The Practical Test Shouldn't Be Your First Time
From the Examiner's Chair
Article No. 11
Training has to include doing it — not just discussing it.
Introduction
The practical test is supposed to evaluate training. It should not be the first time the applicant experiences what's being evaluated.
That sounds obvious. Yet I routinely see applicants encounter required skills for the first time on practical-test day — communicating with ATC, operating at a non-towered airport, or something as basic as using a VFR flight plan.
These applicants may have studied the material. They may know the terminology. They may even be able to explain the procedure. But they have never actually done it. That is a very different kind of preparedness.
You Can Hear Inexperience on the Radio
One of the most common weaknesses I see involves radio communication. Applicants who train primarily at non-towered airports are often uncomfortable in towered environments — and applicants who train primarily at towered airports are often just as uncomfortable making proper calls at non-towered fields. Neither problem is unusual. Both are avoidable.
My home airport is in Class C airspace, and we have some of the friendliest, most accommodating controllers you could hope to work with. Even so, I routinely see applicants arrive with very little experience operating in a Class C environment. They don't know what to say or when to say it, and sometimes they're so focused on making the "right" call that they stop listening to the information they're being given.
It can start before the engine is even running. The ATIS at my airport tells VFR aircraft to contact clearance delivery prior to taxi, and it specifies what to report: aircraft type, direction of flight, and requested VFR altitude. Many applicants copy the ATIS — then immediately try to call ground. That's not what the ATIS told them to do.
So I might ask:
"What should you tell clearance delivery?"
And then:
"What did the ATIS say?"
The answer is right there. The problem isn't that the applicant can't memorize radio phraseology. The problem is that the applicant is experiencing the environment for the first time while being evaluated.
That isn't fair to the applicant — and it isn't the examiner's job to fix during the practical test.
It Works Both Ways
This isn't limited to applicants who train at non-towered airports. Pilots who train almost entirely at towered fields can struggle just as much when they arrive somewhere non-towered. They may be uncertain about when to make position reports, use awkward or nonstandard phraseology, misjudge how to sequence with other traffic, or feel lost without a controller telling them what to do.
The common thread isn't towered versus non-towered.
It's lack of exposure.
A pilot certificate shouldn't represent competence only within the environment where the applicant happened to train — a practical test has to evaluate whether the applicant can operate safely in the broader system. That means instructors have to expose students to more than one familiar pattern.
A fellow DPE recently received a request to conduct a practical test at a non-towered airport specifically because the applicant was uncomfortable operating at a towered one.
To most examiners, that misses the point entirely.
If I'm conducting a test from a non-towered airport and I have reason to believe an applicant is weak on radio communication, there's a good chance we'll visit a towered airport during the flight portion — not to make the test harder, but because that skill is part of operating as a pilot.
Avoiding the environment where the weakness exists doesn't demonstrate proficiency.
It only hides it.
If a certificate allows an applicant to operate throughout the National Airspace System, training should prepare them to do exactly that.
If It's in the ACS, Teach It
Another recurring example is the VFR flight plan.
It appears in both the Private Pilot and Commercial Pilot Airman Certification Standards.
Yet when I ask applicants whether they've ever actually prepared, activated, and closed one, the answer is very often:
"No."
That raises an obvious question — why not?
If it's a required skill, why are we discussing it without actually doing it?
The applicant may know what a VFR flight plan is, where to find the form, and what it's for.
But that isn't the same as having used one.
Training should go beyond recognition.
Applicants should have actually filed, activated, and closed one — at least once, and preferably more than once.
Why VFR Flight Plans Still Matter
Some pilots view VFR flight plans as outdated, since many flights occur in radar coverage and modern pilots often lean on flight following, ADS-B, and electronic tracking.
But there are still situations where one matters — repositioning through mountainous terrain or another area with limited radar coverage, for instance.
If the airplane goes down, someone needs to know it's missing, and they need some idea where to start looking.
That is one of the things a VFR flight plan provides.
It's not just a form.
It's part of the pilot's toolbox.
A skill doesn't become irrelevant just because newer tools exist — the important question is whether the pilot understands when that tool may still be useful.
For Flight Instructors
This is where instructors can make a tremendous difference.
If your students train at a non-towered airport, take them to Class D and Class C airports.
Don't just touch down and leave — land, taxi in, let them listen, let them request what they need, let them get their clearance to depart.
Most importantly:
Let them talk on the radios.
Don't make every call for them, and don't rescue them the moment they hesitate.
Give them enough repetition that the environment becomes familiar.
The same applies in reverse.
If your students train at a towered airport, take them somewhere non-towered.
Let them make the calls, sequence themselves, and operate without a controller managing traffic flow for them.
And if the ACS includes a VFR flight plan, use one.
Actually use one.
Training shouldn't stop at:
"We talked about it."
The goal is:
"The student has done it."
Putting It Into Practice
Before recommending an applicant for a practical test, ask a simple question:
What required skill has this applicant only discussed — but never actually performed?
For instructors
Has the student operated at both towered and non-towered airports?
Has the student personally made the radio calls?
Has the student listened to and followed ATIS instructions?
Has the student worked with clearance delivery, ground, tower, and approach when appropriate?
Has the student filed, activated, and closed a VFR flight plan?
Has the student used these skills often enough to be comfortable rather than merely familiar?
For applicants
Am I comfortable outside the airport environment where I normally train?
Have I actually performed the ACS tasks I expect to be evaluated on?
Am I relying on memorized procedures, or have I used them in the real world?
If the examiner puts me in an unfamiliar but ordinary operating environment, will I know what to do?
If the answer is no, the practical test is not the place to discover it.
From the Examiner's Chair
I don't expect applicants to have experienced every possible situation before a practical test — that would be impossible.
But I do expect required skills to have been trained.
Actually trained.
Not just discussed.
Not just demonstrated once by the instructor.
Not just memorized from a study guide.
If the ACS expects the applicant to communicate in controlled airspace, they should have done it.
If it expects them to operate at non-towered airports, they should have done it.
If it includes VFR flight plans, they should have used one.
The practical test should not be the first exposure.
It should be the confirmation that the training worked.
The practical test should confirm a skill — not introduce it.
— Brad Kramer
FAA Designated Pilot Examiner
About the Author
Brad Kramer is an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner based in Evansville, Indiana. He has over 25 years of aviation experience and has conducted FAA practical tests for more than a decade. His goal is to help applicants and flight instructors better understand the principles behind safe flight operations, sound aeronautical decision-making, and the Airman Certification Standards.
