Getting Started
Every student pilot reaches a point where the question becomes real: what exactly is a checkride? You hear the word constantly in aviation communities, usually accompanied by strong opinions and the occasional horror story. The reality is considerably more structured and navigable than the mythology suggests, provided you understand what is actually being evaluated and why.
The checkride is the practical test required to earn your private pilot certificate. It has two distinct parts: an oral examination and a flight test. Both are conducted by a Designated Pilot Examiner, or DPE, on the same day or across two sessions. Both parts must be passed to receive the certificate.
A DPE is not an FAA employee. A Designated Pilot Examiner is a highly experienced certificated pilot who has been authorized by the FAA (or the equivalent authority in your country) to conduct practical tests on the regulator's behalf. DPEs charge a fee for the test, which varies by location and examiner but typically ranges from $400 to $700 USD.
Different countries handle this differently. EASA member states use Aviation Medical Examiners and authority-appointed examiners. Transport Canada uses Transport Canada Inspectors and delegated flight test examiners. The structure is similar: an authorized examiner evaluates the applicant against a published standard and determines pass or fail.
In the United States, the FAA Airman Certification Standards (ACS) document defines exactly what the examiner will test and what constitutes a passing performance. It is publicly available and covers every task in both the oral and flight portions. Your examiner is not making up questions or pulling from a secret list. They are working through the ACS.
For each task, the ACS specifies three things: the required knowledge (what you must be able to explain), the required risk management (what hazards you must be able to identify and mitigate), and the required skill (what you must be able to demonstrate to within specific tolerances). Knowing the ACS before your checkride removes a significant amount of uncertainty from the process.
The oral exam is where many candidates feel the most anxiety, and it is also where thorough ground knowledge makes the largest difference. The oral portion typically runs between 90 minutes and three hours. There is no fixed time limit, and the examiner does not stop when the clock expires. They stop when they are satisfied that you meet the standard, or when they determine that you do not.
Topics covered in a typical private pilot oral examination include:
A common misconception is that examiners look for reasons to fail applicants. In practice, most examiners are looking for evidence of safe pilot judgment. If you say something incorrect and then catch and correct yourself, that is often viewed positively. If you encounter a question you genuinely do not know, saying "I do not know that answer, but here is where I would look it up" is far better than guessing confidently and being wrong. The examiner needs to know you can handle uncertainty safely, not that you have memorized every regulation.
The SkyPrep course builds the deep understanding of systems, weather, airspace, and regulations that the examiner is looking for.
After the oral examination, assuming you pass, the flight test begins. The examiner rides along as pilot in command transfers to you. They observe your preflight inspection, your cockpit setup, your departure, and your execution of all required maneuvers.
Required maneuvers for a private pilot checkride typically include:
Specific tolerances apply. For example, during steep turns, you must maintain altitude within 100 feet, airspeed within 10 knots, and roll out on the entry heading within 10 degrees. These are not arbitrary numbers. They represent the level of control that indicates a pilot can consistently operate safely.
If you fail a task during the checkride, the examiner issues a Notice of Disapproval identifying the specific tasks that were not completed to standard. You do not have to retake the entire test. You need to retake only the failed tasks, provided you schedule a retest within 60 days and your instructor provides an endorsement confirming additional training on the failed areas was completed.
Oral exam failures are almost always rooted in specific knowledge gaps, typically in weather, airspace, or aircraft systems. Flight test failures are usually related to one or two specific maneuvers that fell outside the ACS tolerances under pressure. In both cases, the retest is focused and specific, not a complete restart.
Here is what students who have been through a checkride consistently report: the oral exam is the part that determines how the rest of the day feels. When you walk into the oral with confident, deep knowledge of the material, the entire test has a different character. The examiner asks a question, you answer it, they probe a little deeper, you answer that too. The conversation flows. Anxiety is low because you are not searching for answers you half-remember.
When knowledge gaps exist, the examiner finds them. That is their job. And when they find a gap, they keep pulling on that thread. One uncertain answer leads to follow-up questions, which leads to more uncertainty, which affects confidence going into the flight portion.
The SkyPrep course is built around the exact knowledge areas that appear in the ACS: aerodynamics, weather, airspace, instruments, navigation, aircraft systems, and regulations. The goal is not to help you memorize answers. The goal is to help you actually understand aviation, so that when the examiner asks "why does an aircraft stall at the same angle of attack regardless of airspeed?", you can answer that question clearly, confidently, and in your own words, not because you saw that question in a prep guide, but because you genuinely understand what lift is and how it fails.
The checkride oral exam is a direct test of ground school knowledge. Students who understand aviation, not just the answers to likely questions, handle the oral examination with a composure that shows. The SkyPrep course covers every major topic area in depth, with lifetime access so you can revisit material throughout your training. Start now, and go into your checkride knowing the examiner cannot catch you off guard.
Start Ground School for $79 Read Lesson 1 free firstA checkride is the practical test for a private pilot certificate. It consists of an oral examination and a flight test, both conducted by a Designated Pilot Examiner. The oral exam covers all ACS knowledge areas and can run 1.5 to 3 hours. The flight test evaluates specific maneuvers to published tolerances. Failing specific tasks results in a Notice of Disapproval requiring only those tasks to be retested. Ground school knowledge is the single most important factor in oral exam performance, and thorough preparation with genuine understanding, not surface memorization, is what separates confident checkride candidates from anxious ones.