AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2012 - 37

written tests, certificate inspections, and free advice. They even flew little airplanes on their rounds in those days, and they knew airport operators by name. I had taken my knowledge test, 50 multiple-choice questions, while on a solo cross-country to the airport housing the General Aviation District Office (FAA offices were logically located on airports back then), and I received my passing grade slip in the mail after an anxious two-week wait. The idea of having to pay to take a written test would have been considered absurd, even if it could have resulted in obtaining immediate results. Inspector Murphy conducted my practical exam for free, as part of his job. I was one of a half dozen or so applicants on the day’s agenda, and he and his crew had a busy day ahead. Thanks to the $2 per hour I had been paying my instructor for dual, I was well prepared; I repeated all the things I’d been told and shown, which seemed to be enough to satisfy Murphy. He was amused that I plotted my cross-country

likely to see you again, even for a retest, and their only focus was on assuring that you met the criteria laid down by the standards. Spin demonstrations had been deleted a few years earlier, but stalls were taken seriously, and I had become thoroughly proficient in snapping the stick forward and recovering straight ahead. Landings were expected to be similar to those of a tailwheel airplane, nose-high and at minimum speed, executed from a tight, power-off approach. Reapplying power, once it had been removed, was a sign of vacillating judgment during a landing approach. As in forced-landing demonstrations, one was expected to fly to the runway power-off. A slip to lose altitude was a normal maneuver. Once I had satisfied the oral and flying criteria, Inspector Murphy wrote up my temporary private certificate and offered a modicum of congratulation, anxious to be on his way, back to the district office. I noted my total investment in my logbook; $597.15, about a third of year’s wages.

“FAA inspectors of 50 years ago were highly experienced pilots, often wartime veterans, with readily supplied opinions. Their word was law, and we were cautioned to remain attentive and agreeable during a checkride.”
course with a wooden ruler and a protractor, outlining the data for the proposed trip on a Big Chief paper tablet. I also produced an acceptable wind triangle on the pad; I couldn’t afford an E6B computer, which cost as much as an hour of airplane time, but I did have an Army-surplus D-3 time/ distance computer to use for my in-flight calculations. FAA inspectors of 50 years ago were highly experienced pilots, often wartime veterans, with readily supplied opinions. Their word was law, and we were cautioned to remain attentive and agreeable during a checkride. Bureaucracy and political correctness were given short shrift. I was reminded to stick precisely to the runway’s centerline, and to maintain proper control position during taxi. Inspectors, unlike designated examiners, had no interest in establishing a rapport; they were not Some 34 months later, Inspector Murphy and I met again, for the commercial checkride, after I had matured with Army service and 212 hours. He didn’t remember me, but I passed after a discussion of my deficient lazy-eight technique. As the years went on, I had checkrides for instructor, instrument, multiengine, and other ratings, most with FAA inspectors, and I adapted to paved runways, improved avionics, and ever-more-complex aircraft systems. The old Lawrence airport now boasts a 5,700-foot-long, 100-foot-wide runway with an ILS approach, and nearby Class B Airspace, but I can still pick out details from my private pilot checkride, such as the taxiway. And the sky remains open and beckoning, just as it did 50 years ago.
LEROY COOK is a frequent contributor to

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2012