How many in this club?

I passed my Private checkride on the first attempt, but 40 years earlier I
flunked my driving test TWICE. Now THAT was embarassing, considering it was
in PA where the test is on a closed course.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

I don't have to like Bush and Cheney (Or Kerry, for that matter) to love
America

"Jon Kraus" wrote in message
...
Just curious as to how many of us are in the "Flunked a Checkride" club.
It seems that the fail rate for the IFR checkride is more prevalent than
the Private. So swallow that false pride and speak up. I'll be first. I
flunked my IFR checkride by busting on holding pattern entry. Anyone
else? Cecil? Jeff? :-)

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL-IA
Student Mooney Owner

Of course I have flunked a check ride. It seems a long time ago.

Wow!! There are really some distinguished names appearing in this club.
I guess it really isn't a big deal after all...

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL-IA
Student Money Owner

C J Campbell wrote:

Of course I have flunked a check ride. It seems a long time ago.

Kevin Dunlevy wrote:

I flunked my checkride for private.

So did I. In my case, it was the hoodwork that did me in. I find it a
little ironic therefore that I'd little difficulty with the instrument
ride. However, I had a bit of "help".

The first demonstration I had to do was hold at an IAF and then execute that
approach. I was flying an aircraft to which I wasn't used ("mine" had just
been rented away for several weeks), and I guess I just became nervous or
something. I became very frazzled during the hold entry.

I did manage to keep it on the correct side, and I maintained situational
awareness. I think I even commented on my poor execution and how I was
planning to fix it, but I don't recall for sure. However, I was *certain*
that I'd blown the ride, even though the DE said nothing. Just as I'd
settled down into a rhythm in the hold, the DE told me to begin the
approach.

From that point on, everything was good. My one other error was letting the
HI slip a bit (I didn't check the compass enough) during the NDB approach.
But I was still in PTS. Did I mention that "my" airplane didn't have an
NDB?

My ILS earned a compliment.

I'm sure that I'd have done much less well had I been worried about the
checkride. But my certainty at having failed let me relax enough that it
was "just another flight" for me.

When I go for my commercial ride, I'll try to be sure to make my screw-up as
early as possible.

- Andrew

I flunked my IR checkride. Like many others, I messed up the holding
pattern. After making the teardrop entry, instead of making a right turn
back to the holding fix, I turned left. Technically I was still on the
protected side, but it was still a bust. The only consolation was that the
examiner seemed to have more confidence in me than I had in myself. He said
he would have bet money on me passing the checkride.


Jon Kraus wrote in news:MrWwd.6737$xW3.3525
@fe1.columbus.rr.com:

Just curious as to how many of us are in the "Flunked a Checkride" club.
It seems that the fail rate for the IFR checkride is more prevalent than
the Private. So swallow that false pride and speak up. I'll be first. I
flunked my IFR checkride by busting on holding pattern entry. Anyone
else? Cecil? Jeff? :-)

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL-IA
Student Mooney Owner

Jon Kraus wrote:

Just curious as to how many of us are in the "Flunked a Checkride" club.

I've only taken one. Passed that one.

George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

Jon Kraus ) wrote:

Wow!! There are really some distinguished names appearing in this club.
I guess it really isn't a big deal after all...

In the great scheme of things, not passing the checkride at the first
attempt should be no big deal. I'm more worried about flunking the
"real" ride someday, which motivates me to work harder at remaining
proficient.

--
Peter

Jon Kraus ) wrote:

At this point it is a
distant memory and I don't think too much about it other than it was a
great learning experience.

Absolutely.

--
Peter

I didn't fail a check ride. But I do have an observation to make.

A bit of history: I had all kinds of problems getting my IFR training
done. So I paid some bucks and did it in a 141 school. The SR Trainer
did my check ride which was also training. He required me to get to one
point (VOR) full panel. The rest of the ride was partial panel
including the ILS back into the home field.

My point to this is, at that point in time, I could do partial panel
w/o breaking a sweat. Today, having had it happen in actual on two
different occassions (both times the DG went loopy in IMC at night) I
very nearly bent the plane. I can tell you that failing the real thing
generally doesn't have a good outcome.

Make sure that you can go up in the real stuff now and then (MVFR
works), and cover instruments. And if you can get to a good simulator,
have them fail instruments slowly (just like the real world).

Again, when it happens in the real stuff, if you don't get it right,
you may not get a second chance.

Later,
Steve.T
PP ASEL/Instrument

Well, I had to take the commercial test (CDL, not aircraft) 6 times
before I passed it (pre-trip), twice on the manuvers and twice on the
road test.

For those of you who want to try this (for class A), the trick to the
pre-trip is you are teaching them to do it, not doing it yourself. They
only want to know that you know what and where to check in what order
(for air brakes).

For someone with an instrument rating, having passed all my aviation
stuff on the first try, *this* was really embarrassing.
Later,
Steve.T
PP ASEL/Instrument