I'm sure I'm going to get hate mail over this but hear me out.

Some flight schools, CFI and students are hard to deal with. Applicants aren't qualified. Aircraft that aren't legal or in poor maintenance condition. Missing paperwork. Frequent cancelations, delays and/or No shows. Instructors that don't care and students that consistently perform poorly. Why should an examiner put up with this? A lot of DPEs simply won't return phone calls, texts or emails from people they don't regularly work with because of this.

Now we all know that all examiners talk with each other. They share experiences. Like Santa, they know who's been naughty and who's been nice. Why not enjoy a nice checkride experience at a good school and not deal with the dumpster fire at the other?  I like to watch a good dumpster fire every now and then but then I'd rather sip my tea from a safe distance and not get involved.

I travel for some of my rides.  I've quickly discovered there's a reason why some schools are adding perks and cash incentives to do rides at their location, the local examiners simply don't want to deal with them. This hasn't been just my experience. One examiner friend had a dozen rides he couldn't do in one month due to the stuff listed above. Another examiner friend traveled 300 miles to do 8 rides over 4 days at one school. Only 3 were accomplished for a variety of reasons (non weather related). These schools are very vocal about there being an examiner shortage. They complain to everyone. Kind of like a 2 year old throwing a fit.  "Call the FSDO", "Contact your Senator" you see the post on a variety of social media. In reality, they'd get more help if they got their act together and provided a trouble free checkride experience for the examiner.

The FAA has issued some update in the last few months.  Here are few you should be aware of....

New 8710-1, Privacy Statement and Pilots Bill of Rights.
https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Form/FAA_Form_8710-1_12-2024_final.pdf

Aviation Weather Handbook
https://www.faa.gov/regulationspolicies/handbooksmanuals/aviation/faa-h-8083-28a-aviation-weather-handbook

All FAA certificate holders must have a Physical US Address on file with the FAA.  
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/10/08/2024-22000/us-agents-for-service-on-individuals-with-foreign-addresses-who-hold-or-apply-for-certain

Changes to Part 61 regarding CFI expirations, currency and the requirements to teach initial CFI
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/10/08/2024-22000/us-agents-for-service-on-individuals-with-foreign-addresses-who-hold-or-apply-for-certain

AC 61.65J Endorsements
https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/advisory_circulars/index.cfm/go/document.information/documentID/1043278

TSA requirements for CFI to have an account
https://www.fts.tsa.dhs.gov/home

The easy answer: get a high score on your knowledge test.

Did you know there is no requirement for an evaluator to test every knowledge and risk management element in a Task?  The evaluator has discretion to sample as needed to ensure the applicant's mastery of that Task. The required minimum elements to be tested from each applicable (or required) Task include:

• Any element in which the applicant was shown to be deficient on the knowledge test;
• At least one knowledge element;
• At least one risk management; and
• All skill elements, unless otherwise noted.

Let's use the initial CFI checkride as an example. The FIA knowledge test has 100 questions on it.  If you get a passing score of 70% that means the evaluator is required to test all 30 of the missed elements (questions) adding significant time to the test.     

Now, the evaluator doesn't know the exact knowledge test question missed, but they do know the ACS test element missed from the ACS codes on the knowledge test report. These elements are primarily tested during the ground/oral portion of the checkride. A good evaluator could use some, or all,  of those missed elements to develop a realistic scenario to shorten the test.  For example, I recently had a initial CFI applicant with the following ACS element codes on the knowledge test:

• AI.II.D.K2: Airplane stability, maneuverability and controllability
• AI.II.F.K2E: Factors affecting performance: Loading & Weight and Balance
• AI.II.F.K3: Weight and Balance terms including........
• AI.II.F.R4: Exceeding weight limits
• AI.II.F.R6: Shifting, adding, and removing weight

I think you can see the scenario here. The scenario was, "teach a student pilot how to do a weight and balance and explain the hazards associated with flying outside of the aircraft CG Envelope."

Now the issue. Most recommending CFIs fail to adequately review the missed elements on the knowledge test. They sign off the required 61.39 endorsement saying they reviewed it, but I have found those elements to be pretty weak during checkrides.  

Make your checkride as easy as you can by scoring high on the knowledge test and really bone up on your knowledge on the elements you did miss.