How many in this club?

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

On 12/18/04 8:41 AM, in article ,
"Jon Kraus" wrote:

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


I'm #2.
I took my IFR checkride twice and honestly can't say I'm embarrassed about
it. It keeps me humble in the cockpit.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino
Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
http://www.wizardofdraws.com
http://www.cartoonclipart.com

The Wizard's 2004 Christmas newsletter
http://www.wizardofdraws.com/main/xmas04.html

"Wizard of Draws" wrote in message

I'm #2.
I took my IFR checkride twice and honestly can't say I'm embarrassed about
it. It keeps me humble in the cockpit.

My DE STARTED the exam by lecturing to me about how failure wasn't something
to be embarrassed about, how the point wasn't to pass your checkride on the
first try, and how the instructor shares the responsibility for failure,
etc.

The FBO atmosphere was something out of a sitcom. I've never seen so many
instructors so visibly nervous. If I'd have opened the classroom door I'd
have probably caught them all evesdropping.

I was terrified, too. The previous week I heard the DE chewing some kid's
ass about flap usage and a bunch of other things after a Private exam.
Turns out, the kid passed.

-c

Jon Kraus ) wrote:

I flunked my IFR checkride by busting on holding pattern entry.

Could you provide more details of this? Was it that you flew outside
the protected airspace of the hold that caused your bust, or was it that
you used the incorrect entry but stayed within the confines of the hold?

I ask this because when I took my checkride a couple of years ago, both
the flight school and ultimately the examiner *de-emphasized* the need
for the correct type of entry. In other words, if a student didn't
execute the correct entry, s/he would still pass as long as s/he did get
established and did not fly outside of the protected airspace of the
hold while doing so.


--
Peter

Peter,
Basically I got confused and didn't even get to do the hold because I
forgot where in the hell I was... By the time I got it figured out it
was too late. I really got down on myself and was humbled and
embarrassed. ut, 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.

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL-IA
Student Mooney Owner

Peter R. wrote:
Jon Kraus ) wrote:


I flunked my IFR checkride by busting on holding pattern entry.


Could you provide more details of this? Was it that you flew outside
the protected airspace of the hold that caused your bust, or was it that
you used the incorrect entry but stayed within the confines of the hold?

I ask this because when I took my checkride a couple of years ago, both
the flight school and ultimately the examiner *de-emphasized* the need
for the correct type of entry. In other words, if a student didn't
execute the correct entry, s/he would still pass as long as s/he did get
established and did not fly outside of the protected airspace of the
hold while doing so.

Peter,
Basically I got confused and didn't even get to do the hold because I
forgot where in the hell I was... By the time I got it figured out it
was too late. Then on the retest I got nervous and did the same thing
again (another bust) I really got down on myself and was humbled and
embarrassed. The third time aas the charm. I wasn't nervous because I
knew I would pass this time and I was right. 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.

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL-IA
Student Mooney Owner

Peter R. wrote:
Jon Kraus ) wrote:


I flunked my IFR checkride by busting on holding pattern entry.


Could you provide more details of this? Was it that you flew outside
the protected airspace of the hold that caused your bust, or was it that
you used the incorrect entry but stayed within the confines of the hold?

I ask this because when I took my checkride a couple of years ago, both
the flight school and ultimately the examiner *de-emphasized* the need
for the correct type of entry. In other words, if a student didn't
execute the correct entry, s/he would still pass as long as s/he did get
established and did not fly outside of the protected airspace of the
hold while doing so.

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 flunked my checkride for private. I was flying a C-150 mostly in the
mornings to avoid the turbulence from thermals and gusts. I took my
checkride in the 150 on a hot, gusty day. The examiner, after flunking me,
said if I could do four good crosswind landings I would pass. So I did a
hundred practice landings, then did four bad crosswind landings for the
examiner and passed.

Now I can handle crosswinds better than many of the pilots I fly with,
because I took them as a personal challenge.

What I learned: Don't avoid flying in thermals, gusts and crosswinds unless
they are beyond reason, tighten up the lapbelt and get used to the bumps.

Kevin Dunlevy

"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

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

Jon, you are NOT alone at all. In fact, from conversations with some other
pilots, I'm certain we could assemble a sizeable club of individuals who
didn't pass their Instrument on the first try.
So, if it's any relief to you; you are NOT alone in not having passed the
IFR checkride the first time. GRIN

I passed on the THIRD time. The first checkride I mussed it on my hold,
then immediately after (while still kicking myself for messing up the hold)
I messed up on the ILS approach (which was weird because I was looking
forward to 'showing it off' since I had done so well before). The second
time I passed everything I had missed before but then messed up when asked
to do a hold at an arbitrarily selected intersection -- not a regular 'hold'
intersection with a leg described by an airway. It then occurred to me,
short of drawing it on the enroute chart, that I had NO method of
'picturing' the arbitrary hold (that is a hold withOUT at least one victor
airway as a leg). Thankfully, when this happened I was doing it on the sim
and after the D.E. left for an hour or so, while I got a quick method of
determining the entry for any hold from an available CFII (without having a
drawing or an actual airway as a leg of the hold). The D.E. came back an
hour or so later (filling out the dreaded no-pass slip for the second time
((but different issue))) retested me and I did fine and got my pass slip, on
my THIRD try argh

So, I accumulated two of the dreaded no-pass slips and passed my Instrument
Checkride on the third. So, passing was more of a 'relief' at that point
than a joyous celebration (which came a week later g). The D.E. was
nothing but nice as possible and told me after I finally got the pass that
in his opinion the Instrument Checkride was easily among the hardest.


--
=-----
Good Flights!

Cecil
PP-ASEL-IA
Student - CP-ASEL

Check out my personal flying adventures from my first flight to the
checkride AND the continuing adventures beyond!
Complete with pictures and text at: www.bayareapilot.com

"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery -

"We who fly, do so for the love of flying. We are alive in the air with
this miracle that lies in our hands and beneath our feet"
- Cecil Day Lewis -
on holding pattern entry. Anyone
else? Cecil? Jeff? :-)

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL-IA
Student Mooney Owner