Oral exam place and questions

On Apr 9, 5:54 pm, Ron Natalie wrote:
Mxsmanic wrote:
Where does this exam take place? Is it in a classroom, or in a testing
center, or is it actually in the aircraft?

It's usually done at the point of the checkride, inside the FBO in some
convenient place where you go over the paperwork and then outside in the
vicinity of the aircraft, typically the candidate being asked questions
while demonstrating the checkride.



When you are asked math-type questions, are you expected to answer with just a
ballpark figure or an exact answer? In the latter case, can you use a
calculator, or pencil and paper, or must you do it in your head?

You're not typically asked math-type questions. Generally questions are
asked about aircraft systems and your preflight planning is examined.
In flight, you might be asked to compute some things as part of your
normal cross country navigation. Accuracy to what you can get on the
whizwheel is accceptable.

If I'm asked how long it will take to go 84 nm at 120 kts, I know that it's
about 40 minutes, but if an exact answer is required I don't see how I could
practically provide that without a calculator.

Whizwheels were the classic, calculators are acceptable.

Traditionally the students were told what calculations to do ahead of
time and would arrive with a flight plan, W&B, performance, balanced
field, etc asked for by the DE the night before the ride. However, the
FSDO is now asking the examiners to throw those out and make the
student do another one right there to ensure the CFI isn't doing it
for them. Usually the DE will ask the student to plan some sort of
cross country (complete with runway requirements, performance, etc),
then go get coffee and 1/2 watch the process but then go over the
results. A great DE sets aside the entire day for the checkride to
avoid rushing the student, although 1/2 a day is probably the most
common.

-Robert, CFII