Carl Joseph Johnson DPE Checkride Gouges

Oral Emphasis

Carl is known for digging into the details behind your answers. Across multiple certificate levels, pilots consistently report heavy emphasis on:

• Flight planning and math: He wants to see that you understand the calculations behind your cross-country plan — not just that you plugged numbers into ForeFlight. Be ready to explain weight and balance computations, fuel burn estimates, and time-distance calculations by hand.
• Aircraft systems: Expect thorough questioning on how your aircraft's systems work, not just how to operate them.
• Weather: Especially on instrument checkrides, weather knowledge is a major focus — METARs, TAFs, AIRMETs/SIGMETs, and how you make go/no-go decisions based on real conditions.
• Lost communication procedures: IFR candidates should know these cold, including the regulatory basis and practical application.
• Commercial operations and scenarios: For CPL candidates, Carl frames questions around real-world business scenarios to see if you can think like a professional pilot.

Common Questions

Pilots describe Carl's questioning style as conversational but probing. Rather than rapid-fire quiz questions, he tends to follow threads — he'll ask a baseline question and then keep going deeper until he finds the edges of your knowledge. Examples of the kinds of questions reported:

• Walk-me-through-it style questions on flight planning — show your work and explain each step.
• Scenario-based weather questions: given a set of conditions, what's your decision and why?
• For CFI candidates, expect questions that test your ability to teach and explain concepts clearly, not just know them.
• Weight and balance scenarios with practical implications — what if you need to add a passenger or extra fuel?

Practical Focus

In the air, Carl's focus areas vary by certificate but several themes emerge:

• Energy management: Especially at the commercial level, pilots report that Carl watches closely how you manage speed, altitude, and configuration transitions. Sloppy energy states get noticed.
• Partial panel work: Instrument candidates should be proficient and comfortable flying partial panel — this is reportedly a significant portion of the flight.
• Command authority: CFI candidates in particular note that Carl evaluates whether you fly and instruct with confidence and decisiveness, not just technical accuracy.

Examiner Style

Carl is described as conversational and professional. He's not trying to intimidate you, but he won't let you off the hook with vague answers either. Pilots generally describe him as fair but thorough — he holds you to standards without being adversarial. He seems genuinely interested in whether you understand the material, not just whether you can recite it.

• Conversational pacing — more of a discussion than an interrogation.
• Expects you to own your knowledge and be honest about what you don't know.
• CFI applicants should be ready for him to play the role of a student and test your instructional command.

What Surprised Pilots

• The depth of flight planning questioning caught some private pilot candidates off guard — he goes well beyond "show me your navlog."
• Several pilots noted the emphasis on teaching philosophy for the CFI ride — it's not just about flying and explaining maneuvers, but about your overall approach to instruction.
• IFR candidates were surprised by how much time was spent on partial panel and lost comm — these weren't token items, they were major portions of the evaluation.