Flight Instructor Program · policy
Ticket: 18. Checkride aircraft and cost policy
Story: US-8.5
Gate: Enrollment. Written so the enrollment project can lift it into the packet unchanged
Regulation verified against live eCFR: 2026-08-13, title 14 up to date as of 2026-08-11
Issued: 2026-08-13
Your practical test is conducted in N41459. This is settled, per Decision 13, and it is not a per-candidate decision.
N41459 satisfies 61.45, verified against live eCFR on 2026-08-13, which requires an aircraft of U.S. registry of the category and class you are applying for, holding a standard airworthiness certificate, carrying the equipment for every area of operation on the test, having no operating limitation that prohibits any required area of operation, and having at least two pilot stations with adequate visibility and with engine power and flight controls easily reached and operable in a conventional manner by both pilots.
Your practical test does not include spins in this airplane. Per Decision 7 spin flight training is external, and under 61.183(i), read live on 2026-08-13, an examiner may accept the spin training endorsement as satisfactory evidence of instructional proficiency in stall awareness, spin entry, spins, and spin recovery, provided the practical test is not a retest resulting from a failure for deficiencies in those procedures. That last clause is the one to notice: if you fail the test for spin-related deficiencies, the retest must test them in an airplane certificated for spins. N41459's approval for intentional spins has never been established, so that retest would need an aircraft North Aero may not be able to provide. This is the strongest practical reason to arrive genuinely proficient at teaching spin awareness rather than relying on the endorsement to carry you.
Bring or confirm present in the airplane. The examiner will check them, and a missing record ends the test before it starts.
| Record | Source requirement |
|---|---|
| Airworthiness certificate | 91.203(a)(1), and 61.45(a)(1)(ii) for the practical test |
| Registration certificate, current | 91.203(a)(2) |
| Approved flight manual or operating limitations | 91.9 |
| Weight and balance data, current | 91.9, and the airplane's approved material |
| Annual inspection, current | 91.409(a) |
| 100-hour inspection, current if the airplane is carrying persons for hire or giving flight instruction for hire in a provided aircraft | 91.409(b) |
| Transponder inspection, within 24 calendar months | 91.413 |
| Altimeter and static system inspection, within 24 calendar months if the flight will be IFR | 91.411 |
| ELT battery and inspection | 91.207 |
| Airworthiness directives compliance record | 91.417 |
| Maintenance records showing inoperative equipment handled correctly | 91.213, and ACS Appendix 3 |
On inoperative equipment. ACS Appendix 3, read from FAA-S-ACS-25 on 2026-08-13, states that if the aircraft has inoperative equipment and can be operated under 91.213, it must be determined whether any inoperative instrument or equipment is required to complete the practical test, and that the inoperative equipment must not interfere with practical test requirements. A legally placarded inoperative item can still end your checkride if it is needed for an area of operation. Check this the week before, not the morning of.
You also need a view limiting device. 61.45(d)(2) requires the applicant to provide one for the instrument portion. Bring your own. Agree with the examiner before the flight when it goes on and comes off.
You pay for all aircraft time, including the ferry to and from the examiner.
This is stated here, in writing, before you enrol, because finding it out on the morning of the test is exactly the surprise objective O6 exists to prevent. It is North Aero policy, not a regulation.
What that covers, itemised so there is nothing left to infer:
What you also pay, separately and not to North Aero:
policy/KNOWLEDGE-TESTS.md.No figure appears in this document. Per Decision 15 and cross-cutting requirement 8, no phase package price, program total, or prepay structure appears anywhere in this project. Cost is expressed against the school's hourly rates only, and the enrollment project turns the hours below into a candidate-facing range.
The examiner and their base airport are determined when your checkride is scheduled, at the end of your training. They are not known at enrollment and cannot be.
Examiner availability, location, and scheduling all move over the four to thirteen months a candidate spends in this program. Naming an examiner at enrollment would be naming a guess, and a guessed ferry figure is worse than an honest statement of who pays, because a number gets remembered as a commitment.
What you are told at enrollment is the part that does not change: the ferry is on your bill. That is the disclosure that matters, it is stated above in writing, and it is what stops the cost being a surprise. Objective O6 is about a candidate never first learning of a cost driver after enrolling, and the driver is disclosed here in full.
What you are told when the checkride is scheduled is the specific figure:
| Stage | What you know |
|---|---|
| At enrollment | That you pay all aircraft time, including ferry both ways. The list of cost drivers above, in full |
| When the checkride is booked, phase 4 | The examiner, their airport, the round-trip flight time, and therefore the ferry cost at the school's hourly aircraft rate |
Parameter P10, the estimated ferry time, resolves at checkride scheduling rather than at enrollment. It is not an open item on the enrollment gate. Lesson 39, checkride preparation and document review, is where it is worked out with you, and it is early enough in phase 4 that nothing about it arrives on the morning of the test.
Ask at any point. If you want a rough sense of the ferry before phase 4, ask your Supervising Instructor which examiners North Aero has been using recently and how far away they are. You will get an honest answer with the caveat that it may change, which is the most anyone can truthfully tell you.
Stated because a policy a candidate understands survives contact with a bad day better than one they merely agreed to. N41459 is the school's airplane and the examiner is not at the school's field. Somebody flies it there and back, that time is aircraft time, and the alternative is spreading it across every candidate including those who never take a checkride. Putting it on the candidate who uses it is the honest allocation, and telling them at enrollment is the part that makes it fair.
N41459 named as the checkride aircraft (Decision 13)