Cecilia Aragon

I recently took my checkride and unfortunately failed the oral portion. I scored 98% on the written exam and spent several weeks studying beforehand, so this was totally unexpected and honestly pretty discouraging. I was under the impression that referencing the AIM during the oral was allowed, and my CFI also felt that some of the questions were beyond what’s reasonable at my level. I don’t want to share too many specifics since I may need to repeat the checkride, but the experience was extremely upsetting — I was close to tears afterward. It felt like my flying career ended before it even began, and I’m struggling to understand why the examiner handled it the way she did.

Nitpick everything, not sure anyone can pass her checkride.

Feedback regarding my recent (PPL) checkride with (DPE) Ceilia Aragon. While I recognize that Ms. Aragon is a very knowledgeable and experienced pilot, I found the evaluation process to be highly arbitrary. BTW, my checkride lasted approximately 7 hours for private I felt the focus was more on showcasing her own knowledge rather than evaluating my skills as a safe pilot. She frequently asked obscure, one-line questions from the AIM that are not commonly known. For example, when discussing ground effect, she expected a detailed explanation of pressure degradation in terms of Bernoulli’s principle. Furthermore, I have concerns regarding her interpretation of (ACS). She called out during the practical that I failed on a power-on stall awhile in a turn; while she claimed the bank angle exceeded 40 degrees. FAA inspector had to provide clarifications on ACS standards-there is such standard I am unsure if these criteria were applied correctly. She would regularly interrupt you during the ATC calls, and point out poor radio calls that she cause and that missed the communication. Make sure you called out the starting maneuver attitude, she will call out if started at 3900 but she think that you started at 4000. Overall, the experience was a poor representation of a standard evaluation- I get she is a new DPE, but she is not evaluating the applicants rather she is there to show case herself.