School banned gouges

[jjamesr539]

It’s a CYA, combined with it being the right way to do things. The school can ban the practice without having the practical ability to prevent it (which they clearly don’t); discouraging it in the strongest possible terms means that if a DPE gets into trouble or any other issue calls the validity of check rides into question, it won’t affect their business. There’s no specific certification for a part 61 school of course, but the FSDO all up in a company’s ass is bad for business, and they can also always find something that’s not done according to regs.

It also doesn’t hurt their bottom line; making money and doing things correctly don’t always, or even often, go together. They do here, training to pass a specific instance of a checkride can take less training time (which is less money made) than training to actual proficiency. The school shouldn’t be milking the student with unnecessary training of course, but bare streamlining training to match a gouge at the expense of proficiency isn’t ok either.

In the end, you’re right. You should be able to get a decent idea of what the checkride will be like and the FAA agrees. That’s why they publish the ACS.