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AviationSystems and equipment malfunctions
The examiner simulates failures in the airplane, from a rough engine or an electrical failure to a stuck flap, smoke or a door opening in flight, and you decide the right action and run the checklist. It is Task C of Area IX, Emergency Operations, in the FAA Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards, the checkride every private pilot flies.
Free to startThe steps
- Determine the right action for the simulated emergencies the examiner gives you, from at least three of these: partial or complete power loss; electrical, vacuum or pressure instruments, pitot-static, electronic display, landing gear or flap, or trim failure; smoke or fire on board; another system of the airplane such as oxygen or deicing; a door or window opening in flight.
- Complete the appropriate checklists.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Any action, or lack of action, that makes the examiner step in to keep the flight safe is unsatisfactory.
- If you do not use sound aeronautical decision-making, including single-pilot resource management, the examiner marks the task as failed.
To pass
- The right action for at least three simulated malfunctions, with the checklist.
- Know the causes of a partial or complete power loss for the airplane's engine, the airplane's system and equipment malfunctions, the causes and remedies of smoke or fire on board, an inadvertent door or window opening, and the risks of checklist use in a malfunction, distractions, an undesired aircraft state and the startle response.
- Missing the standard on this task fails the task and its area of operation.
Official source
Federal · FAA Private Pilot ACS
Private Pilot for Airplane Category Airman Certification Standards (FAA-S-ACS-6C)
The FAA publishes the Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards free: every task of the checkride with its knowledge, risks and tolerances.
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