The Private Pilot Oral Exam: What Gets Asked, And How To Answer It

Ninety minutes to two and a half hours for most applicants, and it happens before the flight on the same day. There is no fixed length, no set number of questions and no percentage score. The examiner works through the Areas of Operation in the Airman Certification Standards and stops when satisfied, so a well-prepared applicant genuinely does finish faster.

Everything in the Areas of Operation of the Private Pilot Airplane ACS that apply to a single-engine rating. In practice the ground portion concentrates on pilot qualifications and currency, aircraft airworthiness and required inspections, weather interpretation, cross-country planning, airspace, performance and weight and balance, aircraft systems, human factors and emergency procedures. The examiner must also revisit any subject area you missed on the written exam.

Yes. If an applicant is unsatisfactory during the oral portion the examiner issues a Notice of Disapproval on FAA Form 8060-5 and the flight does not happen. You then complete additional training and get a fresh endorsement under 14 CFR 61.49 before retesting. Anything you completed satisfactorily is recorded and normally carries over to the retest.

Yes, for most reference questions. Examiners expect you to know the frequently used items cold but they do not expect you to have memorized the whole of Part 91. Being able to say where you would find something and then find it in fifteen seconds is an acceptable answer. Guessing confidently is not, and it is the fastest way to invite four more questions.

Airworthiness. Being handed the aircraft maintenance records and being unable to demonstrate the airplane is legal to fly today catches more private pilot applicants than any maneuver does. Weather interpretation is second — specifically turning a forecast into a defensible go or no-go decision rather than reciting definitions.

Print the Private Pilot Airplane ACS, work through every knowledge and risk management element out loud, and fix the subject areas listed on your knowledge test report first. Then do at least one full mock oral with an instructor who refuses vague answers. Use the 3 hours of pre-test instruction required by 14 CFR 61.109(a)(4) for that rather than for more flying.

Before, on the same day. The usual sequence is paperwork and eligibility for 15 to 30 minutes, the oral for 90 to 150 minutes, a short break, then the preflight and a flight of an hour and a half to two hours. If the oral goes badly the flight does not happen, which is why the ground preparation deserves the last month of your attention.

The oral is the ground half of it. A private pilot checkride is one practical test in two parts on the same day: an oral examination of ninety minutes to two and a half hours, then a flight of an hour and a half to two. 14 CFR 61.43(e) states that failing any area of operation fails the whole practical test.

Photo ID, student pilot certificate, medical certificate, knowledge test report, logbook with every required endorsement, the IACRA application, your completed cross-country plan and navigation log, a current sectional, the POH, a tabbed FAR/AIM and a calculator. Also the aircraft's registration, airworthiness certificate and maintenance records, because you will be asked to prove the airplane is legal today.

Three hours of ground school on the $10,900 Standard program and ten hours on the $15,900 Comprehensive program, plus pre- and post-flight briefings on every lesson, which are never billed separately. The $22,500 Premium program includes 3 hours of ground school and is flown in the Cirrus SR22 Turbo. Enrolled students fly on package pricing at $179 an hour, wet, single-engine.