Hi,
I was enroled for my CPL, not a PPL. I guess I prepared myself like everybody does, for example I tried to fly as close to CPL standards as possible before leaving for FL and went through all the books before. And yes, I also found it "borderlined" to mention names, but on the other hand, what happened there was highly unfair and I felt it was my duty of some sort to inform people about what happened, even tough I was a bit afraid myself. Many students are self-made people and +10h and a failed checkride does mean much more than it may seem at first sight (yes I know, aviation is expensive - but what do you think people expect from modular training?)
We have been a class of 5 and up to my knowledge, most people failed for almost everything, from taxi to departure, even for stuff like radio. If it was only me, I may think different about it, but given it happened to virtually everybody and we all proofed our skills in the 170 before, it really seemed more about playing games. I agree the school is not responsible about wich examiner gets assigned to students, however if there is somebody around that obviously likes to fail people, I would expect a more protective behaviour. At least this is how I would do it if I had a school, however I don't know that kind of business from the inside, so no idea about that. If I would scan my first checkride-form and post it here, you probably wouldn't believe me (in fact, I do get a lot of laughs when I tell other pilots about that form...
)
I think I mentioned the name of the examiner, it's initials were not SF, but A(M)C. I believe I know whom you mean, but I guess he does not test for EFT, rather the schools around.