Originally Posted by
rickair7777
A few. Also some FSDO's will have a de facto "quota" for initial CFI failures. If the DPE is behind on his quota, he may be looking for any excuse.
With that in mind, it's a great idea to do your CFI with an examiner who has done one or more of your previous rides. Assuming you get along, he'll be somewhat emotionally invested in you and less likely to utilize you as a quota-filler.
I'm hoping to take mine sometime this summer. I don't believe we get to choose who our examiner is though.
As a side note: 2 people have taken them in my area and both got a different examiner from the same FSDO....both failed the first attempt. I know the one had to fly roughly 80 miles to meet the examiner and the examiner wanted to start at 7am. The applicant slept at the FBO because he didn't get off work until 8pm. He got up at 4am to get showered, do his weather and performance data all so he could be off the ground by 6am. That kind of start is just asking for failure for me.