As you get to the end of your flight training, the checkride starts to become more real. You’re finally about to be a licensed private pilot and there’s a lot you need to know. Hopefully you’ve had a good instructor and you’ve been following the ACS (Airman Certification Standards from day one. This is your best study aid because it covers everything that you will be tested over. I’ll give you some of the tips I followed as I prepared for my exam and hopefully they give you some useful insights.

Parts of the checkride

The checkride is broken into two parts: the oral exam and the flight exam. Remember that the whole exam is open book. You can look at things in the FAR, AIM, PHAK, and POH. If there are any areas you know you’re a little weak on, make sure to bookmark them.

Oral exam

During this part of the test, you’ll cover all of the knowledge portions from the ACS. Don’t depend on memorizing everything like we tend to do for the ground exam. You can expect the DPE (designated pilot examiner) to ask you scenario-based questions instead of definition type questions. It’s essentially walking through everything you need to do before you take off. Think about it as planning a trip to the next city with your family.

To start, they may ask questions like, “What do you need to make sure you’re legal to fly?” If you haven’t seen the logbooks for the aircraft, ask your instructor to review them with you. The DPE may ask to see them before the flight and ask you if the plane is within regulations to fly. This is where you need to know the documents and requirements necessary for an aircraft to be deemed airworthy. Things like your AROWE and A1TAPE acronyms, understanding of ADs, and

For example, you know the ATOMATOFLAMES acronym for the required equipment on an aircraft. They may give you a scenario like, “You’re getting ready to take a friend to the next city and you notice the attitude indicator isn’t working. Can you still go?” The answer here is yes because it’s not one of the required pieces of equipment.

They’ll dig into your flight plan and ask about weather documents and what different conditions, symbols, and reports mean. Review all of the documents including surface analysis charts, cloud coverage, wind charts, and all of the other weather products. Along these lines, be sure to usderstand how to read METARs, TAFs, PIREPs, AIRMETs, and other reports. Something else to review is how to read NOTAMs as well. If you use ForeFlight, plan a cross-country and take a look at everything in the Briefing section of your flight.

Make sure you understand the systems on the plane you’ll do your checkride in. Go through the POH and understand how the pitot-static, vaccuum, electrical, fuel, control, and engine systems work. As you review the systems, also think about how you would handle situations with system malfunctionss. A few cases include what the signs are for carb icing, a pitot-static failure, or electrical failures. Remember your V-speeds and when you would use them, like how you would drop to Vy in severe turbulence.

Flight exam

You only do the flight portion after you pass the oral portion. This usually starts with going to a few checkpoints on your cross-country plan. Then you’ll do ground reference maneuvers, stalls, steep turns, slow flight, and a few other things. There will be a diversion to an airport, some type of emergency, and some time under the hood.

Review all of standards for each flight task in the ACS. Know the limits you have to meet in order to pass. Practice your radio communications. A good way to remember radio comms is with the four W’s: who you are and who you’re talking to, where you are, what you need, with any necessary information.

Another thing to remember is your communication with the DPE. They aren’t going to make idle conversation so you can expect a very quiet flight. They’ll let you know when they want you to perform something with the plane and they’ll carefully watch your instruments and your control inputs. Keep the acronym ANC in mind: aviate, navigate, communicate.

Your main priority is always flying the plane, then you have to navigate and make sure you don’t get lost, and finally tell the DPE what you’re doing and why. Explain your process as you do it because they can’t read your mind if you do something that seems unusual. As you’re going through your flight, don’t forget to scan your instruments.

Having someone you don’t know sitting next to you in complete silence evaluating your every move and decision can be unnerving. It can make you do things you would never do under normal circumstances which is why you need to consciously scan the cockpit and the horizon so you don’t accidentally fixate on anything.

As you prepare for this part of the exam, chair fly everything. Say the radio comms out loud, move your hands and feet like you would with the actual controls, and use your tablet just like you would in the plane. Go through the scenarios exactly like you would in-flight so that you stay fresh on the procedures.

After the flight exam

Once you’re finished with the in-flight maneuvers and procedures, you’ll go back to the airport and land. It could be a normal, short-field, or soft-field landing. If your DPE hasn’t said anything, it’s probably a good sign. If there was something you had busted from the standards, they would have let you know during the flight.

Keep in mind that even if you do bust something during the flight portion, try to finish everything regardless. This will give you a chance to pass other parts and you can see the entirety of the exam so you know what to expect when you come back. You’ll only need to perform the maneuvers or procedures you didn’t pass when you redo the exam which is why it’s worth finishing the whole exam.

Regardless of whether you pass or fail, you’ve made it through the checkride! This is a huge undertaking and the knowledge you need is extensive. If you didn’t pass, don’t beat yourself up for it. Nerves can get the best of anyone, the weather may have changed on you, or you might end up in a different plane than you expected. At least now you have less to focus on and you can come back with confidence knowing that you are ready to finish everything this time.

Misc notes

I always have to review the acronyms and some definitions, so here are a few of them in case they help you.

Required equipment for daytime VFR: ATOMATOFLAMES

• Altimeter
• Tachometer
• Oil pressure
• Manifold pressure*
• Airspeed indicator
• Temperature gauge*
• Oil temperature
• Fuel gauge
• Landing gear indicator*
• Anti-collison lights
• Magnetic compass
• ELT (emergency location transmitter)
• Safety belts

* (only for certain planes)

Required equipment for nighttime VFR: FLAPS

You need everything in ATOMATOFLAMES as well as:

• Fuses
• Landing light
• Anti-collison lights
• Position lights
• Source of power

Pilot wellness checklist: IMSAFE

• Illness
• Medication
• Stress
• Alcohol
• Fatigue
• Emotion

Required aircraft inspections: A1TAPE

• Annual inspection
• 100 hr inspection (only for hire)
• Transponder
• Altimeter
• Pitot-static system
• ELT

You should also make sure ADs (airworthiness directives) are addressed.

Required aircraft documents: AROWE

• Airworthiness certificate: doesn’t expire
• Registration certificate: expiration rules
• Operating manual (POH)
• Weight and balance: in POH
• Equipment list: in POH