Originally Posted by
Std Deviation
In regards to evaluation a checkride says that on a particular day, with a particular examiner, and a particular set of environmental circumstances you met the standard at that time or did not. An examiner gets a fraction of a snapshot to determine a pass or fail.
Years ago, I was in favor of eliminating the DPE system and allowing instructors of a certain experience level to "self certify" the applicant. In other words, I've spend 40+ hours with this person, and I'm in the best position to judge competency. Not a DPE who may or may not have a financial conflict of interest. Never worked out the kinks in this but my belief is the applicants would actually improve as the CFI is "on the hook."
As a side note, when I took my CFI initial in 1991 in the Detroit FSDO all applicants for CFI initial were required to test with the FAA. The DTW FSDO would not allow DPEs to do the exam (that has subsequently changed). Although the failure rate was high, it was not impossible to successfully complete a CFI initial with the FAA (case in point).
When I was a flight instructor there was a student at the school who was working on his CFI and failed 3 times before he passed. The examiner at the FSDO was known to be extremely tough. However, I don't think that examiner felt failing a checkride meant you were a horrible pilot/applicant it was a chance for someone to vette you and correct any deficiencies so you were just that much better when you passed.
We also had an instructor at the school who signed his students off for a total of 8 checkrides and they failed every single one. He was constantly concerned about money and only wanted to get his flight time in so he could get to Eagle.
So I agree standardization would help a lot, but there's plenty of guys out there who failed because they had a lazy instructor who wasn't really concerned with their success but rather about getting to fly that shiny jet. So I don't think it's fair to assume anyone with 3 failed checkrides is a total failure at aviation and should go get a job doing something else.
There is also that quotient of examiners who give passes away like candy, and also some that are totally unprofessional and fail people for ridiculous reasons.
So those of you out there with a perfect pass record try not to thumb your nose too hard at the guys who failed a few checkrides.