Aram Basmadjian DPE Checkride Gouges

Oral Emphasis

Aram's oral exam covers a wide range of PPL knowledge areas, but pilots consistently report that he goes deep on a few key topics:

• Weather: Expect questions on METARs, TAFs, weather charts, and how to make real go/no-go decisions based on the forecast. He wants to see that you understand the weather picture, not just decode it.
• Aircraft Systems: He asks detailed questions about the specific airplane you're flying — how systems work, what fails when, and what you'd do about it.
• Regulations: Airspace, required documents (pilot and aircraft), currency requirements, and aeronautical decision-making all came up in reports.

Common Questions

Pilots reported that Aram asks scenario-based questions rather than straight textbook recall. Examples of question styles include:

• Presenting a weather scenario and asking whether you'd fly, and why or why not.
• Walking through a cross-country plan and probing your choices — alternate airports, fuel planning, airspace transitions.
• Asking what you'd do if a specific system failed during different phases of flight.

Practical Focus

The flight portion is reported as standard ACS-based, but pilots noted the following:

• He watches your preflight inspection closely — one pilot nearly had the checkride end before it started because of a critical preflight mistake (such as missing a required document or aircraft discrepancy). Don't rush through the walk-around or paperwork.
• Standard maneuvers: steep turns, slow flight, stalls (power-on and power-off), ground reference maneuvers, and landings (short field, soft field, normal).
• Navigation and pilotage skills were tested; he may divert you to a nearby airport and evaluate your planning in real time.

Examiner Style

Aram is described as professional but approachable. Key observations from pilots:

• He is conversational during the oral — it feels more like a discussion than an interrogation, which can put you at ease but also means you need to really know your stuff since follow-up questions go deeper.
• He is fair and sticks to ACS standards, but he does not cut corners. If you're at the edge of a standard, expect him to notice.
• He gives you room to self-correct and demonstrates patience, but he's watching everything.

What Surprised Pilots

• The biggest surprise reported was how much weight the preflight phase carried. One pilot's critical mistake during the preflight (before the engine was even running) almost resulted in a discontinuance. The lesson: treat everything from paperwork to the walk-around as part of the evaluation, because Aram does.
• Some pilots were surprised at how scenario-driven the oral was — those who studied rote memorization felt less prepared than those who practiced applying knowledge to real-world situations.