Ed Verville DPE Checkride Gouges

Oral Emphasis

Ed's CFI oral is heavily weighted toward Fundamentals of Instruction (FOI) and runway incursion avoidance. He opens with an FAA chart of airport markings and signs, quizzing you on what each marking means, why it's there, and which side of the runway or movement area you're on. From there, he moves into a broad sweep of FOI topics:

• Definition of learning and how students learn
• Laws of learning
• Levels of learning — he likes you to provide a concrete example
• Scenario-based training: characteristics of a good scenario and an example of one
• Aviation instructor responsibilities vs. CFI-specific responsibilities (know the difference)
• Professional development for flight instructors — how to continue education and add ratings
• CFI certificate renewal vs. reinstatement
• How students forget information, aids in retention, and how CFIs can help students retain material
• Lesson planning and how to prepare for a lesson with a student
• Training delivery methods, including computer-based training and its advantages
• Types of memory
• Types of instructional aids
• Difference between informal and formal lectures

Common Questions

Ed's questions lean toward the practical application of FOI concepts rather than rote definitions. He'll ask you to explain things like you would to a student — for example, walking through an example of levels of learning or describing what makes a scenario-based training exercise effective. For runway incursion avoidance, he expects you to cover every item listed in the PTS as a structured lesson, not just a Q&A. Pilots reported he also asked them to brief a taxi route using a real taxi diagram and then tested their ability to teach from it.

Practical Focus

Limited gouge data is available on the flight portion from this report. The oral itself consumed approximately five hours, so be prepared for a long ground session before flying.

Examiner Style

Ed treats the CFI oral as a demonstration of your ability to teach, not just your knowledge. He wants you to "teach" topics as lessons to a student — keeping the PTS open and covering every required area is a smart strategy. He gives you room to present material your way, but he expects thoroughness. The five-hour oral length suggests he is methodical and doesn't rush through topics. Pilots reported pulling up supplementary materials like taxi diagrams during the oral, which Ed appeared to welcome and even expect.

What Surprised Pilots

• The oral length — five hours is significant, even for a CFI checkride. Come rested and prepared for an endurance event.
• He started with airport markings and signs before getting into FOI, which caught at least one applicant off guard. Have that material fresh.
• He draws a clear distinction between aviation instructor responsibilities and CFI responsibilities — don't treat them as the same thing.
• He expects you to teach runway incursion avoidance as a complete lesson covering every PTS line item, not just answer individual questions about it.