A mock FAA practical test, right inside X‑Plane.

Every value being graded (altitude, heading, airspeed, bank and so on) has a target and a tolerance. A value has to stay outside its tolerance for longer than a grace period, 3 seconds by default, before it counts as a bust. A brief excursion that you correct is forgiven; a sustained one is not, which is how a real examiner treats a momentary needle swing. Speed targets come from your aircraft's Vso and the Vx, Vy and slow-flight speed you enter once (see Aircraft setup below).

For the full picture -- setup, every screen, and every task in PPL and CPL, exactly where grading starts and what makes each one satisfactory or unsatisfactory -- see the User Manual (PDF).

Where the ACS gives no number (for example, heading ±10° during a takeoff climb), Checkride Examiner uses its own stated value rather than pretending the ACS says so. Once a value has been inside its tolerance, it is held there; approach and climb speeds aren't graded until you've first reached them.

Ground

Contact Ground (ATC quiz), taxi, before-takeoff run-up, contact Tower (ATC quiz)

Takeoff

Short-field takeoff and maximum performance climb

Airborne

Constant airspeed climb, straight-and-level flight, turns to headings, steep turns (left and right), maneuvering during slow flight, power-off stall, power-on stall, constant airspeed descent, turns around a point, emergency descent

Pattern and landing

Traffic pattern, go-around, normal approach and landing, normal takeoff and climb, soft-field approach and landing, soft-field takeoff and climb, short-field approach and landing

The standard order follows a typical PPL flight: maneuvers that need altitude come first, then the descent and emergency descent, then ground-reference work and the landings. You can rearrange it before a checkride starts (never during one).

X-Plane exposes no data for Vx, Vy or a slow-flight target speed, and they differ by aircraft and by school. So you enter them once per aircraft in Settings, and the plugin remembers them.

Required

Vx and Vy (short-field takeoff), Vy (normal and soft-field takeoff, go-around), slow-flight target speed (suggested as 1.2 × the last Vso it saw). A task that needs a missing value won't start, and Checkride mode tells you everything that's missing before you begin.

Optional

Published short-field approach speed. Left at 0, it uses 1.3 × Vso taken from the aircraft.

Stored by

The aircraft's .acf file name, so different liveries of the same aircraft share their settings. Updates don't erase them.

After a flight, Open Report shows a page in your browser, generated fresh from your history on your own computer. It has three tabs.

Latest flight

Score, overall verdict, the change from your previous flight of the same rating and mode, each task marked SAT or UNSAT with notes, and bars showing how far each value strayed from its tolerance.

History

Your checkride score over time (one line per rating) and a list of every flight, with the per-task detail behind each.

Focus areas

Pass rate per task (for tasks flown at least twice, lowest first) and per ACS area, in green at 75% or more, yellow from 50%, red below.

On a shared simulator PC, such as at a flight school, each pilot can have their own history and report. Pilots are just names on that computer: no login, no account, nothing uploaded. The report is not an FAA document, and says so.

• One license key activates one computer. Activation needs an internet connection; it never lets you through just because it couldn't check.
• After that, the plugin also does a quick re-check each time it starts, and keeps working offline in between for up to 14 days since the last one that succeeded. Go longer than that with no internet at all and it asks you to reconnect before you can fly.
• Updates are handled by the companion app, which checks only when you open the report page. Each update is verified with an Ed25519 signature and a SHA-256 checksum, can't downgrade you, is backed up first, and rolls back automatically if anything fails. Close X-Plane before installing.
• The software makes five kinds of connection only: license activation, the periodic re-check just described, checking for an update, downloading an update, and loading map tiles for a completed checkride's flight-path map (only while you have the report page open, and only for that flight's area -- the map tile server sees roughly where you flew, never your flight times, results or pilot name). There is no telemetry, advertising or analytics.
• Your flight history, pilot names and aircraft names never leave your computer. The activation server stores a hash of your key and a random install ID, and no name, email or IP address.
• The report is served only to your own browser, on 127.0.0.1, protected by a random token generated at each launch.

1. Copy

Copy the CheckrideExaminer folder from the zip into X-Plane 12/Resources/plugins/. If the old Python (XPPython3) version is installed, remove it first; they share the same commands and menu. Already installed? Delete the old CheckrideExaminer folder first, then copy: choosing “Keep Both” in Finder makes a folder named CheckrideExaminer-2, which X-Plane won’t load. The folder must stay named exactly CheckrideExaminer. (Updating with the in-app Update button doesn’t need this.)

2. Open

Start X-Plane 12, load an aircraft, and choose Plugins → Checkride Examiner → Show/Hide Window.

3. Activate

First time only: Home → Change Key, enter your key, press Activate.

4. Start

Enter your aircraft's speeds in Settings, pick a rating, and press Start Checkride Mode or Start Practice Mode.

The plugin and companion app aren't code-signed yet, so macOS and Windows show a warning the first time. The install instructions walk through it (on macOS, removing the quarantine flag; on Windows, More info → Run anyway), and each release comes with a SHA-256 checksum so you can verify your download.

• X-Plane 12 only. X-Plane 11 and 10 are not supported. Windows and macOS only; there is no Linux build.
• The on-screen text inside the simulator is English only.
• The ground phase is procedural checkpoints, not numerically graded.
• Where you touch down relative to your intended point is not graded (it's a self-assessed note).
• You enter Vx, Vy and your slow-flight speed yourself, once per aircraft.
• Practice mode ignores wind and doesn't check terrain when it repositions your aircraft.
• Testing so far has been limited: on macOS in the author's X-Plane, and on Windows by a friend up to the update check. It hasn't been verified on every aircraft or OS version.
• The license key limits casual sharing; it is not strong copy protection.
• It is a simulation add-on only. It is not an FAA-approved training device, time flown with it does not count toward any certificate, rating or currency requirement, and it does not replace instruction from a certificated flight instructor or an actual practical test.

A Microsoft Flight Simulator version is in development. Its grading core is shared with the X-Plane version. Nothing about a release date, pricing or how it relates to this purchase has been decided yet.

Also under consideration: X-Plane 11 support, code signing for macOS and Windows, the other ratings the code already contains (Commercial, PPL/Helicopter), and features for flight schools. None of these is promised.

Every release you download is the current one -- v10 right now: the download link in your license email always points at the latest signed build, automatically. See what's new, with screenshots, or the full version history.

Already own a license and the in-app "Check for Updates" isn't showing you a new version? Re-download the latest version with your license key.