Michelle Patrina DPE Checkride Gouges – Goodyear, Arizona

CFI Initial Checkride with Michelle Patrina - January 2024

Pre-Checkride Preparation:

Michelle likes to get the 8710 form completed at least two days before the checkride, so have your endorsements and paperwork done early. She arrived on time and even brought donuts. She really believes in making sure students are comfortable and well fed and hydrated throughout the long day.

Critical Preparation Points:

Make sure your endorsements are clear and thorough. Do not use acronyms like ASEL - spell it out as "Airplane Single Engine Land." She is very particular about this and it sets the tone for professionalism.

She prefers paper logbooks. If you have digital logbooks, be ready for potential issues. If you're going digital, make sure you have a nicely laid out and clear version printed on paper.

I had a binder prepared with all my aircraft airworthiness and documents. I included photos of all the placards on the aircraft, which she really appreciated. Looking organized and put together from the beginning will give you a lot of grace later in the checkride.

Oral Examination Approach:

She did look at my written test scores as a gauge of how thorough to be with me. Since my written test scores were 99% and 93%, she told me straight up she wasn't going to be as hard on me. She asked me what sections I wanted to teach for the oral. She said otherwise I would have to teach lessons on the areas I missed on my written, but since I had so few questions missed, we skipped that.

There was no specific oral section for Fundamentals of Instruction. Instead, she evaluated that throughout the day. She would do things that students would do, like get confused on terms I used, and looked to see if I picked up on that and adapted my teaching.

Runway Incursions Lesson:

The runway incursions lesson was a bit challenging. It was very clear she did not want to be bored by a long generic lecture. She preferred something local showing all the hotspots and issues at local fields. It was clear she didn't want to spend a lot of time on it, but I was conflicted since I had to hit all 17 PTS items to meet standards.

Certificates and Endorsements Scenario:

For certificates and endorsements, she gave me a practical scenario. A private helicopter pilot came to me and wanted to fly airplanes. I needed to tell her what endorsements would be required from beginning to end, and what previously logged time would be usable toward the Airplane Single Engine Land Private Pilot License. I took a break, looked at the regulations, wrote down the requirements assuming they did the minimum for a helicopter PPL, and read back what they needed. She said since I could do that, I must know certificates and endorsements, and we moved on.

Maneuver Brief:

I had to teach steep turns as my maneuver brief. She let me know this ahead of time, so I was well prepared. There were very few surprises in this portion.

Weather Briefing:

She asked if I wanted to break for lunch, which I did. We met back at the hangar for a preflight lesson. I had gotten the weather previously in the morning at 1-800-WX-BRIEF and wrote it down and showed it to her earlier. She asked if I had checked the weather. I said I was waiting until right before we fly to get an update on current conditions. I called 1-800-WX-BRIEF on speakerphone and got an update. She absolutely loved that my phone number was pre-registered with Leidos and I went straight to a SoCal briefer. She said that means I call for weather on my own regularly and she absolutely raved about that.

Preflight Lesson:

I did the preflight lesson using the POH from the aircraft, which she appreciated. She specifically said she doesn't like people using store-bought POHs or other checklists. Use the actual aircraft POH.

Flight Portion - Taxi:

The flight started off well. I used my taxi diagram on my iPad and drew out our route on the iPad when I got my taxi instructions. She really appreciated that visual approach. She went all over the airplane looking for things and created tons of distractions while taxiing, so be ready for that. She's testing your ability to maintain focus and taxi safely while dealing with student questions and behaviors.

Teaching Straight and Level:

We took off eastbound from Montgomery-Gibbs and headed toward Lake Jennings. The first thing we did was have her under the hood as I taught straight and level flight. She did absolutely everything wrong if I did not specifically instruct otherwise. I learned quickly to be absolutely clear and explicit with every instruction. I also should have called out that we were clear of Class Bravo airspace - I had checked, I just didn't verbalize it. She got upset when I almost got on the controls with her. She really did not like that, so don't ever try to take controls from a student without clear communication first.

Chandelle Teaching:

We went northeast and I taught a chandelle. I screwed up by dropping the nose a little bit, but I called out my corrections immediately, so we continued. This demonstrates that she's fair - if you recognize and correct mistakes, it's acceptable.

Steep Turns Teaching:

Next I had to teach her steep turns. She didn't like that I instructed her to go straight to 45 degrees of bank. She suggested it would be better to have her start at 30 degrees of bank just to get a feel for it first and not let the student get frustrated with an immediate steep bank.

Accelerated Stalls:

We did accelerated stalls. She didn't like me pushing the nose too hard to recover. She also wanted me to specifically call out the words "imminent stall" when the stall was happening. This verbal callout is important to her.

Emergency Scenario:

Next we went into an emergency scenario, which in my case was an oil pressure loss. I descended down to Warner Springs. I should have turned to a left downwind so the student could see the field. Instead I went right so I could see the field. She didn't like that - the student's view is what matters, not mine.

Eights on Pylons:

After that she asked me how high AGL I thought we were. I said 1500 feet AGL and confirmed with a glance at my iPad AGL readout (I suggest having that feature available). Then she had me demonstrate eights on pylons, which I performed well. She let me select the second pylon after going around the first one.

Return for Landings:

After that it was time to return for landings. We went back to Ramona. She commented that I cruised too slow. She insisted on flying with purpose and saving your students money, so she wanted full cruise speed. I ended up descending at 160 knots into Ramona, which got me too high for the first landing, so I went around. She commented later that I should have done a better job anticipating and fixing my energy state, but my aeronautical decision making to go around was good.

The first landing was a normal landing to a full stop. She wanted full stops so I could get a breather, as we were already about 1.8 hours on the Hobbs. I had forgotten to switch my fuel tanks and caught it during my full runup checklist. She said she was about to fail me for that, so running complete checklists saved me.

The next was a short field landing, again to a full stop. The final was a soft field takeoff to a power-off 180. I hit the landing mark exactly with a somewhat unstabilized off-centerline approach with a heavy slip. She really didn't like my approach technique, but I hit the mark precisely so there wasn't much she could say about it.

Return to Montgomery-Gibbs:

We taxied back for a takeoff back to Montgomery-Gibbs with a soft field landing. During the flight back, she removed her shoulder straps from the seatbelt. I wasn't quite sure what she was testing, but I asked her about it and she said "it's fine." Finally before approach to landing, I insisted on the shoulder straps being properly worn. I think she was looking for that assertiveness as the instructor and pilot in command.

Again I was flying very fast at 140 knots into Montgomery-Gibbs Class Delta, so I really had to slow the plane down quickly. I could have done a better job managing my energy state overall. I did the soft field landing on the 1000-foot markers.

[Content continues with examiner evaluation methods, post-flight debrief details, specific performance standards, and professional conduct expectations. Full gouge includes complete checkride timeline and detailed feedback.]

[Additional sections cover teaching techniques, student role scenarios, emergency procedures, and successful completion strategies with multiple applicant perspectives.]