I don’t know what the FAA private checkride is like, but if it’s anything like what we have in the UK it’s highly choreographed with predictable content such that an instructor can teach to the test in the latter stages of training.
I believe a significant number of candidates get through with a combination of rote learning, intensive coaching for the test content, a few practice ‘performances’ and then a bit of luck on the day in flying a ~1.5hr sortie of known and well-rehearsed content without making any serious mistakes.
In theory an FAA checkride is more scenario based than European checkrides. There is also an oral component. It’s getting on half a century from my PPL checkride out of Santa Monica. My instructor was an LA character. He claimed a special skill which I think all instructors should have: second sight! Seriously, only in Hollywood:)
Any test for an FAA license comes in three parts:
1) Written. This is a multiple choice test, pass rate 70% (if that’s all you get, be ready to get a serious grilling at the next stage!); here rote learning may help.
2) Oral. This is the first part of your actual checkride. Takes anywhere from 2-4 hours. My own PPL was too long ago, so not sure how this is conducted these days, but the IR and CPL which I did more recently are very scenario based.
3) Flight test. After you passed the oral (yes, you can fail), you go flying. The current PPL ACS is here
In addition, to legally operate a Bonanza, you would require high-performance and complex endorsements. Typically the insurance will also ask for a certain number of hours in type, especially if you’re low-hour. Of course, she may have dispensed with the legalities and just gone flying. Not every state in the US requires proof of insurance, so it’s possible that in her area this is what happened.
In any case, I’m somewhat baffled as how she got that far.
I’ve done the FAA PPL and CPL and IR checkrides. It is hard to understand… Indeed, something doesn’t appear to stack up here.
But maybe it is all simply real. Firstly, any male with blood circulating can understand how this particular female would have got, ahem, extra credit, at many many junctures in her life. And secondly the “damsel in distress” method is 100% effective on all males who have functioning circulation (which is why it is so frequently deployed) 
But producing videos where you look completely useless to the point where people are questioning which DPE could have possibly signed your certificates, is probably not effective in boosting your subscriber numbers.
As someone who is always careful to not expose someone to trouble, the thing which makes me wonder is that these videos make her DPE vulnerable to an FAA review. In that case, anybody posting a real case of astonishing incompetence is dumb, and no DPE will touch them again. GA is a small world.
But producing videos where you look completely useless to the point where people are questioning which DPE could have possibly signed your certificates, is probably not effective in boosting your subscriber numbers.
But… you provided the explanation in your first paragraph. For every 5 experienced pilots who watch this and say “what…???” there are 95 wannabees who just see a cute female flying a plane.
It’s also hard to overstate how you can get a good streak of training, be very competent, and then lose your bearings by not flying enough for a while, and / or changing aircraft. This happens much more at low experience (it’s happened to me a few times to feel like I was regressing a lot by not flying for a month or more, or e.g. not doing either navigation or circuits for 2+ months), but I can easily see how someone may train a lot for the exam / checkride, pass with high colors, and then lose confidence because of temporary insufficient recurrent training, before the proficiency has really hasn’t really a chance to settle in yet. Add a change in aircraft on top, you get the picture.
Also, the line between being ahead and behind the aircraft is very thin. If you’re slightly ahead, you’ll be able to tackle almost everything, although your mental load will be high. If you’re slightly behind, things can start piling up and quickly become overwhelming.
What I mean is it may not be the CFI’s fault for passing her, because she may just have had good training just before the PPL/IR/checkrides, while the proficiency had not fully settled in. This also has a higher chance of happening if you fail an exam (because you’ll train a lot to take the exam again, hiding the fact that the competence is not anchored in the long run).
@maxbc you make a good point except in this case she showed a lack of fundamental understanding. And I guess I just can’t imagine ever lacking that no matter how rusty I’d be, and I too am a low time pilot and have experienced what you described after this winter to a small degree.
Climbing with low MP setting while it may happen that you forget momentarily but as soon as she noticed she was close to stalling speed and barely climbing in one of her videos a basic check of all the settings should have revealed her mistake let alone if she had followed a climb checklist. Instead she was complaining about the AP not working correctly. At least I remember something like that from one of her videos. Also no matter ehat the AP does, if it ever pitches me down and won’t fly level when it should you vetter believe I will disconnect it and fly by hand. Yet it never looked like that thought even entered her mind. Can one attribute that to rust and fallong behind the plane? I don’t know..
maxbc wrote:
and then lose your bearings by not flying enough for a while, and / or changing aircraft.
That’s probably part of it. A Bonanza is a very different beast from a PA28. If you get behind in a PA28, essentially the airplane pulls over and waits for you to catch up. A Bonanza – not so much. I have seen this in our club. When we still had the C210, even some CFIs with a couple of thousand hours struggled. There are simply more things happening a lot quicker than in a PA28-140 or a C172. Still doesn’t explain some of the egregious mistakes she made.
