DPEs from Northern States: Come to SoCal to administer checkrides during the winter and escape the cold and bad weather of the North

Posted by wanderingcactus24@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 10 comments

Due to the extreme DPE shortage, there is a very long list of student pilots from multiple schools seeking to schedule checkrides in the SoCAL area (myself included). Some DPEs in the area are charging up to $1200 per PPL checkride and are still fully booked.

You could easily setup a week’s, or more, worth of check rides during SOCAL mild winter and use the money to take a nice Caribbean vacation afterwards ;).

I am just a student but I can point you to some schools in the area. If you are interested, DM me.

Some context:

I am PPL student pilot, that along with my CFI, have been trying to schedule a PPL check ride for the past 3 months with no success. I have contacted around 54 DPEs from the five neighboring FSDOs (LA, Riverside, San Diego, Van Nuys, Long Beach) found on the FAA find DPE find tool. We reached out by email, text and phone calls that included information as per this comment. We got less than 15 replies stating that they are not available or are fully booked for 5+ months and not taking new slots. Most requests went unanswered. This is a similar story of other students + CFIs at my school.

So, at this point, even being able to schedule a checkride 3+ months from now sounds like an unattainable luxury. In the meantime, we keep losing knowledge and stick & rudder proficiency.