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Ok is my instructor messing with me?

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Examiner minutiae/dummy-stumping

80/20 said:
The FAA has told me to focus on understanding of essential features of system design and how various systems interrelate and demonstrate such knowledge by interpreting cockpit indications and describing the condition of aircraft systems from these indications. I do this not only because the FAA has told me to but also because this will allow the instructors to focus on building a safe pilot. I encourage people to dive deep into systems and maintenance manuals but not at the expense of basic practical flying and cockpit trouble shooting. Let us face it the workload is very high when preparing for a checkride. We should allow students to focus on the basics and most important first that is to become a pilot - not an engineer. By the way – last year an FAA inspector told me that he stopped a designee because he was asking too many non relevant in-depth technical questions.
. . . . such as (1) number of rivets on a 172; (2) number of "fuel pumps" on a Seminole; (3) number of counterweights in a Seminole's propeller(s), etc., ad nauseum.
 
Another Suggestion

nosehair said:
Thank you, Midlife! I wasn't going to respond to this asinine line until you came up with an actual teaching answer to this student. You're good!



The student/instructor relationship is an interacting relationship. Both parties are active. Activly seeking information. Both giving and recieving. The student must learn to seek the knowledge. Even when the instructor is asking "way-far-out-unrealistic" questions, the good student will seek the knowledge. There is more to learn than hard-matter-of-fact-facts. Ideas are worthy of consideration.

Although this may be a stupid question, it is possible that the instructor is trying to see if the student is confident in his answers.
 
bobbysamd said:
. . . (2) number of "fuel pumps" on a Seminole...
I had an examiner get me on this one during my Initial Multi checkride.

I thought he was giving me a hard time until I opened up to POH and sure enough - right there it was on the schematic I had looked over many times!

And for all you aspiring Seminole drivers... 4 fuel pumps is NOT the correct answer!
 
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Seminole fuel pumps

User997 said:
And for all you aspiring Seminole drivers... 4 fuel pumps is NOT the correct answer!
Alright. So what is the correct answer?

Two engine-driven pumps + two electric pumps + two throttle pumps + two primers (primers are a form of pump, or, once again, define "pump") = eight pumps.

I haven't looked at a Seminole fuel schematic in twelve years. The question was fair because it was based on a schematic found readily in the POH. Hopefully, your examiner still passed you.
 
dkelly said:
Although this may be a stupid question, it is possible that the instructor is trying to see if the student is confident in his answers.

Ah! That is an example of what I am talking about. I have noticed that most of the respondents in this thread have taken the line of what an Examiner should ask on a checkride, and there should NOT be ambiguous, tricky, toss-up questions on a Test.

But the Instructor...that's different. Just checking confidence, knowing, certainty, getting a student to become decisive, making his/her own decisions, these are things Instructors have to do to create a learning environment.

Teaching flying involves more than the transfer of tecnical knowledge and skill.
Self-Confidence is a Major factor in a student's ability to learn and progress.
 
bobbysamd said:
Alright. So what is the correct answer?

The answer is 5. You have the two engine-driven fuel pumps, two electric fuel pumps, and one combustion heater fuel pump.

And no the examiner didn't fail me on it - he just used it as a good lesson that stuck well with me from that point on.
 
Seminole fuel pumps

bobbysamd said:
A favorite question was the number of fuel pumps in a Seminole. Define "fuel pump." Most people would consider fuel pumps to be the electrically-driven pumps and the engine-driven pumps because these were gizmos that actually moved fluid from tank to engine so the answer is four, two for each engine. However, the answer varied from stage check pilot to stage check pilot, because some believed the throttle pumps were fuel pumps, while others regarded the carburetor pumps as fuel pumps. (I even heard fuel injectors falling under the definition of fuel pump because they "pump" gas into the combustion chambers.) I do not recall of any agreed-upon answer or definition of fuel pump for the Seminole . . . .
(emphasis added)

I forget the Janitrol fuel pump earlier and intended to include it in my answer above.

I would agree with User997's answer because it comports with the generally-accepted definition of "fuel pump." But tons of ERAU-Prescott students in the late eighties-early nineties who had access to shop manuals along with the POH asserted the answer I gave above and with the blessings of A&Ps and the local examiners.

See what I mean about asinine?
 
Now a bonus question for all you Seminole drivers - past, present, and future....

(And NO opening your POH's!)

What's the calculated rate of fuel consumption, per hour, of the Janitrol heater when it's in use?
 
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