[red-beard]

A buddy of my, who still flies, was involved in a serious crash with a plane on Long Island in the mid 1990's.

He had recently had 2 "near miss" issues with a rented place (Million-air - landing gear down and locked light was not working properly). So the FAA sent someone out to give him a check ride. While they were circling, the FAA inspector shut the fuel off to the engine, to simulate an engine out. Appearently, this is normal in a multi-engine plane, but not in a single engine plane. I was told later that the proper way to do this is to run the throttle all the way back.

Engine would not restart. The FAA inspector took control of the aircraft at that point and attempted to land on a street. Turned out to not be deserted and had children playing. They barely made it over the rooftops and crashed in a ditch.

Long story short, the inspector should not have cut fuel off to the engine. He was appearently not qualified to do the check ride. And his license was expired. The inspector was screwed.