Ajax
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I heard horror stories about feds during my training. As a result I was about as nervous as I could have been for my CFII initial.
My inspector wasn't the typical guy--he was a bit odd to say the least. Refused to let me use any books during the oral, which wasn't a problem until he told me I got an answer wrong which was in the book and he wouldn't let me show that I was indeed correct. The majority of the oral he sat in the corner of the room with the PTS draped over his head and asked me questions. He asked me to discuss RNP, then laughed somewhat maniacally, and when I said I have that tabbed and highlighted he leaned towards my book, saw the tab and then said we'd go on to the next question. When it was time for me to teach a lesson I was ready--he had left me a voicemail telling me which lesson I should be prepared to teach, and the day before when he called to reschedule he reminded me which lesson I was going to teach. Once I got to the whiteboard he decided he wanted me to teach an entirely different lesson, and then chuckled to himself.
The lesson went without a hitch and we concluded the ground after about 4.5 hours, but pushed the flight back to another day because it was getting late. I delayed the flight portion once because of low clouds, and then he called me on a whim at lunch the next week and asked if I wanted to finish the ride. We met at the airport 30 minutes later, I went up and taught him three approaches and a hold then we landed and I got my CFII.
Was it odd? Yeah, perhaps, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. At the end of the day the examiners and the inspectors hold you to the appropriate PTS; if you are prepared for it then you'll be fine.
Checkrides are a lot like a trip to the dentist--you know you'll be fine, but you would just don't really want to be there.
My inspector wasn't the typical guy--he was a bit odd to say the least. Refused to let me use any books during the oral, which wasn't a problem until he told me I got an answer wrong which was in the book and he wouldn't let me show that I was indeed correct. The majority of the oral he sat in the corner of the room with the PTS draped over his head and asked me questions. He asked me to discuss RNP, then laughed somewhat maniacally, and when I said I have that tabbed and highlighted he leaned towards my book, saw the tab and then said we'd go on to the next question. When it was time for me to teach a lesson I was ready--he had left me a voicemail telling me which lesson I should be prepared to teach, and the day before when he called to reschedule he reminded me which lesson I was going to teach. Once I got to the whiteboard he decided he wanted me to teach an entirely different lesson, and then chuckled to himself.
The lesson went without a hitch and we concluded the ground after about 4.5 hours, but pushed the flight back to another day because it was getting late. I delayed the flight portion once because of low clouds, and then he called me on a whim at lunch the next week and asked if I wanted to finish the ride. We met at the airport 30 minutes later, I went up and taught him three approaches and a hold then we landed and I got my CFII.
Was it odd? Yeah, perhaps, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. At the end of the day the examiners and the inspectors hold you to the appropriate PTS; if you are prepared for it then you'll be fine.
Checkrides are a lot like a trip to the dentist--you know you'll be fine, but you would just don't really want to be there.