Daniel Emin DPE Checkride Gouges

Daniel Emin is based out of PDK and gave one CFI applicant a smooth ride. People warned the applicant that Dan was not a great DPE, but no one had actually flown with him. The reality was a clean checkride with a two hour oral. He likes professional dress, and the applicant wore business attire that seemed to land well. As of this writing, only one report sits on file for him.

The CFI oral ran about two hours and split into two halves. The first half mixed fundamentals of instruction, endorsements, and scenarios about what to do if a student does something. The second half covered ground knowledge like VFR cloud clearance requirements. He asked whether you could fly from one Class G airport to another in Alabama without entering controlled airspace. The answer is yes, but you should not fly that low. He likes runway incursion talk, since PDK has runway guard lights and hotspots.

He closed the oral by asking the applicant to teach lazy eights. Keep your answers direct and avoid wandering, because he values that.

The flight went straight north toward Pickens County Airport, known as JZP. On the way, the applicant knocked out every maneuver except eights on pylons. At JZP he failed the engine, so the applicant flew a steep spiral down to the pattern and a power off 180. They flew a few more laps for short field and soft field landings. He wants you to land on the numbers for the short field and does not like flat landings.

On one takeoff he played the role of a student, so the applicant had to talk him through it while he occasionally grabbed the controls. On the way back to PDK they finished eights on pylons before landing and closing out the checkride.