Originally Posted by
Gertrude the Wombat
I've said to an examiner, at the start of a test, "in the case of fire, forget the test, you have control - I will handle any other emergencies for as long as you think you don't need to intervene". There will now ensue a discussion as to whether he should have failed me on the spot before starting the engine ... but he didn't.
You give another worrying example of an examinee believing it is acceptable to dictate terms of the flight test to the examiner, and how roles will be split. It simply doesn't work like that, and for good reason. Your attitude risks undermining the authority of the commander. At best, this could cause confusion during the test; at worst, it could cause accidents such as the one at the start of this thread.
Thankfully, in the (many) flight tests I conducted, I didn't encounter anyone presuming to tell me my job, as you claim to have done. Why not just listen to the examiner's brief, which will include the setting out of roles, including the authority to act as captain for emergencies until such time as the examiner exercises the privilege of their command to take back control, stating they are doing so?
Stating that you would abdicate all responsibility in a particular emergency would make it very difficult to demonstrate you are of a standard to pass the test. The examiner's responsibility is to ensure you are safe and competent to take any member of the public flying, with the presumption that you would do your very best to handle any emergency arising. They would consider whether they would let their family, their loved ones fly with you, confident that you could make good judgements and decisions to handle emergencies safely. Considering this, do you still consider telling the examiner they would have to take over from you is appropriate?
Regarding your somewhat unnecessary challenge about whether you should be failed for such an attitude, I wouldn't have 'failed you on the spot' for saying what you did, despite the concern it would raise in my mind. I would have asked you to listen to my brief, paying close attention to the split of roles and my request that you assume the authority to carry on flying the aircraft as the captain until such time as I exercised the privilege of my command authority, to take back control, telling you I was doing so. Provided you accepted my brief and request, we'd go fly the test. If you repeated your refusal to do so, or gave other cause for concern about the command authority, either before or during the flight, I would stop the test. Tests which are stopped before they start, or at an early stage are just that - stopped tests, not necessarily a fail.
Your attitude, telling the examiner how you will behave on the test and how you expect them to comply with your (mis)perception of the roles is presumptuous - arrogant and patronising might sum it up better. Remember, they are the commander, having demonstrated their ability and judgement many times, to higher authorities than themselves. They are likely to have vastly more experience than you, so listening to their briefing on how command will play out during the flight seems a whole lot better way to undertake a flight test than undermining their authority as you seem to believe is acceptable, by stating your terms to them.