About
Built by an instrument pilot, for instrument students.
MockDPE is an AI-powered FAA Instrument Rating oral exam simulator — the tool I wish I’d had when I was preparing for my own checkride.
Why MockDPE exists
The IFR oral exam is one of the highest-stakes spoken exams in aviation. A real Designated Pilot Examiner doesn’t ask flashcard questions — they ask you to brief an approach, decode a METAR, justify a decision, and explain what you’d do if the autopilot dropped out at the FAF. Existing prep tools were flashcards, $400 video courses, or PDFs from 2014. Nothing simulated the actual oral.
MockDPE puts you in front of an AI examiner that asks scenario-based questions using live weather and real airports, then evaluates your responses against the FAA Instrument Rating Airman Certification Standards. It’s built to be the closest honest substitute for a real oral — not a substitute for the checkride itself, but for the preparation that gets you there.
Who built it
I’m Kevin — an instrument-rated commercial pilot and software engineer. I built MockDPE while working on my own CFI rating and now run it as a commercial application under Burrow Studio LLC.
MockDPE is intentionally narrow: it covers the FAA Instrument Rating oral exam, and only that. Not the written test, not the private pilot oral, not the commercial. The goal is to be unmistakably the best at one thing rather than mediocre at many.
How content stays accurate
Every study guide on this site cites the current FAA primary sources inline — the FAA Instrument ACS (FAA-S-ACS-8C), 14 CFR Part 91, the Aeronautical Information Manual, the Instrument Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-15), and relevant Advisory Circulars — so you can verify any claim against the primary document. Articles are AI-drafted against those sources; AI can make mistakes, so the inline citations are there for you to check.
The full editorial process is documented at /about/editorial-team. If you ever spot an inaccuracy, email corrections@mockdpe.org — I read every report and confirmed errors are corrected promptly.
Get in touch
Email support@mockdpe.org for anything else — pricing questions, partnership inquiries, CFII access requests, bug reports, feature requests. I read every message.
Try MockDPE
One free mock checkride. No credit card. See whether the format works for you before paying for anything.