By Josh Page, CFI
The private pilot practical test is the finish line to getting your private pilot certificate and being able to fly as a licensed pilot. The practical test is broken down into two parts: an oral portion, which covers the knowledge areas, and a flight portion where the student demonstrates flight maneuvers. You must pass the oral portion before you can hop in the plane with an examiner and demonstrate maneuvers. Let’s look at four common private pilot oral exam questions and see how you can ace them!
How do you recover from a spin – and where are you most likely to encounter a spin around an airport?
The examiner is required to test the applicant’s knowledge on a variety of safety areas. Recovery from a spin is a guaranteed subject to come up on your private pilot checkride.
So how do you recover from a spin? Just remember the acronym PARE: Power idle, Ailerons neutral, Rudder opposite of the spin, and Elevator forward.
Remember that a spin occurs after a stall, and it happens when one wing is more stalled than the other. This is a situation you never want to get into, but it’s important to know how to recover if you do spin. If you don’t recover from a stall properly (nose forward to the horizon, full power), it’s exactly where you’ll end up.
Now let’s think about where this can happen around an airport. The most common area is your base to final turn. It’s your slowest turn and if you aren’t carefully watching your airspeed, you can get too slow in the turn, exceed your critical angle of attack, stall the airplane, and enter a spin. What’s terrible is that base to final happens close to the ground. If you end up in a spin in that turn, there isn’t really time to recover.
Another place a spin can occur is in a go-around. When you decide to go around, you’re adding full power. What happens next? The nose pitches up, sometimes aggressively because of how the airplane was trimmed on final approach and all your flaps are generally still down (lots of lift there). If you don’t respond with pushing the nose forward immediately, you can quickly end up in a stall followed by a spin to the ground.
Make sure you can explain how to recover from a spin – and avoid one altogether!
If your alternator fails, will you lose your engine?
You don’t need to be a mechanic to earn your private pilot certificate, but you do need to be familiar with your airplane systems in case you encounter a problem in flight. It’s very important to know how to troubleshoot problems so you can take appropriate action.
In the case of an alternator failure, you’d need to know that your alternator powers your electrical system – think your lights, radios, flaps if electrically controlled, etc. But your engine is powered by a different electrical source. What is it? Your magnetos! If your alternator fails, you will NOT lose your engine! This is not a case for squawking “7700” and looking for a field to land in. If you treat it as such in the oral portion of your checkride, you’ll end it with a disapproval. Know your systems well!
What does “this” or “that” mean on the VFR sectional?
You’re going to have to know your VFR sectional really well. I would become very familiar with the VFR sectional legend. It’s an immense help because it reveals the meanings of all kinds of symbols you’ll encounter on the sectional. A good way you can prepare for your checkride is to have your CFI put their finger on random symbols on the sectional and test if you know what they stand for. When you don’t know the meaning, look it up and remember it for next time.
What are the cloud and visibility requirements in class A, B, C, D, E, G airspace?
Just like the symbology on the VFR sectional, you’re going to need to know your airspace really well. This includes how much visibility you’re required to have and how far you need to remain above, below, and horizontal from clouds. Try this: Open up a paper sectional or use a digital one, close your eyes and point to a random place. Now take a look at where you’re pointing and see if you know what airspace that is. Now what are the cloud/visibility requirements there? Do this regularly until you can quickly identify airspace and name the cloud/visibility requirements.
As a private pilot, you’re going to be flying in a variety of airspaces. You must know what is required to follow FAA regulations. The examiner needs to see that you can do this!
Take your time!
By the time that you meet with an examiner for your private pilot checkride, you’ll have put in many hours of study and preparation. Take your time, relax, and think carefully through all their questions. More than anything, the examiner wants to see you succeed and earn your private pilot certificate! Good luck and happy flying!
By Josh Page, CFI
Northstar Aviation References brings you the Pre-Tabbed ASA FAR/AIM, DIY tabs for your FAR/AIM and other pilot resources so that you can more easily study the regulations that form the foundation of your flying career or hobby. Have any questions? Check out our FAQs page or contact us. Check out other blog posts here.