Hey everyone. First post here. Anyway, has anyone here taken the FAA test, the oral, flight, and the written? What kind of questions are in it? Does it ask about anything related to gauges inside the planes? Thanks PS, how do I get my account to automatically "follow" the topic, without me clicking on the sidebar? Thanks.

Dunno about the FAA one, but the European one does ask stuff about gauges, even though it is not particularly in-depth. There is more of that kind of thing asked in IFR exams, but the standard European PPL exams certainly do ask the odd question related to it. Note that you actually are allowed to refer to your books on the oral exam, since it is more a test of your comprehension, than a test of your memory, although I daresay the examiner would be less than impressed if you had to look up the answer to every question. There are a number of study guides out there that are worth checking out if you are concerned about it, although so long as you are reasonably competent there is no real reason to be worried about an exam, but it is worth seeing mock test papers and that sort of thing in order to at least know what to expect, so I'd recommend seeking those out, as even if you never get asked all of the things in them, they are certainly educational, so it is never a bad thing to look at them. I actually bought an airline pilot tests study book too, the PPL one seemed like a doddle after studying that one LOL! If you are concerned about your ability to remember stuff, you might want to try what I did when learning to fly: I bought a little notebook (just a cheap thing from a newsagent), and then I basically wrote my own text book out, similar to a couple of text books I had been studying, even drawing the diagrams in the thing. I did it all writing from memory, only occasionally referring to those books if I was at all unsure of a point in I was writing about in full detail. The act of wording it and writing it out from memory meant that I was sure I knew it all, and if I came on a bit I could not do that with, I would know which bit to re-study in my text books, thus the info really jammed in my head and was later easy to recall (and still is to this day), so it was certainly a useful thing to do because of that. I've actually still got that notebook, here's a pic of it: Al

Al thanks a lot!!! I'm actually 13, so I still have to wait to 17 to take the test and 16 to solo. But thanks for the information, I didn't know you could "cheat" on the oral though. I guess the proccess is the same for Europe and US.

It all depends what examiner you go with. Here are the Practical Test Standards (PTS): http://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/airmen/test_standards/pilot/media/FAA-S-8081-14A.pdf This covers everything you will be doing in the oral and checkride. This is the knowledge written test: http://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/airmen/test_questions/media/pvt.pdf Again there are study guides out there but with a good instructor you won't have to use them.

I'm curious why you're asking about gauges? I dont remember anything specific but it's sure possible. If you're going to a flight school, you'll likely find that your stage checks were far harder than the actual FAA check ride/exam is. In fact, my FAA examiner was so confident in my school, that my check ride was only .4 hours lol. We did the bare minimum and got back on the ground. The oral exam was about an hour long, but it's much more like having a conversation that a test. It's not like an "in-person" version of a test where they just fire off a bunch of questions and you have to answer. The examiner and you will simply have a conversation about the airplane and flying and he/she will have you do a weight and balance scenario and plan a flight etc. If you get something wrong it's no big deal (as long as you dont get a lot of stuff wrong) you will just talk it over til you understand it properly. There are also quite a few books and iPhone apps that will give you practice exams.

Thanks for the answers guys, I'm a bit more relived now. Thanks a lot.

Edited September 24, 201114 yr by linux731

Here's a thought: --Private and Commercial practical/oral-- Easiest tests ever! COME PREPARED. --Instrument practical/oral-- Hardest one yet and the whole ordeal was gut wrenching. COME PREPARED.

The oral exam was about an hour long, but it's much more like having a conversation that a test. It's not like an "in-person" version of a test where they just fire off a bunch of questions and you have to answer. The examiner and you will simply have a conversation about the airplane and flying and he/she will have you do a weight and balance scenario and plan a flight etc. If you get something wrong it's no big deal (as long as you dont get a lot of stuff wrong) you will just talk it over til you understand it properly.

This depends. Some examiners are known as hard asses, and others "Santa Clauses". If you get one that cares about your success, your statement is true. Others lack personality and can be completely unfair or a bear to deal with/converse with. Reputations always precede them. I've heard a story of an examiner actually opening the oral test guide and reading question after question (2 1/2 hours worth). That DPE is a dolt, I've met them, so I believe the story.

Al thanks a lot!!! I'm actually 13, so I still have to wait to 17 to take the test and 16 to solo. But thanks for the information, I didn't know you could "cheat" on the oral though. I guess the proccess is the same for Europe and US.

It's not really cheating, keep in mind that full-on professional pilots on airliners use printed out checklists and there are a bunch of SOP manuals in the cockpit as well. Most pilots have a 'flying stuff' bag they carry all or some of those books around in anyway, and so the examiner knows that in real life you probably would look up something you were not 100 percent on and would be glad you had the confidence to do so rather than simply pretending you know everything, so far from being seen as cheating, if you are not totally clear on a point, if you can show that you can find what you are looking for in your books quickly, it demonstrates that you could do that if you needed to and would not be fumbling about looking for the right section in a book. Thus it becomes obvious to the examiner if you look something up to check, that you do understand the point, just not necessarily every minute thing about it. Actually, when a CFI saw I'd done that hand written notebook thing one time, he asked to see it out of curiosity, and was impressed with the thoroughness of having done that, so it actually worked to my advantage! Al

It's not really cheating, keep in mind that full-on professional pilots on airliners use printed out checklists and there are a bunch of SOP manuals in the cockpit as well. Most pilots have a 'flying stuff' bag they carry all or some of those books around in anyway, and so the examiner knows that in real life you probably would look up something you were not 100 percent on and would be glad you had the confidence to do so rather than simply pretending you know everything, so far from being seen as cheating, if you are not totally clear on a point, if you can show that you can find what you are looking for in your books quickly, it demonstrates that you could do that if you needed to and would not be fumbling about looking for the right section in a book. Thus it becomes obvious to the examiner if you look something up to check, that you do understand the point, just not necessarily every minute thing about it. Actually, when a CFI saw I'd done that hand written notebook thing one time, he asked to see it out of curiosity, and was impressed with the thoroughness of having done that, so it actually worked to my advantage! Al

Thanks Al!

When you are ready, I highly recommend the Gleim FAA Test Prep software. http://www.gleim.com/products/productdetails.php/PPKT+LIC%26REG-_-Private-Pilot-Knowledge-Test-Prep-Software-Download

When you are ready, I highly recommend the Gleim FAA Test Prep software. http://www.gleim.com...ftware-Download

I agree....I used the Gleim FAA Test Prep book and it was about 18-19 dollars....Breezed thru the written in 25 minutes..