Dave Leonard DPE Checkride Gouges

Oral Emphasis

Dave Leonard's oral exams are consistently described as deep, scenario-based, and detail-oriented across all certificate levels. He spends significant time on:

• Aircraft maintenance logs and airworthiness: He expects you to walk him through required inspections, ADs, and maintenance entries in the actual logbooks. Tabbing your logbooks is highly recommended. He wants to see that you can read and interpret maintenance entries, not just point to tabs.
• Weight & Balance: A major focus area at every level. He wants W&B done for the actual checkride flight using real numbers from the POH and maintenance records. He emphasizes what's included in basic empty weight (unusable fuel, oil, etc.) and will ask about CG shift scenarios (e.g., adding weight to the back seat). For CFI applicants, this is one of two required teaching lessons — keep it concise and accurate.
• Endorsements and regulatory knowledge: He is very particular about endorsement wording and references AC 61-65 extensively. For CFI checkrides, know the full endorsement chain from new student through practical test. He will have you fix endorsement issues on the spot — having your recommending CFI present is strongly advised.
• Flight planning and navigation: He reviews your entire flight plan in detail, including how you derived your numbers. He values seeing a manual nav log (Jeppesen or similar) in addition to ForeFlight. For IFR, expect questions on hemispherical rules, oxygen requirements, climb gradients vs. FPM, and crosswind corrections using an E6B.
• Regulations and FARs: As an aviation attorney, he tends to have you read and interpret actual regulatory language rather than recite from memory. Topics include 91.213 (inoperative equipment procedures), medical certificates, BasicMed, MOSAIC, solo endorsement requirements, and cross-country definitions.
• Weather: He asks about METARs, TAFs, winds and temps aloft (including why certain altitudes have missing data), and expects you to know that METAR/TAF winds are true while ATC winds are magnetic.

Common Questions

Pilots reported these styles and types of questions across multiple gouges:

• Scenario-based questioning that follows rabbit holes — he'll pick up on something you mention and drill into it with 3-5 follow-up questions.
• He digs deep into any areas you missed on your written exam, so review those topics thoroughly before showing up.
• For CFI: He role-plays as a prospective student or a pilot calling to ask about training requirements. He expects you to either know the answer or know exactly where to look it up — and he's okay with you referencing FARs and ACs in real time.
• Questions about inoperative equipment procedures — what constitutes properly disabling something (putting tape on a switch is NOT enough; you need to actually disable or lock it out).
• For IFR: Lost comms scenarios, diversion planning, whether specific routing satisfies cross-country requirements (landing points must be more than 50NM apart), and whether an ILS approach also satisfies a LOC-only approach requirement.
• He asks about airport lighting, beacon colors, aircraft position light scenarios, and right-of-way rules.
• For CFI: FOI questions are conversational rather than rote — he presents student scenarios and asks how you'd handle them. Expect topics like levels of learning, laws of learning, giving constructive feedback, Maslow's hierarchy, and professionalism.

Practical Focus

Less detail was reported on the flight portion compared to the oral, but key points include:

• He is very safety-focused in the aircraft and will step in quickly if he perceives safety drifting even slightly.
• For CFI: He expects you to teach slow flight as a full lesson (reported at commercial level). Know the power curve, slotted flaps, stall speeds with flaps, and how to structure a progressive lesson.
• For IFR: Expect approaches, holds, and partial panel work. The flight may be split across multiple days if weather or maintenance intervenes — he's flexible on scheduling.
• Cross-country flight planning done on the oral carries directly into the flight scenario.

Examiner Style

• Thorough but fair: Multiple pilots describe him as wanting you to succeed, but he will not let safety or accuracy slide. He gives you opportunities to self-correct — raised eyebrows, "are you sure?" prompts — but if you push through an error without checking, he may issue a discontinuance or failure.
• Conversational oral: The oral is more of a guided discussion than a rapid-fire quiz. He'll rephrase and clarify questions to help you get to the right answer, especially on FOI topics.
• Admin review is extensive: Multiple gouges emphasize that the paperwork and logbook review is deeper than any other checkride they've experienced. IACRA hours cannot exceed logbook hours. He wants a separate ground training log — integrated entries in your normal logbook may not be sufficient.
• Values professionalism: Dress well, be respectful, and be organized. He notices and appreciates preparation — tabbed logbooks, organized nav logs, and having reference materials ready.
• Firm on specific points: He has strong opinions on certain topics (e.g., crosswind corrections matter even when tracking a VOR, proper inoperative equipment procedures, endorsement wording). Pushing back or dismissing his concerns does not go well.
• Long sessions: CFI orals have been reported at 6+ hours. Come prepared for a full day.

What Surprised Pilots

• The depth of the admin and logbook review caught nearly every applicant off guard. Have your recommending CFI available (ideally in person) for the paperwork phase — multiple pilots credited this with saving time and avoiding issues.
• He was pleasantly surprised by a hand-written Jeppesen nav log — going beyond ForeFlight made a positive impression.
• For CFI: Both teaching lessons (Weight & Balance and Slow Flight) should be kept concise — under 45 minutes total. One applicant was nearly put to sleep going too long on W&B. Teach one method only and keep it tight.
• IACRA works best in Chrome or Firefox if you need to make corrections — iPads caused issues for at least one applicant. Have a laptop available.
• He has been reported as arriving late to checkrides on occasion.
• A CFI applicant was failed for not catching and correcting an error in basic empty weight during the W&B teaching lesson — even after receiving nonverbal cues. The lesson: if something doesn't look right, stop and verify before continuing.
• He noted that using outdated PTS or PHAK editions could be an automatic disqualification — keep your testing materials current or at minimum annotate changes.