Private Pilot Oral Exam: The Most Common Reasons Applicants Fail

Nationally, somewhere between roughly three in four and four in five private pilot practical tests end in a pass: FAA Civil Airmen Statistics put the private pilot pass rate at 73.9 % in 2014 and 78 % in 2021 (AOPA). And the pipeline is large: 44,657 private pilot airplane knowledge tests were taken in 2025 alone (FAA test statistics). So roughly one practical test in four or five ends with a notice of disapproval instead of a temporary certificate.

Where do they fail? The most useful public answer comes from one examiner who counted. Over 23 months Larry Bothe gave 157 checkrides, almost all private pilot. Twenty-five applicants failed: 14 in the oral and 11 in the flight. He wrote up the specific reasons, task by task, and said his pass and fail numbers were in line with national averages (NAFI Mentor, Jan–Feb 2018). One examiner is a small sample, and he said so himself. But the patterns he describes are exactly the ones the ACS is built to catch.

It matters that the oral comes first. The ACS says the applicant must pass the ground portion before beginning the flight portion, and that oral questioning continues throughout the whole test (FAA-S-ACS-6C, Appendix 1). Fail on the ground and you never start the engine.

How an oral answer gets judged

Bothe is candid that grading an oral is harder than grading a steep turn. Is the answer complete? Partially correct? Close enough? The examiner can ask follow-ups, but has to avoid leading you to the answer. The ACS resolves part of that tension: evaluators may sample knowledge and risk management elements rather than testing every one, but they should test your ability to apply and correlate information and use rote questions only when they fit the material. Every task still has to be covered: as Bothe puts it, examiners are not permitted to skip anything in the ACS.

He is also clear about tolerance. Flubbing a few minor details is fine. A string of wrong answers in one area is not. The six patterns below are the strings he describes, in the order he ranks or presents them.

1. Not knowing where the airspace is

ACS task PA.I.E

Why it fails. Bothe’s No. 1 cause. Applicants know the major classes but struggle with where Class E and G begin, confuse MOAs and restricted areas, and some have never heard of special flight rules areas, which he calls a failure on the spot. His answers for the record: can you fly in a MOA? Yes. Do you have to call anybody? No. A restricted area? Maybe, and you contact the controlling agency to find out if it is active.

The fix. Learn the airspace from a chart, not a table: the magenta vignette, the blue vignette, the dashed lines, the special-use airspace table. Our airspace questions guide walks through every class with the regulation behind it.

2. Not knowing required from optional equipment

ACS task PA.I.B

Why it fails. Both answers are wrong in opposite directions. Bothe points out that the average airplane in the general aviation fleet is about 30 years old and things break constantly, so a new pilot must know what to do. The ACS makes it a skill element: apply the procedures for operating with inoperative equipment in the examiner’s scenario (PA.I.B.S3). A fuel gauge for each tank is required by 91.205(b)(9); a landing light is required by 91.205 only at night for hire.

The fix. Bothe’s version is two forks. Required (by 91.205 or the equipment list)? Repair it, or get a special flight permit to fly it where it can be fixed. Optional? Placard it inoperative or remove it. The full procedure is in 91.213(d), and our airworthiness guide works through it with a logbook exercise.

3. Confusing observations with forecasts

ACS task PA.I.C

Why it fails. A METAR is an observation: it tells you what the weather was, not what it will be when you arrive. Bothe says that when he hears answers like these he soon concludes the applicant has no understanding of how to obtain and use weather information, and failure is likely. The ACS lists the products you are expected to use, from METARs and TAFs to the GFA, winds aloft and inflight advisories (PA.I.C.K2), and the skill element is to correlate them into a go/no-go decision.

The fix. For every product, know whether it looks back or forward, what area and time it covers, and where you would get it. The weather questions guide decodes a METAR and TAF line by line.

4. Performance numbers nobody looked up

ACS task PA.I.F

Why it fails. Bothe’s tell is round numbers. Ten gallons an hour and 110 knots mean the applicant didn’t open the cruise performance chart for the altitude, temperature and power setting planned. If you think one size fits all, he fails you. He also checks the weight and balance you brought as homework by changing one thing, such as adding a passenger. If you can’t rework it, you fail, because it shows someone else did it. Both map to PA.I.F: use the performance charts, and compute weight and balance and correct out-of-CG loading (PA.I.F.S1–S2).

The fix. Build your cross-country numbers from the POH yourself, write down the chart and entering values, and redo the weight and balance with one more passenger and with less fuel before test day.

5. Human factors left for the last evening

ACS task PA.I.H

Why it fails. Bothe describes failing an applicant who could not hold a conversation about any of the three human factors topics he picked from the ACS list. The cause was preparation: the topic came up late, and the instructor asked “You know about human factors, right?” The student said yes. The current ACS lists twelve aeromedical conditions in PA.I.H.K1, from hypoxia and spatial disorientation to carbon monoxide and scuba diving, and requires you to associate the symptoms of at least three with their causes and corrective actions (PA.I.H.S1).

The fix. Never accept “I know it” as evidence, from yourself or your instructor. Explain each condition out loud: symptoms, cause, what you do.

6. Unable to talk about spins

ACS task PA.VII.D

Why it fails. Spin awareness is tested verbally only for private pilot: the ACS skill section for PA.VII.D is intentionally left blank. That makes it easy to skip in training. Bothe expects three things: what causes a spin, the circumstances in which an inadvertent spin happens, and how to recover. Getting close is fine; being unable to speak to any of the three is cause for failure. The ACS words it as the aerodynamics and causes of spins, their phases, the recovery procedure, and the situations that lead to an inadvertent spin.

The fix. A spin needs a stall plus yaw (uncoordinated flight). The classic trap is a skidding base-to-final turn when you overshoot. Recovery follows the procedure in your POH; many instructors teach it as PARE: power idle, ailerons neutral, rudder opposite the rotation, elevator forward.

The pattern under all six

None of these are exotic topics. They fail because they were memorized rather than applied, or because nobody checked. Bothe’s advice to instructors fits applicants just as well: don’t ask whether you know something, make yourself demonstrate it. The 14-day study plan is built around that idea.

If you do fail

The ACS lists three outcomes: a temporary airman certificate, a Notice of Disapproval of Application, or a Letter of Discontinuance, which is for tests stopped for reasons other than performance, such as weather or equipment (FAA-S-ACS-6C, Appendix 1). If you don’t meet the standard for any task, you fail that task and its area of operation, and with it the practical test (61.43(c)). The notice lists the areas you failed, any areas not tested, and the number of practical test failures.

Either of you can end the test at that point. The examiner may continue only with your consent, and you receive credit only for the areas and tasks performed satisfactorily. Continuing is often worth it: every area you pass now is one you won’t repeat.

Before the retest, 14 CFR 61.49 requires training from an authorized instructor who has determined you are proficient to pass, and an endorsement from the instructor who gave that training (61.49(a)). In practice the cost is another examiner fee, the airplane, the extra instruction and, often, weeks of waiting for a new slot. It is far cheaper to find your weak area before the examiner does.

Quick answers