GRR DPE Dave Johnson?

A number of my friends from WMU have taken rides with him and have no complaints. He also was my instructor in GRR before I switched airplanes due to cost ($145/hr DA-40 vs. $89/hr C152) He is an up front guy, friendly, and calm demeanor. Know your stuff and you'll do fine.
 
Good to hear. Its been over a decade since my last Checkride.

My PPL guy was horrible, had the demeanor of a pissed off Russian. Showed up for my ride, spent the first few minutes telling me how he failed the last guy over the aircraft. Once we were done with the oral he announced he doesn't allow headsets as he refused to wear them......WTF? Really?

Most of the ride was me yelling "What?" and him getting more pissed.....

Looks like this will be a much better experience
 
Gotta love the crazy DPEs that terrify an already nervous student :bang: and Dave has Bose A20s so no yelling will be needed ;)
 
The ride with Dave went Great. As you said, easy going guy, no zingers or gotchas. if you know it, great, if you don't. then tell him. He's pretty good about training while testing if you don't know it. Oral was about 2 hours, the ride was 1.8.

Game me the route to plan the night before. MKG to PTK. Fairly easy route, the only thing is LAN VOR is out so you can't use it for route or waypoint checks.

Oral covered weather, bring up Surf Prog and radar charts on aviationweather.gov and discuss some symbology. Talk about the flight plan, some questions on chart symbols. Quite a few decision making questions (how far from red or yellow radar returns would you stay? ) some on icing, fuel and alternates, use of electronic plates, requirements for landing, etc...

Ride was deaprt on the route, Direct MKG, then V450 outbound. He stopped it as soon as established on the outbound. Next was unusual attitudes, first one nose up, second down. Keep your feet on the rudders and you'll have a good clue as to where you are going.

First approach was ILS24, then vectored to the LOC BC14. Had to stop that when ATC switched the active to 32 and won't allow opposing approaches. I suggested LOC24 since we had it dialed in already and he agreed. Had to turn off my GPS on foreflight at this point, but allowe me to fly the charts off of it still.

LOC24 ended in the published missed MKG 270 radial. One turn in the missed and requested VOR-A with no vectors. Did the procedure turn, flew it inbound, circle to land 24 and done. Be sure to hold your approach minimum altitude on the circle to land until established on base or final.

I verbalized everything I was doing and he liked that (thanks for the tip from JC folks).

Took me 17 years between my private checkride and this one. This wasn't as hard as it seemed to be...
 
Congrats on sticking thru it! Now for the downside of my post....If you were trained while tested, imho you didnt earn the cert. Also for a dpe to train while testing is completely illegal! I know thru personal experiences, the feds troll these forums, you dropped his name...you may have just opened a huge can of worms for the both of you...i hope not..but.....
I am also kind of a purist...training while testing to pass the ride....for certification purposes...turns me belly

135/121 testing is different than a full certification ride....
 
A number of my friends from WMU have taken rides with him and have no complaints. He also was my instructor in GRR before I switched airplanes due to cost ($145/hr DA-40 vs. $89/hr C152) He is an up front guy, friendly, and calm demeanor. Know your stuff and you'll do fine.
Just curious. What airport is the 152 out of?
 
They put a FBO in there, or is it a private operation? Anyone in the Grand Rapids area, Paramount Aviation at GRR, and Sparta is closing its doors on the 30th of this month. Also, there is a DPE named Mark Lindsley (sp) that is supposed to be really good too.
 
Congrats on sticking thru it! Now for the downside of my post....If you were trained while tested, imho you didnt earn the cert. Also for a dpe to train while testing is completely illegal!

Can't think of a ride I have ever done where I didn't learn something I still remember.

Coaching someone through it one thing. But offering a critique/debrief after it was already done to standards is something else entirely.
 
Can't think of a ride I have ever done where I didn't learn something I still remember.

Coaching someone through it one thing. But offering a critique/debrief after it was already done to standards is something else entirely.
Completely agree and there is a difference in learning from a checkride,( i always have), and having an examiner teach. It is a test not a lesson! An applicant should always learn from the testing experience, but not by being coached or led or as this person put it "training". If that is what the guy meant then he needs to articulate that, otherwise he is putting his certificate and that of the dpe in jeopardy, not to mention the integrity of what we all do as aviators and what it takes to be a member of this club.
 
Let me put your mind at ease.......perhaps I phrased it differently.


"So where do you get your weather?"

Aviation weather.gov

"Ok, show me"

Here ya go

"Let's review some of these charts, what's Xxxxx?"

Answered

"I see your using you iPad there, do you know where you can find this in Foreflight?"

No

"Let me show you". Here's another resource as well....

Not the, "we'll if you don't know the answer to that look on page 32 of the AIM" that you seem to be getting all bunched up about......
 
Let me put your mind at ease.......perhaps I phrased it differently.


"So where do you get your weather?"

Aviation weather.gov

"Ok, show me"

Here ya go

"Let's review some of these charts, what's Xxxxx?"

Answered

"I see your using you iPad there, do you know where you can find this in Foreflight?"

No

"Let me show you". Here's another resource as well....

Not the, "we'll if you don't know the answer to that look on page 32 of the AIM" that you seem to be getting all bunched up about......
"Training" thats it.......leaves too much open for scrutiny. I am glad you had a fair ride and are open about it. I in no way mean to demean your skill etc. Just be careful what you say in here, especially when dropping a name. That dpe could get some serious (fraud comes to mind) heat, and if he does, you will have to re test. Especially given the new nature of faa oversight and surveylance with regard to training and testing. Most arent even aware of what is going on behind the scenes these days...but the dpe is, or should be.
 
I think I've flown more in the past 90 days than I had in the previous 17 years......should be ready for the commercial ride in mid January. Retesting not needed, but it wouldn't be an issue at this point. Got a long Mooney ride coming up.....GRR to LAS and back over a three day weekend, should be interesting.
 
They put a FBO in there, or is it a private operation? Anyone in the Grand Rapids area, Paramount Aviation at GRR, and Sparta is closing its doors on the 30th of this month. Also, there is a DPE named Mark Lindsley (sp) that is supposed to be really good too.
Ya, I tried to take my written with Paramount but they stopped doing them the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. No FBO, the plane is owned by West Michigan Flight Academy, it promotes aviation to the younger generation but also has adult flight instruction. If you're ever interested, pm me and I'll get you some info. Do you know what's going to happen to Paramount's DA-40 outta GRR? I was hoping to take that time building this Summer....
 
As far as I know, that DA-40 out of GRR i going away too. The whole operation is shutting down. If you want to spend the money, and make the drive you can go to Blue Sun out of Zeeland. They have the Grummans there now which are a bit cheaper than the 40s were at Paramount. I have not flown any of them yet, so I could not tell you what they are like, or how they are equipped. The warriors out of Executive Air at Muskegon are pretty reasonable too if you can get a plane. They are pretty booked up with the Baker program over there, but it is doable. Rentals are getting pretty thin in these parts. At least affordable ones.
 
Story time? Or just time building? Either way, if you need a backup autopilot, let me know.

Trying to burn 20 more hours in the Mooney to get me to 50. Really want to be over 100 before I buy one :)

Got a CFI friend from the club tagging along with me on this trip already.

If you're looking for cheap rental, why not our club at MKG?

150 @ $75
172 @ $85
Mooney or 177 @ $95

172 going down Dec 1 for annual, new engine and prop, but getting a bump to 160hp

If you really want a DA40, Dave has access to one with the G1000 but its $169, slightly cheaper with block $149
 
Trying to burn 20 more hours in the Mooney to get me to 50. Really want to be over 100 before I buy one :)

Got a CFI friend from the club tagging along with me on this trip already.

If you're looking for cheap rental, why not our club at MKG?

150 @ $75
172 @ $85
Mooney or 177 @ $95

172 going down Dec 1 for annual, new engine and prop, but getting a bump to 160hp

If you really want a DA40, Dave has access to one with the G1000 but its $169, slightly cheaper with block $149
Ya, that's the DA40 that I started my training in back when it was $140/hr, if I remember correctly. Can you give me some specifics on the Mooney?
 
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