FAA Checkride Preparation
For CFIs
Why your students need a mock checkride
No one is born a pilot (or CFI); we’ve all had to earn our way there. One of the great things about aviation is that there are no shortcuts. Everyone undergoes the same evaluations; it’s not good enough to just “try hard.” Each of us who have earned an FAA certificate have done just that; earned it.
FAA Practical Tests (“checkrides”) are high pressure. There’s a significant amount of money at risk, as well as a potential black mark on both the applicant and recommending CFI’s record in the case of a failure. However, earning a certificate doesn’t have to be a stressful, unpleasant experience.
By simulating the environment and pressures of a checkride beforehand, instructors can help applicants overcome nerves and be prepared for success on exam day. A successfully completed mock checkride allows both applicant and recommending instructor alike to feel confident about an upcoming appointment with an FAA DPE. The applicant has already demonstrated their knowledge!
Why you should have a third party (like MockCheckride.com) conduct a mock checkride for your student
Instructors, let’s be honest, we’ve all been there while doing review with an applicant the week before an FAA Practical Test. They’re a great candidate, with a high score on the written and solid aviation knowledge; an excellent pilot, with good awareness in the air… but wait, what’s that? They don’t have any clue whatsoever about [insert knowledge topic here]??? How could this have happened, and why didn’t we catch it earlier? I swear we covered that months ago? Maybe we did, and they’ve just forgotten. Maybe we missed it entirely.
Or worse… the applicant makes it through all of our pre-checkride checks, only for the DPE to discover a gaping hole in the applicant’s knowledgebase. Pink slip, and “call me in a month or two when you’ve reviewed that with your instructor.” It’s not the end of the world if a student fails a Practical, but it does come at a high cost of time, money, and stress.
Flight maneuvers are one thing. Even an inexperienced instructor is still an experienced pilot, able to spot errors and evaluate based on ACS/PTS criteria. The applicant can fly to standards (airspeed, altitude, etc.) or they cannot, and the slate of maneuvers is limited. Once an applicant is proficient in maneuvers and has accumulated the required aeronautical experience, they are flight-ready for a checkride.
This is much less true for oral examination of an applicant’s aviation knowledge. It takes a keen instructor’s eye to determine whether an applicant has both the depth and breadth of knowledge to successfully pass the oral portion of an FAA Practical Test.
A third party like MockCheckride.com can conduct a mock checkride and identify items that may have been missed or poorly covered in an applicant’s training. We have a clean slate (no prior knowledge of the applicant and their training) and evaluate them exclusively on their ability to meet FAA standards as outlined in the ACS/PTS.
Another thought: while some CFIs are excellent at conducting mock checkrides, most do them only occasionally when a student is getting ready for a checkride. For part-time instructors, this may be one student every year or two; is this instructor going to be able to accurately recreate the checkride experience? New instructors (having only just passed their own checkrides) may have fresh knowledge, but not the breadth of experience with different DPEs and questioning styles to be able to offer an appropriate mock checkride. We work with candidates from all over the country, and follow up with our customers to hear what their checkride experience was like.
A mock checkride with an out-of-practice or inexperienced instructor is better than none at all, but it’s perhaps not the best use of the student’s time and money. Regardless of whether an applicant chooses to use our services, we STRONGLY encourage a mock checkride oral with an experienced instructor who was not directly involved with the applicant’s training.