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2 Answers

Allowed resources for PPL checkride

Asked by: 9859 views FAA Regulations, General Aviation, Private Pilot, Student Pilot

Hello - I have a PPL checkride coming up.  I seem to either not be asking the question right or perhaps the answers are varied.  I've read that the oral portion of the test is open book.  What specifically can be brought to the test?  Can I bring my own notes and books used to study?  I have heard everything is fair game - I have heard it depends - I have heard you must find information quickly - but I've also heard from my own school that nothing can be brought.  Is there some reg on this?  Thanks!

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2 Answers



  1. Jim MacKay on Oct 10, 2016

    CJ
    From what I understand, as long its a FAA pub then its OK. In other words, FAR / AIM PHAK, POH, etc
    During the oral you can probably reference the material 1 or 2 times. Three references would looked on unfavorably by the examiner. Remember this is a oral exam and not a reference look up exercise.

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  2. Mark Kolber on Oct 11, 2016

    “Open book” is kind of a misdirection.

    During the oral, there are things it’s ok to look up and things you need to just know. To a large degree that makes sense. It’s one thing to answer a scenario about a piece of inoperative equipment by saying you would look at the rules and your POH. Quite another to have to look up which way to turn if the scenario is another airplane coming head on and closing rapidly.

    And, even on the generally ok to look up, there is such a thing as too much. We don’t carry the universe of private pilot information in our heads, but we do need to carry some of it.

    You can bring whatever you want. Official source material, particularly the AIM and FAR, is best. After all, part of what you are demonstrating is you ability to use those. But, while a bunch of crib notes might be questioned by some, references you would use in the cockpit should be very acceptable. I never could remember the ATC light signals. And after more than 25 years have only used them when teaching them. When asked about the during my checkrides, I pulled out my kneeboard sheet that had them listed. No problem. Good CRM in fact

    The reason you are getting varied answers is because the answers are in fact varied depending on the type of information.

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