Kenny Keller, Chris Hauser, and DPE Randy Sharkey discuss why over-relying on iPads can tank a checkride. An applicant's mini iPad froze mid-flight and he couldn't navigate without it or state a single VOR frequency. They recommend carrying paper sectionals, knowing how to read them, and understanding how your EFB actually works instead of just trusting the screen.
He says this iPads can be a pilot's worst enemy. Do more.
All right. As we're flying along beautiful Lake Wawa sea right?
We are.
Largest spring fed lake in Indiana, I believe.
I think you're right. Yes.
So welcome back to HOGS daily flight brief. I'm Kenny Keller, creator helicopter on land ground school. Chris Hauser with Sweet Aviation CFI 2 and designated pilot examiner Randy Sharkey on the other over there. Randy is going to give you his Next Examiner Top 10 pet peeve. And you know, Randy keeps saying it's his disclaimer, our disclaimer too. We always tell people you still got to look at the pts, you still got to use the pilot's operating handbook for whatever aircraft you're flying. We're giving you food for thought in these videos.
We want you to think about these.
Things, discuss these things with your instructors and do, do what's right for you.
Go for it, Randy, Danny, Chris, welcome aboard the H131 of five helicopters here in the fleet with sweet helicopter. So we are down to the next pet peeve. And this one is stated by another examiner out of the east coast and he says this iPads can be a pilot's worst enemy. And I do I agree with that assessment. He had a private pilot that was on a student ride and go figure, his little mini iPad froze up on him during the cross country portion of the flight. And the examiner, being patient as he was, he said, well, just use the VOR because the examiner had asked him, give me your position. The iPad's frozen. And when the examiner said it's okay to use the vor, the applicant had no idea what the VOR frequency was because that was his only source of navigation. So yes, yeah, we are allowed to use iPads or any personal electronic device that you want to bring with you for the check ride. My recommendation might be have a backup plan. It can be paper, it can be a sectional, but probably have a backup plan. And as we talk about sectionals, Kenny, which is a nice segue, it's all part of this particular pet peeve is know the sectional on the iPad as well. One thing that I like to ask the applicants when we're flying is, hey, if you want to make a in flight advisory with the flight service stat, tell me how you're going to call them. And so many times they have not been taught that. But what I'm looking for is for them to go to the sectional, look on the nearest VOR to know what that flight service station frequency is. So they can call and give a pire up, make sure the applicants know what a pirep is as well. So again, it's okay to use the electronic devices, maybe have a backup plan and when you're there, know the information on the sectional.
Kenny, I like that one a lot. And what immediately comes to mind for me is, you know, all three of us in here, we all started with paper, everything, right? And then we've watched electronics come in over the years and technology is great, and electronics are great. I still teach people, hey, I say use both at this point. You know, make use of the new technology. Have the, have your iPad and for flight and all that stuff. I still remember people have a paper far aim, a paper chart, you know, have those paper backups because they can save your. But I mean, I could give you a million reasons why a paper backup is nice. And I want to, I want to throw in, you know, a professional, real world thing. When I was flying EMS, our EMS company said, Guys, don't let your VFR skills with your charts in your E6B. We want you to make sure you keep these things fresh because satellites fail and we want you as EMS pilots, you have to be able to read a chart. You got to be able to go back and do these quick computations. So, you know, technology is great. Know, going into the EMS environment or the professional environment, an employer still wants you to know how to read a freaking chart and navigate without a GPS case of else. I mean, you gotta have those skills. So that's a great one, Randy.
Chris Hauser, I would just like to point out or ask as the DPE has the FAA approved electronic flight bags for checkrides.
Yes, yes, the answer is yes, you can bring those iPads, you can bring those electronic. They call them flybacks, electronic flybacks. That's perfectly fine now. And my thinking is when you come for the checkride, bring me what you're normally going to use because that way I can, I can test you to make sure that you're not going to hurt yourself. So yes, the FAA is okay with the EFBs.
And along with that, since a lot of the iPads, you know, you can get apps. Does the FAA recognize like weight and balance apps or do you, does the student still need to hand write one out to show that to you?
The answer is yes, they do recog them, but at the same time we're more than likely going to ask you how did that device come up with that answer. So yeah, it's okay if it does the arithmetic for us, but I want them to understand what CG is and what happens if we're too far forward, too far aft. Just know how we got there.
Awesome. Another great one. How many more we have left, Randy?
We have one more to go. Kenny.
One more to go. So give us a like on this one, and you might even want to subscribe. Click that bell so you can come back for Brandy's number 10 tip tomorrow. So thanks for tuning in. Comment below. See you tomorrow. Peace out.
