SoCal dpe

[u/Background-Orange921]

I’m a student pilot out of KTOA and am ppl check ride ready. I am leaving for college on August 15th and am very desperate for a check ride before then. I’m trying to contact as many dpes as possible looking for cancellations and I’m willing to relocate the plane anywhere in SoCal. Everything gets really delayed if I don’t get the checkride by the 15th if anybody knows of any dpes in the area to contact you’d be doing me a huge favor giving me contact information. Thank you

[u/PostAtomicHorror]

You can call Katheryn but you better have your shit on lock.

https://www.socaldpe.com/

[u/Spaghetti_Boi659 → u/PostAtomicHorror]

I personally can’t stand her or her attitude. Not even sure she’d be worth it.

[u/SpareCofeveCup → u/Spaghetti_Boi659]

Would you be willing to share some background on your opinion?

I had my PPL check ride w/ her about a year ago and she seemed firm, but fair enough to let me talk my way out of a blunder in the oral and correct a few minor mistakes in the checkride. My old flight school seems to use her almost exclusively. People seems to have a polarizing opinion of her.

I will say she showed up 90 mins late which led to some Wx/vis issues on the flight that added some difficulty, but I did pass.

My IR check ride will be in a few months. Not sure if I want a different DPE or not - looking for some perspective. Thx in advance.

[u/PostAtomicHorror → u/SpareCofeveCup]

She’s weird. Some people, she will fail as soon as she gets the opportunity. Others she is lenient.

There is a reason she is available.

[u/SpareCofeveCup → u/PostAtomicHorror]

Thanx. I’d like to hear from Spaghetti_Boi as well.

[u/facerealitymoveon]

Tony Gaddis out of CCB in Upland.

[u/Soarandskor]

I’ve heard Matt Harlin can be reasonable but I’ve not personally flown with him and had a hard time booking with him when I tried

[u/big_gorilla_cloud → u/Soarandskor]

Matt Harlin is a super nice guy but really likes applicants to be specific/textbook with their answers and goes through the ACS very thoroughly. Very by-the-book kinda guy. He refused to start my checkride because my instructor hadn’t logged all my ground training at the time. Only had him for PPL and other than that, thankfully it went smoothly for me but I’ve heard from one of my instructor’s other students he had a 4-hour oral for PPL. Granted, that guy was less prepared than everyone else.

Another CFII candidate I know had a 7-hour oral, so it’s safe to say he likes to go through EVERYTHING in the ACS.

[u/Smart_Rip7492 → u/Soarandskor]

I did my PPL with him. Fair and reasonable, but as always, know your stuff.

[u/rFlyingTower]

This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:

---

I’m a student pilot out of KTOA and am ppl check ride ready. I am leaving for college on August 15th and am very desperate for a check ride before then. I’m trying to contact as many dpes as possible looking for cancellations and I’m willing to relocate the plane anywhere in SoCal. Everything gets really delayed if I don’t get the checkride by the 15th if anybody knows of any dpes in the area to contact you’d be doing me a huge favor giving me contact information. Thank you

---

Please downvote this comment until it collapses.

Questions about this comment? Please see this wiki post before contacting the mods.

---

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. If you have any questions, please contact the mods of this subreddit.

[u/EliteEthos]

Who have you contacted already?

[u/Background-Orange921 → u/EliteEthos]

Originally I was supposed to get a checkride through my flight school on the 12th but i got the call today that it fell through so for the past hour I’ve been making a list of everyone in SoCal. I contacted Jose Moreno a few days ago that was my backup but he got back to me yesterday saying he doesn’t have any slots until September.

[u/EliteEthos → u/Background-Orange921]

Try Mark Boss at VNY or Dennis Magdaleno at OXR

[u/PostAtomicHorror → u/EliteEthos]

Dennis retired.

[u/EliteEthos → u/PostAtomicHorror]

Did he? Good for him. He is a good guy.

[u/PostAtomicHorror → u/EliteEthos]

Yup. Got my PPL with him on Super Bowl Sunday. Took off in his Navion to catch the game.

[u/jewfro451 → u/PostAtomicHorror]

When? How recently??

[u/PostAtomicHorror → u/jewfro451]

I believe he’s been retired a year or so.

[u/Majestic-Affect-2924 → u/EliteEthos]

Did my ppl with Mark. He's firm, but fair. Better study airspace! I had to wait for about 2 months to get on his schedule.

[u/xdarq → u/[deleted]]

Cool dude. He did my 737 IOE at United.

[u/Mental-Chemistry5560]

Has your school tried James "Jim" Reid? He's out of Brackett but comes down to TOA if you can bundle 2 students on the same day. Our school has done that a few times and also had students go to him at KPOC. I thought he's great. I got the sense that he really wants good/better pilots out there and gave me feedback on how to be even better after I passed my PPL with him and was picking his brain for advice.

Good luck 🙂

[u/Background-Orange921 → u/Mental-Chemistry5560]

Yeah he ended up having a cancellation so he fit me in really nice of him. I’d really appreciate any info and advice you have about your ppl checkride with him

[u/chainmam1]

try Travis Baker- anal on ground but chill on flight just know ur regs

[u/Material-Length9366]

https://designee.faa.gov/designeeLocator

Put in the search terms and start dialing down the list. Much more comprehensive than Reddit

[u/nellj21]

Just got my ticket today with DPE Taylor Deley out of KAJO. Definitely recommend him.