OTORCRAFT CHECKRIDE
D
id you recently take an examination facilitated by a FAA- appointed Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE)? If so, the FAA may have recently contacted you to take a survey regarding your practical test experience. This survey is part of an
emphasis program by the FAA Designee Quality Assurance Branch, AFS- 650. This program interviews recent applicants tested by a DPE, and also observes the DPE conducting an actual practical test. The purpose is to observe the DPE, not the applicant. This FAA inspection program is known as Special Emphasis Evaluation of a Designee (SEED).
Why the sudden attention on the DPE pool? It’s an eff ort to improve the training and evaluation standards of those that wish to obtain FAA pilot certifi cation. The FAA realizes that although the Practical Test Standards (PTS) refl ect objective standards, the exam itself is administered by an individual, which imparts certain subjectivity to the standard. In cases where a DPE imparts a subjective determination contrary to a regulation or PTS element, the FAA will take action to include DPE termination, re-examination of applicants, and (in severe cases) legal action against the examiner.
One such severe case is former DPE Edward Lane of the Las Vegas
area. A SEED inspector found cause to formerly investigate examinations conducted by the DPE over a multi-year period. As a result, the FAA determined that all of the applicants would be re-examined. (For more information on this case, read FAA Notice N8900.194.) It is important to note the FAA is looking at more than just DPEs. In a similar October 2011 case, former FAA Inspector Harrington Bishop plead guilty to accepting illegal bribes for hundreds of unauthorized pilot examinations he had conducted. He went to prison.
Training Musings By Randy Rowles
DPE Refresh: The FAA’s SEED Program at Work
As a longtime DPE, I fully support the FAA in this initiative. Only a
few months ago, our FSDO directed all DPEs to provide surveys to fi ve applicants examined for an FAA certifi cate or rating. The questions were aligned with the activity expected of a DPE in the PTS and as outlined in FAA Order 8900.2. I provided the next fi ve applicants with the survey immediately upon completion of the exam. Of those examined, three of the applicants were found “unsatisfactory” during the exam. After a review of the surveys, I was pleased to fi nd that each applicant, although disappointed in the outcome, was in agreement with the decision and found the exam to be comprehensive and fair. You can’t ask for more than that!
The SEED program has resulted in a decline in the total number of examiners within the DPE pool. Prior to the program, there were more than 1,200 DPEs within the FAA. Today, roughly 850 DPEs remain in service. This decline is in some cases due to a lack of urgency to fi nd replacement DPEs by the FAA. However, the collateral damage from the bad behavior of a few may well cause checkride backlogs.
So remember, if your DPE selection is based upon fi nding an examiner that gives checkrides resembling that of a Christmas morning from your childhood memories, you may want to look elsewhere. The result may be a not so merry Christmas!
Randy Rowles has been a FAA pilot examiner for 20 years for all helicopter certifi cates and ratings. He holds a FAA Gold Seal Flight Instructor Certifi cate, NAFI Master Flight Instructor designation, and was the 2013 recipient of the HAI Flight Instructor of the Year Award.
58 September 2014
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62
