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Episode 4 features Jeremy Lashbrook, a retired Army aviator, EMS helicopter pilot, Part 135 check airman, and DPE. Jeremy brings a unique rotor and fixed-wing perspective and focuses on aircraft airworthiness preparation, the domino effect of unprepared applicants, and why CFIs should be teaching airworthiness on every single flight.

Key Takeaways

• Review aircraft records weeks before the checkride, not the day of. If an inspection is out of date, you need time to get it scheduled with a mechanic. Discovering it on checkride day stops everything.
• An unprepared applicant takes a slot from someone who was ready. DPEs book months in advance. When you cancel last-minute or show up unprepared, that date is wasted for the whole system.
• Jeremy pre-screens with aircraft registration forms on his website. Applicants fill in annual, ELT, and other inspection dates before the checkride. This forces them to get hands-on with the aircraft logbooks early.
• Logbooks should be totaled and organized. Don’t make the examiner watch you add up flight time during the checkride. Have it ready.
• CFIs should be teaching airworthiness on every flight. If you’re a CFI and you’re not verifying the aircraft is airworthy before every training flight, you’re not doing your job — and it shouldn’t be a surprise at checkride time.
• Endorsements have been less of an issue for Jeremy — partly because he works with many of the same instructors and does type ratings that require fewer endorsements. But the pattern across all four episodes is clear: documentation is the most preventable failure point.