Checkride

A wavering commitment to safety

Every designated pilot examiner (DPE) must attend regular in-service training, scheduled such that it minimizes the burden on their time, travel, and expense. Usually. Should an examiner miss the local training, he can attend another held somewhere else throughout the nation. It can be fun, if not inexpensive. It can be informative, if not exciting. At least it should be standardized! Well....

I had the unfortunate occurrence of missing a locally scheduled DPE training class, so after consultation with the flight standards district office (FSDO), I was able to catch up with the latest in pilot examining in San Antonio, Texas. At this gathering, as in all others that I have attended, the major emphasis for DPEs was: "Follow national policy." The Practical Test Standards (PTS) exist so that pilot tests won't vary regionally, or on the whims of individual examiners. The concept underscores standardization at its finest.

Tools to aid pilot examiners, flight instructors, and pilot applicants exist in the form of handbooks and training aids long available through the U.S. Government Printing Office, or occasionally at FSDOs. Times change, as do our training and job tools, and the one being most strongly hawked is the computer application system known as the Integrated Airman Certification and/or Rating Application, or IACRA. Many in aviation's education industry are thoroughly familiar with this marvel, but those in remote locations may not be. For those whose environment demands traditional pen-and-paper approaches to communication with the FAA, let us note that a good percentage of DPEs must continue traditionally. FAA officials repeatedly admit that they do not foresee a time when IACRA will be the only method of submitting checkride records. The pen remains as mighty as the computer.

Lowering costs remains the primary reason given for pushing IACRA. Mistakes in paper documentation are reduced when a computer system recognizes an error. Through this system, many errors have been eliminated. As you anticipate your coming checkride, using IACRA means that you will receive that coveted permanent pilot certificate more quickly. If you are interested, you may experience the IACRA walkthrough introduction online. Understandably, the security instructions are very important when you register. It is highly standardized, and will likely remain so as the FAA pushes to meet International Civil Aviation Organization requirements.

If you wonder why the wording of this article seems to honor the concept of standardization, yet imply that as an aviation community we are not yet truly there, you are most perceptive. In the short two months between this and my preceding article ("Checkride: CRM and ADM," September AOPA Flight Training) at least three flight students have discussed the conduct of their checkrides with DPEs other than myself. Their concerns have ranged from one examiner using what the applicant recognized as a long-out-of-date PTS, to disregarding flight procedures discussed in our classes and published in the PTS, but not observed by their DPE as they tested.

The FAA has worked long and hard to standardize flight procedures, and for good reason. The more standard the performance of an operation is, the less likely that the procedure will be improperly (and dangerously) performed. That means that communication of the task at hand requires less distracting verbiage and explanation, and the operation is performed more efficiently. Less distraction, even in the form of thinking about the meaning of what is about to occur, means better concentration on the flight and greater safety.

A large part of that standardization is based on the 1992 Advisory Circular (AC) 91-15, "Positive Exchange of Flight Controls." The FAA's seriousness toward this safety goal is stated in the Aviation Instructor's Handbook, complete with a detailed description of what it is and why it exists. Its placement into the various PTS as Special Emphasis subjects should draw the entire aviation community's attention to its importance. Sadly, during my training in San Antonio in June, the positive exchange of flight controls--and more important, the concept of standardization--suffered one more blow. As the group discussed varied challenges regarding it, our instructor let the deepening discussion end with an admonition to allow whatever technique the applicant uses. Why should this technique face such resistance? Why does the cadre of FAA trainers have difficulty in simply saying, "Enforce it!"?

In a college-level class that I recently conducted, while teaching flight instructor candidates subjects that are more education-specific than aviation-specific, students made some insightful observations through their questions and comments. Their questions focused on the "why" of various policies. Such questions are common.

My reason for calling them insightful and remarkable was that their "why" queries did not concentrate on the FAA, nor the management of their flight schools. They concentrated instead on the heart of practices long embraced by the aviation industry. Why, for example, if the FAA demonstrated in 1992 via its Advisory Circular 61-15 the clear safety advantage of the specific wording of the positive exchange of flight controls, is it shunned in the flight training industry after 16 years? Why, they asked, do we find the aviation community embracing unproven concepts in flight operations that are clearly addressed in the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) as unworkable or dangerous? (Here their reference was to the AIM's 4-1-9, "Traffic in the area, please advise.") Then came their comments and discussions comparing different examiners and their individual approaches to conducting practical tests. And my students had their answer.

These individuals are the future of that same aviation community to which so many of us devote significant effort in search of even a slightly increased level of safety and public acceptance. Standardized operational procedures are clearly foundational to those efforts, but only when they are standard. That means the entire industry must have a commitment to standard practices. Absent that commitment at the user level, the FAA itself will ultimately waver.

The largest tree can be felled with a hatchet--it just takes time.

Dave Wilkerson is a designated pilot examiner, writer/photographer, and historian. He has been a certificated flight instructor since 1981 with approximately 2,000 hours of dual instruction, and is a single- and multiengine commercial-rated pilot.