How hard is check ride?

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bdoss2006

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bdoss2006
How hard is check ride?

I am getting ready to take the checkride for sport pilot, and I am terrified it will be awful. I guess in my mind it’s going to be this strict long process that if you miss one thing you fail. I mean realistically, what do you have to do to fail? Is busting on one maneuver going to fail you? What about forgetting clearing turns? What is stuff that will fail you? Are they more lenient with sport compared to private?
 
Don't be stressed.

While there are some examiners out there that have a reputation for failing students to get the re-examination fee, most are honest and are not there to get you. If you're decently prepared and understand what it takes to be a safe and consistent pilot (as opposed to rote memorizing things) it'll be relatively easy.

And if you mess something up, don't worry - it's not a death sentence. Continue the checride, and come back another day to re-test the one thing you messed up. Not a big issue.
 
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Has your instructor or (preferably) another one given you a mock checkride?

As @AV8R_87 said, while there are some jerks out there, most private checkrides are very reasonable, and not a big deal if you are prepared and don't drive yourself into stress-related mistakes. IOW, RELAX!
 
Clearing turns are pretty fundamental. The ACS for sport pilot gives you all the perimeters. https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/acs/sport_airplane_pts_29.pdf

Generally, poor performance on the oral is going to mean a lot tougher grading on the practical. You don’t have to know every answer, but you do need to be able to find them.

You should do a mock test with an instructor you’ve not flown with before. It will ease your apprehension about the text & expose any deficencies. By & large, the mock will be tougher than the actual (if the instructor is any good).
 
No matter the evaluator, you are your biggest threat. Being so nervous you lock up, will get you a retest from the most ardent Santa clause!

I LOVE to see mistakes, then I can see how you’ll fix them. So if you goof, handle as you would if you were taking your wife’s mother flying.

If I see a honest mistake, handled reasonably, I’m good with it. Don’t mean I won’t offer some alternatives for you to consider, and then see if you’ve learned…

The typical mantra is “I can’t teach during a checkride…”. Ok fine. Don’t mean you can’t LEARN during a checkride!

I’ve seen a retest for a SINGLE maneuver. Which means over 90 percent was already don’t well and in the books. When a maneuver is done, forget it and move on… don’t sit on a high for a good one, don’t sit on a low for a bad one. New day, new maneuver, eliminate expectation bias.

My first 121 checkride was with Capt Norm, WORLD RENOWNED EXPERT for the Saab 340… great… Turned out to be one of the best flying experiences I’ve ever had. Relax and enjoy it.
 
I couldn't sleep for 2 nights before my PPL check ride.
It was in 2016 and I just started using foreflight. I prepared my flight plan on both paper charts and on FF.
He was big fan of foreflight.
The examiner was a great guy who spent I bet close to 45 mins showing me how to use FF during the oral exam. He made me feel at ease on the ground.
During the flight I was nervous and felt I flew real sloppy. He didn't say much while we were flying and when we landed he was still quite.
I thought for sure he was gonna make come back and redo some things and fail me.
We sat down and he asked me how I thought I did and I told him I felt I flew terrible.
He said I didn't do anything unsafe and gave me some tips on how to fly better in the future. He passed me! I almost cried I was so happy and relieved.
I really learned how to fly afterwards on my own. It was rewarding learning and gaining confidence on my own after I had my certificate.

That was my experience after almost 100 hrs of primary training.

Instrument training helped a lot also and passed that check ride with no problem first try.
Relax and good luck to you.
 
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You’re going a couple of different directions here…first off
bdoss2006 said:
How hard is check ride?
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It’s spelled out in the ACS. The subject matter for the oral, the maneuvers, and the tolerances. If you’re not familiar with the ACS, it’s going to be harder. Know what resources you have available.


As others have said, do a mock oral with someone you haven’t worked with before. When we self-study, or even when we’re continuously quizzed by one instructor, we tend to limit our brains to specific wordings, and if an examiner asks the same question a different way it can throw you off even though you know the answer.

Also note that answering EVERY question correctly isn’t necessarily required. As @Tools noted, the examiner isn’t allowed to teach, but you are still allowed to learn. Don’t be afraid to look something up, but don’t expect to be able to look up every answer…you simply don’t have time for that. And sometimes the examiner will start asking additional related questions to find out where exactly your knowledge level is on the subject and/or to lead you through a thought process that will allow you to figure out the answer.

As far as the flight maneuvers, if you’re consistently well within the tolerances in practice, you’re ready for the checkride. If you’re consistently at the limit of the tolerances, I’d recommend more practice. Give yourself some wiggle room so the checkride doesn’t have to be the best you’ve ever flown.
bdoss2006 said:
I mean realistically, what do you have to do to fail? Is busting on one maneuver going to fail you? What about forgetting clearing turns? What is stuff that will fail you?
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According to the ACS:
Practical Test—Sport Pilot-Unsatisfactory Performance

If, in the judgment of the examiner, the applicant does not meet the standards of performance of any

Task performed, the associated Area of Operation is considered unsatisfactory and, therefore, the

practical test is failed. 14 CFR part 61, section 61.43(c)-(f) provides additional unsatisfactory performance

requirements and parameters.

Typical areas of unsatisfactory performance and grounds for disqualification are:

1. Any action or lack of action by the applicant that requires corrective intervention by the evaluator to maintain safe flight.

2. Failure to use proper and effective visual scanning techniques to clear the area before and while performing maneuvers.

3. Consistently exceeding tolerances stated in the Objectives.

4. Failure to take prompt corrective action when tolerances are exceeded.
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More importantly in my mind, though, the ACS states:
Practical Test—Sport Pilot—Satisfactory Performance

14 CFR part 61, section 61.43(a), describes the satisfactory completion of the practical test for a certificate or rating.
Click to expand...
Edit: OOPS! Looks like the Sport Pilot standard is still a PTS, not an ACS. Change all of the above “ACS”s to PTS.”

But not to “PTSD!” ;)
 
midlifeflyer said:
Has your instructor or (preferably) another one given you a mock checkride?

As @AV8R_87 said, while there are some jerks out there, most private checkrides are very reasonable, and not a big deal if you are prepared and don't drive yourself into stress-related mistakes. IOW, RELAX!
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That's what I did...a mock ride and oral. That really helped.
 
I know someone who had to fly it again to do clearing turns because he forgot to do them before the steep turn maneuver. (A DPE I asked later told me that no, my friend wouldn’t have got a pass if he had said “those were my clearing turns—I do them steep.”) I know someone else who had to go back a second day to fly the pattern after he missed a checklist item (boost pump I think). All advice above is good. Especially about leaving the past behind you as you go so you can ace as much of the ride as possible. Hopefully that ends up being all of it.
 
You're doing about a dozen things in a row. Things you've done a bunch up until now. Then you stop doing that and he hands you a cert. If you botch a maneuver in the air, the examiner will tell you and you can KEEP GOING to pass all of the other things anyway, at your option.
You're only coming back to do the things you didn't do right the first time.

It's not about doing things perfectly. The process is more human than that. Most of my examiners used a form of "the outcome of the maneuver is never in doubt" -- so if you get slightly off on the steep turn, you catch and correct. Just don't put yourselves into an unsafe situation and don't surprise the examiner by doing something they don't expect without saying so first.

You need to trust your instructor's take, and if you don't, I think it's completely sane to get a second opinion from a different instructor as "mock checkride" to run the process. I'd actually advise it - because then you need to perform for a stranger and will get those same jitters, and you can address how it goes based on that.
 
They’re pretty easy - if you are prepared. Review your written test study materials, and review with your CFI every question that you missed. Give extra study to those knowledge areas as well, not just the individual questions. Your CFI will put you through all of the maneuvers during your last couple flights before the checkride. All of my CFIs did checkride prep that was tougher than the actual tests.

Read the pinned thread Captain Levy’s checkride advice.

Don’t be uptight. You’re just talking with another pilot, just one dude (or lady) to another. It’s not adversarial.
 
This is all great advice. The thing I would add is to be in command of the aircraft at all times and make good decisions.
For example, during my instrument ride, ATC forgot about me after vectoring me onto a long downwind to let traffic pass in front of our aircraft.
I was monitoring my position, so when we got outside the FAF, I immediately called to ask if I could turn inbound. The controller was apologetic and immediately turned me to my intercept. After we were on the ground, the DPE specifically mentioned that he liked that I was acting as a PIC, and not just blindly following ATC and waiting for more instructions.

Good DPEs (and our local DPE is very good) know you are nervous and will make allowances for that. As long as you are meeting the requirements for the maneuvers and showing good ADM, little deviations or missteps are OK. Ask for clarification if you don't understand what they are asking for, don't ask for how to do it, or permission for each step in the process. If asked to demo slow flight, do it...Slow, set flaps and power, and get stable on the back of the power curve. Don't ask them what flaps to use or what airspeed, etc.

Good Luck!
 
Getting a stage check from a different cfi than the one you’re using is a good idea. Your instructor usually has a good idea of what the DPE will be looking for,if the primary instructor thinks you’re ready you should do well. Try to relax remember flying is supposed to be fun. Good luck.
 
I went through 3 stage checks and they were always with different instructors. Would learn different things from each instructor. Before my instructor signed me off for my check ride I flew with the chief flight instructor.
Good luck again.
 
If you are prepared, the check ride will be a breeze. If you’re under prepared and not ready, it will be pretty difficult.

Quite a concept, I know. ;)
 
Gary Ward said:
I couldn't sleep for 2 nights before my PPL check ride.
It was in 2016 and I just started using foreflight. I prepared my flight plan on both paper charts and on FF.
He was big fan of foreflight.
The examiner was a great guy who spent I bet close to 45 mins showing me how to use FF during the oral exam. He made me feel at ease on the ground.
During the flight I was nervous and felt I flew real sloppy. He didn't say much while we were flying and when we landed he was still quite.
I thought for sure he was gonna make come back and redo some things and fail me.
We sat down and he asked me how I thought I did and I told him I felt I flew terrible.
He said I didn't do anything unsafe and gave me some tips on how to fly better in the future. He passed me! I almost cried I was so happy and relieved.
I really learned how to fly afterwards on my own. It was rewarding learning and gaining confidence on my own after I had my certificate.

That was my experience after almost 100 hrs of primary training.

Instrument training helped a lot also and passed that check ride with no problem first try.
Relax and good luck to you.
Click to expand...
Out of curiosity, what kind of flight plan did you do for that? I don’t know how you could really do a flight plan for going out and doing maneuvers. Or do you just mean planning a dead reckoning flight for the ground portion, not an actual plan for the flight?
 
bdoss2006 said:
How hard is check ride?

I am getting ready to take the checkride for sport pilot, and I am terrified it will be awful. I guess in my mind it’s going to be this strict long process that if you miss one thing you fail. I mean realistically, what do you have to do to fail? Is busting on one maneuver going to fail you? What about forgetting clearing turns? What is stuff that will fail you? Are they more lenient with sport compared to private?
Click to expand...
To the good advice already provided, I'll add that the checkride standard is not perfection. It is to meet the PTS/ACS and demonstrate that you have the required knowledge and you also have sound judgement and common sense. You don't have to know everything, but you should have the basics (such as VFR legal minimums) memorized and know where to get the answers to the things you don't know (e.g. the FAR or AIM).

Clearing turns (and more generally, look before you turn) are an important safety issue - don't forget! On my PP checkride, at one point the DPE asked me to make a turn to the right. I looked under the right wing and saw a flock of geese out there where we'd be turning. I said, let's wait to get more distance from those geese. I don't know whether he did that on purpose, but if I forgot to look it would have been a bad situation.
 
bdoss2006 said:
How hard is check ride?

I am getting ready to take the checkride for sport pilot, and I am terrified it will be awful. I guess in my mind it’s going to be this strict long process that if you miss one thing you fail. I mean realistically, what do you have to do to fail? Is busting on one maneuver going to fail you? What about forgetting clearing turns? What is stuff that will fail you? Are they more lenient with sport compared to private?
Click to expand...

Read this and pay particular attention to the odd numbered comments. If you’re CFO says you are ready you will be fine.

1. Relax and enjoy it. Nationwide, about 90% of applicants pass on the first try, so look around and see if you think you’re as good as 9 out of 10 other students. Also, your instructor must maintain a pass rate of at least 80% to get his ticket renewed, so he’s not going to send you up unless he’s pretty darn sure you’ll pass – otherwise, he has to find four other people to pass to make up for you, and that’s not always easy.

2. Go over with your instructor the logbooks of the aircraft you're going to use the day BEFORE the checkride to make sure it's all in order (annual, transponder checks, ELT ops and battery, 100-hour if rented, etc.). If the airplane's paper busts, so do you. Run a sample W&B, too – get the examiner’s weight when you make the appointment. If you weigh 200, and so does the examiner, don’t show up with a C-152 with full tanks and a 350 lb available cabin load – examiners can’t waive max gross weight limits.

3. Relax.

4. Rest up and get a good night's sleep the night before. Don't stay up "cramming."

5. Relax.

6. Read carefully the ENTIRE PTS including all the introductory material. Use the checklist in the front to make sure you take all the stuff you need -- papers and equipment. And the examiner’s fee UP FRONT (too much chance a disgruntled applicant will refuse to pay afterward) in the form demanded by the examiner is a “required document” from a practical, if not FAA, standpoint.

7. Relax.

8. You’re going to make a big mistake somewhere. The examiner knows this will happen, and it doesn’t have to end the ride. What’s important is not whether you make a mistake, but how you deal with it – whether you recover and move on without letting it destroy your flying. Figure out where you are now, how to get to where you want to be, and then do what it takes to get there. That will save your checkride today and your butt later on.

9. Relax.

10. You're going to make some minor mistakes. Correct them yourself in a timely manner "so the outcome of the maneuver is never seriously in doubt" and you'll be OK. If you start to go high on your first steep turn and start a correction as you approach 100 feet high but top out at 110 high while making a smooth correction back to the requested altitude, don't sweat -- nail the next one and you'll pass with "flying colors" (a naval term, actually). If you see the maneuver will exceed parameters and not be smoothly recoverable, tell the examiner and knock it off before you go outside those parameters, and then re-initiate. That shows great sense, if not great skill, and judgement is the most critical item on the checkride.

11. Relax.

12. During the oral, you don’t have to answer from memory anything you’d have time to look up in reality. You never need to memorize and know everything. Categorize material as:

a. Things you must memorize (i.e. emergency procedures, radio calls, airspace, etc).

b. Things you must know or have reasonable understanding of (i.e. interpreting weather codes, non-critical regs).

c. Things you must know about but can look up and will have time to look up on the ground.

(Thanks to Mark Bourdeaux for this categorization.) So if the examiner asks you about currency, it’s OK to open the FAR book to 61.56 and 61.57 and explain them to him. But make sure you know where the answer is without reading the whole FAR/AIM cover-to-cover. On the other hand, for stuff you’d have to know RIGHT NOW (e.g., best glide speed for engine failure, etc.), you’d best not stumble or stutter – know that stuff cold. Also, remember that the examiner will use the areas your knowledge test report says you missed as focus points in the oral, so study them extra thoroughly.

13. Relax.

14. Avoid this conversation:

Examiner - Q: Do you have a pencil?
Applicant - A: I have a #2, a mechanical, a red one...
Examiner - Q: Do you have a pencil?
Applicant - A: I also have an assortment of pens, and some highlighters...
Examiner - Q: Do you have a pencil?
Applicant - A: Yes.
Examiner - Thank you.

One of the hardest things to do when you’re nervous and pumped up is to shut up and answer the question. I've watched people talk themselves into a corner by incorrectly answering a question that was never asked, or by adding an incorrect appendix to the correct answer to the question that was. If the examiner wants more, he'll tell you.

15. Relax

16. (Courtesy of PoA’s Anymouse) If the examiner is talking, never, ever interrupt him. There are two reasons for this:
a) You just might learn something from him, and
b) He just might do the oral for you.

17. Relax.

18. Some questions are meant simply to test your knowledge, not your skill, even if they sound otherwise. If the examiner asks how far below the cloud deck you are, he is checking to see if you know the answer is “at least 500 feet,” not how good your depth perception is. He can’t tell any better than you can, and the only way to be sure is to climb up and see when you hit the bases, which for sure he won’t let you do.

19. Relax

20. It’s a test of your flying skill, not your knowledge of PTS minutiae. Make sure you know which maneuver the examiner wants done, and confirm the details if necessary – before you start the maneuver. Does s/he want stalls taken all the way to the break or just to the buffet or “first sign of impending stall”? Is that “spot landing” s/he asked for the “power-off 180-degree accuracy approach and landing” no more than 400 feet beyond the spot or the “short-field approach and landing” which allows use of power but no more than 200 feet beyond the spot (PP standards)?

21. Relax

22. Remember the first rule of Italian driving: "What's behind me is not important." Don't worry about how you did the last maneuver or question. If you didn't do it well enough, the examiner must notify you and terminate the checkride. If you are on the next one, forget the last one because it was good enough to pass. Focus on doing that next maneuver or answering the next question the best you can, because while it can still determine whether you pass or fail, the last one can’t anymore. If you get back to the office and he hasn't said you failed, smile to your friends as you walk in because you just passed.

23. Relax and enjoy your new license.

Ron Levy, ATP, CFI, Veteran of 11 license/rating checkrides, including 4 with FAA inspectors
(with a little help from Aaron Rodgers) ;)


This advice is pure gold. Now go forth and relax!

-Skip Miller
 
bdoss2006 said:
Out of curiosity, what kind of flight plan did you do for that? I don’t know how you could really do a flight plan for going out and doing maneuvers. Or do you just mean planning a dead reckoning flight for the ground portion, not an actual plan for the flight?
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I prepared a vfr flight plan. He had me start to fly it and then we pretty much went into maneuvers. No we did not fly the flight plan, only the first few minutes of it if I remember right.
 
Gary Ward said:
I prepared a vfr flight plan. He had me start to fly it and then we pretty much went into maneuvers. No we did not fly the flight plan, only the first few minutes of it if I remember right.
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Makes since. Just like a dead reckoning navlog, or a VFR flight plan to file?
 
I have been through about a dozen checkrides. View each, as a chance to fly with a high time airman. Unfailingly, EVERY time, I have learned something. And on a checkride, you just might get a certificate or a rating out of it.

There. Now it's all POSITIVE, so relax.

Now go concentrate on "that the outcome of the maneuver is never in doubt".

And then alloffasudden life goes by and you find yourself to be a "high time airman". LOL.
 
I can only speak for my one experience so far...my DPE was great. Oral was essentially a conversation about a scenario he had presented to me in email a few days before. "You and some buddies are going to fly to western Massachusetts to check out a property...." and everything revolved around that flight planning scenario. Routing, flight planning, W&B, your buddy that brings way too much baggage, currency requirements, etc. Eventually we go to fly that plan. We get to about 3,000 feet on the climb and he introduces a need to divert. He specified the airport for me to go to which required me to fly over Cape Cod Bay. About halfway to the diversion field, he asks me to do a couple right 360s so he could look at a pod of whales in the Bay. Figured I was doing pretty good at that point. Had me do some maneuvers and then back to base for my ticket.

He left it up to me how to do the landing requirements. As it happened, my first approach wasn't great...like I needed a warm up so that was my natural "go-around." Three landings later I was all done. Much less stressful than I had imagined as I'm sure yours will be, too.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!
 
Don't worry, scrote. It's just a friendly conversation and a flight with your first passenger. Your instructor would not have signed you off if you were not ready.
 
bdoss2006 said:
Out of curiosity, what kind of flight plan did you do for that? I don’t know how you could really do a flight plan for going out and doing maneuvers. Or do you just mean planning a dead reckoning flight for the ground portion, not an actual plan for the flight?
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The DPE will give you a cross country flight to plan. This is mostly for the oral portion. They will generally use that flight plan as the basis for a scenario that will test knowledge and judgment on everything from flight planning to weather systems to pilot currency to aircraft compliance, equipment requirements, rules and regulations under Part 91, chart reading, etc, etc, etc. Most everything in the ACS that doesn't involve an actual maneuver. If you fly any of it at all, it will generally be no further than your first waypoint. And then the fun begins.
 
bdoss2006 said:
I mean realistically, what do you have to do to fail? Is busting on one maneuver going to fail you? What about forgetting clearing turns? What is stuff that will fail you? Are they more lenient with sport compared to private?
Click to expand...

bdoss2006 said:
Out of curiosity, what kind of flight plan did you do for that? I don’t know how you could really do a flight plan for going out and doing maneuvers. Or do you just mean planning a dead reckoning flight for the ground portion, not an actual plan for the flight?
Click to expand...

Has your instructor discussed the check ride with you at all? The questions you're asking are typical of those from a student, but they're things that a good instructor should have explained to you as you did your check ride preparation.

Typically, you will plan a XC flight ahead of the appointment. The DPE will probably tell you the destination, and you'll need to get his weight. You'll then plan the flight, with waypoints, alternates, frequencies, important NOTAMs,etc. On the day of the ride, you'll get a briefing for weather, TFRs, NOTAMs, etc. You'll also calculate W&B and fuel requirements. You'll bring all this to the appointment and review it with the DPE as part of your oral, he'll probably ask a few questions about the route and waypoints you've selected, and he'll ask you to make a go/no-go decision for the flight.

During the ride, you'll start out on the XC you have planned, but you'll only fly to the first couple of checkpoints. The DPE will then break you off the plan, possibly by saying the weather is turning bad and you need to divert. After the diversion to an alternate, he'll probably begin requesting maneuvers. At some point you'll have an engine-out type of emergency that you'll have to handle. You'll do landing work either at a convenient airport or back at your starting point, demonstrating short field and soft field take-offs and landings.

Getting outside the parameters on a maneuver won't necessarily fail you, IF you recognize and correct the problem. Tell the DPE what you're doing. Example: "I'm getting a bit low, so I'm going to level out a bit, correct the altitude, and roll back into the steep turn." If you see a landing will be outside the standards (like you'll be too long on a short field landing), GO AROUND and try it again, telling the instructor what you're doing. There's zero penalty for a go-around; in fact, it demonstrates good ADM, and you're required to demonstrate one anyway. If you don't correct a problem, it's guaranteed to be a bust.

If you do fail a maneuver, you can continue the ride. It's best to complete as much as possible, because on a re-test you'll only need to perform the things you didn't do correctly.

A large part of what the DPE is looking for is sound judgement and solid ADM. It's easier for him to assess that if you verbalize decisions you're making. For example, "There are some clouds in front of us, so before doing steep turns I'm going to take us a little way south into clearer air, and I'll do my clearing turns as part of the setup for the maneuver." The DPE isn't expecting you to be a perfect pilot (no such thing), but he has to be certain that you're a safe pilot.

Try to find some other pilots who have used the same DPE and discuss their check rides. DPEs all have favorite questions, scenarios, and emergency drills, and you'll be able to prepare better if you know what to expect.
 
KE5BM said:
I can only speak for my one experience so far...my DPE was great. Oral was essentially a conversation about a scenario he had presented to me in email a few days before. "You and some buddies are going to fly to western Massachusetts to check out a property...." and everything revolved around that flight planning scenario. Routing, flight planning, W&B, your buddy that brings way too much baggage, currency requirements, etc. Eventually we go to fly that plan. We get to about 3,000 feet on the climb and he introduces a need to divert. He specified the airport for me to go to which required me to fly over Cape Cod Bay. About halfway to the diversion field, he asks me to do a couple right 360s so he could look at a pod of whales in the Bay. Figured I was doing pretty good at that point. Had me do some maneuvers and then back to base for my ticket.

He left it up to me how to do the landing requirements. As it happened, my first approach wasn't great...like I needed a warm up so that was my natural "go-around." Three landings later I was all done. Much less stressful than I had imagined as I'm sure yours will be, too.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!
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I messed up the short field landing..was gonna miss it by a lot so I announced and did a go-around. He then took the controls and demonstrated the landing. Back in the air I completed the landing perfectly but figured I had busted the ride. Turns out I didn't! The ride had a few other curve balls but I must've handled them well. OP...relax and keep your head and you'll be fine.
 
midlifeflyer said:
The DPE will give you a cross country flight to plan. This is mostly for the oral portion. They will generally use that flight plan as the basis for a scenario that will test knowledge and judgment on everything from flight planning to weather systems to pilot currency to aircraft compliance, equipment requirements, rules and regulations under Part 91, chart reading, etc, etc, etc. Most everything in the ACS that doesn't involve an actual maneuver. If you fly any of it at all, it will generally be no further than your first waypoint. And then the fun begins.
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The airport where I took my PP Practical was in a N/S valley. DPE asked for a flight plan to an airport to the West as prep for the test. We reviewed it in the oral. He asked why I went to the South out of the valley before turning to the West. I answered that my plane won't fly through rocks. DPE mentioned that a significant percentage just draw a straight line from origin to destination which then becomes a discussion in how to read a chart.
 
bdoss2006 said:
...I am terrified it will be awful.
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Then don't schedule a flight test until your guts agree with your CFI that "You've got this!'

bdoss2006 said:
I guess in my mind it’s going to be this strict long process that if you miss one thing you fail.
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When I was a DPE I had the same fear, that the FAA wanted me to fail an applicant for missing even ONE thing. It didn't take long to find out things aren't so cut and dried. I even gave one guy a verboten "second chance" with an FAA observer in the back seat evaluating me for renewal. After the flight, before I announced a pass/fail decision to either, I asked the applicant to let me have a few private words with the FAA representative first. When I closed the office door, he tossed his ID badge on the floor, and we had an "off the record" conversation about the "second chance" on the soft field takeoff that went sour. I passed the applicant despite the PTS' admonition, and my examiner passed me despite my offer to turn in my authorization if he didn't agree with it.
bdoss2006 said:
I mean realistically, what do you have to do to fail?
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Not talk. Talking helps in more ways than one. The DPE knows how you're thinking. The DPE can't interrupt your thinking.
bdoss2006 said:
What about forgetting clearing turns?
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Clearing turns are mentioned above. I sent a CFI student of mine to the FAA for his initial flight test. In a chandelle another plane came into view, and he was busted for not doing them. Turns out he was always taught by his earlier CFI that he could do three maneuvers on one set. As his commercial DPE and recommending CFI for his CFI certificate, I never noticed a problem. My advice for his retake was to ALWAYS be clearing the area. If he wasn't doing something else, then be clearing for the next request. That worked on the retest.
 
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It shouldn't be hard if you're prepared. The statistics from the FAA indicate a large majority pass on the first attempt.
 
Had mine about a year ago. Was sweating bullets. Once we started the oral and I had the answers it went fine. Examiner actually had more to say to the CFI than me.

Once we were in the air, butterflies were gone. I slowed everything down and thought about the maneuver before starting it. I don't think there is a time limit other than fuel. lol Made a small mistake, recovered quickly examiner said nothing. This was the first time that school used this examiner. Nobody knew what to expect but it went fine. good luck
 
How difficult is the test? About 25% fail. That means 75% pass.

Why do people fail?
Some fail due to stressing themselves out so bad they perform poorly.
Some aren’t stressed at all and don’t properly study for the test.
Some aren’t properly prepared for the test by their instructor and endorsed for the test before they are ready.
 
look for the flight senario. “ gotcha”. It’s not used as a gotcha but to test your decision making process. Know the main safety topics, runway incursions. Etc.. use your taxiway diagram, checklists, and make sure you do your clearing turns. If you make a mistake, identify it and correct it. Don’t argue with the examiner. .
The examiner knows much more than most of us, if you take the examiner down a rabbit hole, he will continue to take you deeper.
Short and precise answers only,
 
The "gotcha" on my PPL ride was being a little more than 100 pounds overweight for a typical C172. Joke was on him, however. The plane I drew that day had a higher weight rating...a bit above the total weight in his scenario so we would've been good with a little wiggle room. "But I see what you're trying to do here, sir so if this were a typical C172, I'd have to leave someone behind."

Then I f'd up the take off distance calculation so he figured we broke even. :lol:
 
Tools said:
No matter the evaluator, you are your biggest threat. Being so nervous you lock up, will get you a retest from the most ardent Santa clause!

I LOVE to see mistakes, then I can see how you’ll fix them. So if you goof, handle as you would if you were taking your wife’s mother flying.

If I see a honest mistake, handled reasonably, I’m good with it. Don’t mean I won’t offer some alternatives for you to consider, and then see if you’ve learned…

The typical mantra is “I can’t teach during a checkride…”. Ok fine. Don’t mean you can’t LEARN during a checkride!

I’ve seen a retest for a SINGLE maneuver. Which means over 90 percent was already don’t well and in the books. When a maneuver is done, forget it and move on… don’t sit on a high for a good one, don’t sit on a low for a bad one. New day, new maneuver, eliminate expectation bias.

My first 121 checkride was with Capt Norm, WORLD RENOWNED EXPERT for the Saab 340… great… Turned out to be one of the best flying experiences I’ve ever had. Relax and enjoy it.
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i took 4 checkrides with norm. one of the greatest DPE's i have ever know. I never failed to learn something from him on a ride. he made me feel at ease the first minute i sat down with him. i only knew of a couple of failures that he issued, he gave you every chance to fix it and show that you learned from it. what a great feeling a few years later when i ran into him in the hall during my initial hire class, he welcomed me and told me he had no doubt that i would make it to the 121 world.
 
I've been through ~8(?) checkrides. Each was a learning experience but none were "hard". Each was an oportunity to fly with a high time airman and on every one I learned a lot (sometimes not about flying); on my CFI ride in particular the examiner learned a lot as well (I had a more extensive knowledge base that he, in an area he chose to have me discuss).

ON my CFI-MEI ride the examiner definitely AND willfully went for 3 red and one green on the single engine landing AFTER WE HAD DISCUSSED TWO GREEN/TWO RED WHILE ON ONE BLOWER. He had the aircraft "taken away from him" for that, we landed full stop and I had a little talk with him in which pointed out that I would be complaining to the FSDO if he EVER tried anything like that again. The rest of the ride was relaxed.

Principally the thing you have to be comfortable with are "that the outcome of the maneuver shell never be in doubt" meaning you stay in the middle of the "this will work out fine" envelope and not at the edges. And never create a real emergency.
 
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Let’s face it, it’s not like the DPE tosses you out of the airplane without a parachute for failing.
 
The thing that clicked for me late was that the oral is not a quiz, it is the examiner checking one thing: can you make safe decisions as pilot in command. Once I stopped trying to memorise answers and started doing the same move every time, say the rule, say where it is written, then apply it to the actual flight we are discussing, the whole thing got calmer. And "I do not know, but I would find it in the POH" I think genuinely scores better than a confident guess. Examiners are very good at spotting a bluff and they will dig until it falls apart. Answer the question asked, then stop talking. Half the failures I have seen were people who kept going and opened a door to something they were shaky on.

As far as manoeuvres go, just do what you would with your CFI, don't change anything because its a check.

Good luck with the checkride, try to enjoy it, you will always learn something new!
 
bdoss2006 said:
How hard is check ride?

I am getting ready to take the checkride for sport pilot, and I am terrified it will be awful. I guess in my mind it’s going to be this strict long process that if you miss one thing you fail. I mean realistically, what do you have to do to fail? Is busting on one maneuver going to fail you? What about forgetting clearing turns? What is stuff that will fail you? Are they more lenient with sport compared to private?
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A key phrase in the ACS definition of unsatisfactory performance is "consistently exceeding tolerances." That gives the examiner some discretion to use judgment when evaluating your maneuvers. So, if you are generally performing within tolerance, don’t worry too much about the occasional deviation. Correct it promptly and keep flying the airplane.

Regarding clearing turns, the key phrase in the ACS is "use proper and effective visual scanning techniques". It is a combination of looking out the window and monitoring ADSB traffic, just like you would in any regular flying - don't think of it as a checkride maneuver. I've seen students do a beautiful clearing turn as if it is a precision maneuver and not really look for traffic.
 
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