No more partial checkrides. :(

Michael wrote:
Sacramento FSDO recently told him that he is not allowed to begin a
checkride (i.e. do the oral) unless he believes there is a high
probability of finishing the entire exam.


What on earth is the point of that?


Well, a checkride is, after all, a flight.

No it's not a flight. It's a series of demonstrations both
oral and practical. The only "flight" element is the requirement
to plan one out to the range of the aircraft. The PTS otherwise
could do each required element in a different "flight."

I think that's a bunch of crap. It must be up to the DE.
I took my instrument practical back in january. for some reason (its too
involved to get into now) I wound up without enough hours (part 141
requires 35 hours). My instructor and the chief flight instructor
didn't catch it. i did the oral, and the next weekend after i made up
the 5 hours i was missing, finished the flight portion.

Robert M. Gary wrote:
I just called a local examiner to ask what will happen if the weather
isn't good enough to fly with my student tomorrow. He said that the
Sacramento FSDO recently told him that he is not allowed to begin a
checkride (i.e. do the oral) unless he believes there is a high
probability of finishing the entire exam. The result is that if the
weather is bad he CANNOT do the oral and save the flying for another
day. This sounds like a crappy policy to me. I always thought breaking
the checkride up was a great idea anyway.

-Robert, CFI

AOPA's Flight Training magazine for May 2005 has an article concerning
the new "Designated Pilot and Flight Engineer Examiners' Handbook.
http://afs600.faa.gov/ look on the right side for "Pilot examiner's
handbook."

p. 60 from the magazine
In the past, " FSDOs had instructed DPEs that unless it was reasonable
to expect to complete the test on the appointed day, the test was to be
rescheduled."
"better guidance appears now with the examiner authorized to elect,
with the applicant's concurrence, to begin the test anyway with the
intention of finishing on another day. However, when the test is
discontinued, the applicant must be issued a letter of discontinuance.