"gatt" wrote in message
...
[...] Because I
misidentified the airport by thinking the strip across the street was
[whatever the private field was called], he busted me.

Well, to be fair, that's different than you first described it. You failed
your checkride because you misidentified a waypoint. Not "because [you]
used a private field as a waypoint".

You just as easily could have misidentified a public airport, or you could
have passed your checkride had you correctly identified the private airport.
The choice of a waypoint you had difficulty identifying might have led to
the bust, but the mere choice of a private field didn't directly lead to
failing the checkride.

It's a good lesson though: waypoints should be easily identifiable. Two
similar airports right next to each other would not qualify. For sure, if
you ARE going to use an airport as a waypoint, you need to learn enough
about the airport to know whether you are looking at it or not when you
arrive. Including knowing whether it's paved or not.

Sounds like a fair bust to me. I'll bet you learned your lesson from that
though, and I'll bet there are some pilots who passed their checkride on the
first try who still need to learn that lesson.

Pete