Hayden Ellis Vardaman DPE Checkride Gouges

Oral Emphasis

The oral exam with Hayden is heavily weighted toward commercial pilot privileges, limitations, and the regulatory framework around flying for compensation or hire. Pilots reported spending significant time on:

• Part 119 exceptions and common carriage: Expect to know the specific rules around aerial tours (including distance radius from the departure airport and any required filings), what constitutes common carriage, and the distinction between Part 91 for-hire operations and Part 135 operations.
• Commercial privilege scenarios: He poses practical, scenario-based questions — things like whether you can advertise flying services, whether you can fly someone in their own aircraft for pay, and how many Part 91 for-hire contracts you can accept before crossing into needing a Part 135 certificate. He also asks who you'd contact for regulatory clarification.
• Medical certificates: Know your medical expiration timeline, when you can exercise second-class privileges, whether BasicMed applies to commercial operations, and whether you can flight instruct under BasicMed.
• Airworthiness and maintenance: He goes through the maintenance binder with you. Expect questions about AD compliance, time remaining to the next 100-hour inspection, the difference between an annual and 100-hour inspection, whether you can legally overfly a 100-hour (and what concerns arise), preventive maintenance items, and who is authorized to perform them.
• Inoperative equipment: He asks about MEL vs. KOEL procedures and what information each provides.
• Pilot and aircraft documents: Required pilot documents, passenger currency for day and night, required aircraft documents, whether an airworthiness certificate expires and how an aircraft remains airworthy, and radio station/operator license requirements (when needed and how to obtain them).

Common Questions

Hayden's questioning style leans heavily on real-world scenarios and regulatory gray areas rather than rote memorization. Pilots reported questions like:

• What are the specific limitations if you hold a commercial certificate but no instrument rating?
• Can you rent an airplane and advertise your services publicly? What changes if someone else provides the aircraft?
• At what point does accepting multiple for-hire contracts cross from Part 91 into Part 135 territory?
• Walk through the maintenance logs and demonstrate AD compliance and 100-hour status.
• What is the difference between an annual and a 100-hour inspection in terms of who can perform them and what they authorize?

Examiner Style

Based on the gouge, Hayden appears conversational and methodical. He works through topics in a logical progression — starting with privileges and limitations, moving into operational scenarios, then transitioning to medical, documents, and maintenance. He expects you to think through scenarios rather than just recite regulations, and he'll follow up with "what if" variations to test the depth of your understanding. The overall tone suggests a fair but thorough examiner who wants to see that you genuinely understand the commercial operating environment.

What Surprised Pilots

• The depth of Part 119 and common carriage questioning caught pilots off guard — this isn't a surface-level discussion. He expects you to know specific details like the radius limitation for aerial tours and filing requirements.
• The radio station license and radio operator license questions were unexpected for some pilots — know when international operations trigger these requirements and how to obtain them.
• He has you physically go through the maintenance binder during the oral, so familiarity with the actual aircraft records (not just textbook knowledge) is important.