DE to satisfy him/herself that rote answers are
backed
up with some degree of understanding to meet that standard.

That said, has an applicant ever failed an oral exam after giving the
correct
rote answer if he couldn't explain it further if he were questioned in
more
depth? Would this be legal? Sounds to me like you're saying (above)
that in
your experience, examiners don't generally go beyond just hearing the
"right"
answer.

You are confusing what rote defines in a flight test. Rote can be used
to answer to a question as you indicate, OR it can be the way something
is PERFORMED, which is what we are discussing here on this thread.
What we are discussing here has absolutely nothing at all to do with a
verbal answer to a question. Neither does it relate to what takes place
in the written exam. It has EVERYTHING to do with a mechanical recall
that allows an examinee to perform as requested by an examiner in the
air during a flight test without actually having as much comprehensive
understanding of what is being performed and why as could be the
situation if comprehension was causing the performance by the examinee.
It is the entire premise of this thread that an examinee can perform in
this manner and pass a flight test to a minimum standard.

May I please, respectfully ask you to read up on this thread a bit more
from the beginning .
Thank you.