The One Where Knowledge Validation is Finally Over

Today was the knowledge validation I have been dreading. It is essentially a conversational oral exam covering everything from systems and performance to operational procedures. Even though plenty of people assured me it would not be too in-depth (more of a general familiarity check than a deep dive), I still felt my nerves getting the best of me. My partner went first, and I was supposed to start at 9:30, but the examiner became available earlier and called me in at 8:00 instead.

To my surprise, we ended up heading to an open simulator instead of staying in a briefing room after the initial questions. This actually worked in my favor, because instead of just pointing at a poster or flipping through manuals, we were able to “show and tell” the systems directly in the cockpit environment. The examiner asked a few questions about each of the major systems, but nothing too complicated—just enough to verify that I understood how things basically worked and what would happen if I flipped certain switches.

The entire process took about an hour, and in the end, the examiner gave me some quick feedback on a couple of areas to brush up on. He also advised me that from now on, my focus should shift away from pure academics and more toward practical flying. That makes sense, considering I have a stretch of simulator sessions, then the maneuvers validation, and finally the LOE — and all of that should be wrapped up in about two and a half weeks.

As for this weekend, my schedule is free until Monday afternoon, so I might hop on some jumpseat flights to observe real-world operations and keep my skills fresh. It is great to see how close we are to the finish line, and I am glad the knowledge validation turned out to be less intimidating than I initially feared. The rest of training still looks manageable, so my fingers are crossed that things keep going smoothly.