Night before PPL Checkride

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jcepiano

Pre-takeoff checklist
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jcepiano
Well, it's here. Tomorrow at 8AM I'll be sitting across from a DPE and chatting about things.

I've had a rough couple of days. One rough flight where maneuvers seemed lacking in command and then a long ground session where I couldn't nail things on the advanced side. I was supposed to fly today but the weather turned IFR until the end of the day, so I wasn't able to go up and practice. I'll admit that my confidence feels quite shaky

I'm trying to figure out if my CFI has pushed me to the limit so that the checkride feels easy or if I'm seriously walking on thin ice. Perhaps I'm just being way too hard on myself? My CFI says that I'll be fine but I definitely feel worried.

Any advice or personal PPL checkride stories would be appreciated. I'm really curious about how far someone can screw up before the DPE calls it a letter of disapproval or discontinuance.

I suppose I'm freaking out like every other person on here, but after a couple of these tough sessions, I'm expecting a CIA interrogation followed by a firing squad at this point. Eek!

Thanks everyone!
 
Captain Levy’s Checkride Advice

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
 
The night before a checkride is rough. If your CFI says your ready trust him/her. It will be challenging but it will likely be way easier than you thought. Just try to relax and get a good night sleep. You will do great, Good Luck!!

I know its been mentioned before but what about a sticky to checkride write-ups??
 
What Ron said. You will find the odd numbered items difficult, but they are all good advice, and will help you think more clearly and fly better.

Get a good night's sleep beforehand.

I passed on my first try, and I did not feel that I flew well at all. My steep turns were not to standard; he was nice and asked me to do another one please, and that was enough better that he was okay with it. I overshot my base to final turn on my first landing; I just continued the turn until back on the centerline, and he was fine with that. I was sure I'd overshot my short-field landing, but I must not have (barely) because that's not a discretionary item; I initially came in a little too low because I was worried about doing exactly that; added power (too much) and ballooned a bit, and in general it was ugly.

After, he said that I was doing all the right corrections, just doing about three times too much.

I hindsight, I realize that he did not ask me to demonstrate every item on the PTS, but you should assume that yours will.

For the oral part, he asked "how do I know this airplane is airworthy?" and then just let me go through everything required. Looking things up in the FAR is okay as long as you know where it is well enough that you can do so fairly quickly.

Hmm, that's what come to mind at the moment. If your CFI says you're ready, trust him or her. If you fail, they look worse than you do, so it's not in their interest to inflate their estimate of your readiness.

Relax. ;-)
 
Get off the internet, watch a tv show and go to bed. Rest will do you well tomorrow.
 
I felt nervous the night before mine too. Your CFI would not send you if he didn't feel you were ready. The oral was MUCH easier than I expected. I walked into the DPE's office and I sat down and he just casually talked to me to get me calmed down. Then he ran through his "plan of action" of what the oral would consist of. (I had a split check ride) So I went back for the flying portion and I showed him the A/C log books he reviewed them, then told me what we would be doing. Walked out to preflight and he asked questions as i went. Hopped in and got going, just pretend your DPE is your CFI. Even if you can't answer every question he gives you, you will not fail, he asked questions during the preflight I thought i knew, but I didn't and he explained. Biggest thing is just take your time and relax, chances are you will find the check ride a good experience and better than expected. Hope to see a write up about it, good luck!
 
Go watch some Thursday night football,relax ,get a good nights sleep. Good luck.
 
Ron Levy said:
Captain Levy’s Checkride Advice

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
Click to expand...

#16 SO TRUE!!!
 
I'll bet first time pass rate for PoA folks is way over 90%. You'll do great!
 
Good luck! Remember to eat a decent breakfast! And have fun.
 
To the OP:

IF YOU ARE STILL READING THESE...GO TO SLEEP!!

:yes:

By this time tomorrow - you'll be a certificated pilot. :)

Good luck!
 
Get a good nights sleep, relax, wake up early cook and eat a good breakfast. You'll do fine.
 
Checkmysix offers the same advice that I would have had I seen this last night. I hope you got a good nights sleep. Relax and enjoy the experience. It's just another flying lesson.
 
Rise and shine. It is your big day. We are cheering for you...and hoping for a "little" wind/turbulence...it really does help.
 
I'd bet a beer, assuming the checkride takes place, that we soon have someone here saying he made it, and how it was alot easier and more relaxing than he thought. :)
 
weather looks good for Walnut Creek, CA so I'm thinking a certain someone is at their checkride right now......
 
eman1200 said:
weather looks good for Walnut Creek, CA so I'm thinking a certain someone is at their checkride right now......
Click to expand...

Considering its 5:30 in CA I would hope not. There is being a little early for the sake of punctuality, however this may be a bit extreme.
 
Has anyone covered what the current time is in CA? :rofl:
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one who occasionally struggles with timezones.
Good luck jcepiano!
 
8:18am PT ... He's probably talking flaming tomatoes with the DPE right now. I can't help but feel a little anxious myself, strange :yikes:
 
dang, stooped PST. I guess I figured if I'm awake, e'rbody should be awake!
 
#22 is so true! It was ringing in my head on short final on the (2nd) IR check ride. All I had to do was land that thing and not bend anything. What a wonderful feeling.

Best of luck to the OP. Should be about an hour and a half into the check ride now.
 
I'm staring at the flagpoles outside. They are LIMP.

There are scattered clouds about. Good enough for VFR, barely. But it will clear some within a few hours.

Looks like a good day for a check ride.

Current METAR for KCCR:

141753Z 00000KT 10SM SCT010 16/11 A3010 RMK AO2 SLP180 T01610111 10161 20089 51005
Click to expand...

It's clear at Travis to the north, so those "scattered" clouds are probably all to the south. Not unusual, and real easy to dodge if so. The satellite looks a lot better than that METAR suggests.

Good luck to the OP.
 
I hope that the OP passes his check ride and does well. On the day that I took mine, the weather was so-so and hazy so made things a wee bit challenging.
 
The tension is building. I hope the OP reports in soon. My PPL checkride is next week and I want to hear good news.
 
OP must be getting his CFI certificate too with the time that has lapsed since 0800
 
Man...reading the OP's post, the nerves I had this past monday (before my checkride on tuesday) came back to me....I realized that if I didn't know it already I wasn't going to learn it that day. Read through the PTS, "couch flying" each of the maneuvers and Oral responses... TRIED to get to sleep at a reasonable hour... It all worked out in the end. Passed ASEL checkride on 11/11/14 out of KFXE
 
It's hard to imagine the kind of games your brain plays with itself prior to a check ride, until you experience it.

Local weather still fairly light wind, scattered clouds at ~few thousand. Seems to be forming a high stable overcast.

142153Z 30011KT 10SM SCT040 19/10 A3006 RMK AO2 SLP165 T01940100
Click to expand...

I'm presuming the ride is at CCR, as that's the closest airport to Walnut Creek. But occasionally, people commute further. He may have had to cancel or discontinue if the weather elsewhere wasn't good enough.
 
I hope the DPE did not yell at him.
 
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