First Busted Checkride by Student

Dazzler

Dazzler

Well-Known Member
Well I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Had my first checkride failure - a Private Pilot student of mine.
He botched up a crosswind landing.
Apparently he landed crooked, didn't apply enough rudder to align with the runway, and failed to roll in the necessary aileron - basically everything you're supposed to do he didn't do. He essentially froze on the controls.
The airplane bounced and started to drift, so the examiner - realizing my student wasn't about to make any corrective moves - had to take the controls and land, which of course led to an instant bust.

Also, he didn't maintain sufficient coordination during the power-off stall and the left wing dropped. He applied full right aileron (!) to correct, instead of "picking the wing up" with rudder. Interestingly enough the power-on stall was perfect. Actually, everything else went very well according to the examiner: Short field and soft field techniques, ground ref. maneuvers, steep turns, hood work, radio work - all excellent, so examiner was pretty surprised that he messed up on those two items.

Of course he's pretty bummed and feels like his world is coming to an end, so I've had to put my psychologist and motivational hats on, as we have to do from time to time as CFIs, and reassured him that he did a bunch of stuff right and we just need to go out and hammer on those two remaining tasks and he'll be all set. He's not planning on making a career in aviation so no-one is really going to care that he failed down the road anyway, except it'll be a bruise on his ego - and we all know that there's no room for an ego in the cockpit anyway.

Naturally I'm a little bummed too - more so for my student than anything. I feel I did an adequate job training him. I've seen him perform stellar crosswind landings and stall recoveries before. Putting it down to checkride nerves. He confided in me that he hates tests, and the examiner apparently did have to tell him to relax as he started off with a death grip on the yoke.

Hoping the retest goes smoothly and we can put this behind us.
Sorry for the long post, but it feels good to share.
 
It happens. It sucks, but it happens. I've had two busts during my time teaching, and both times it was a terrible feeling.

The thing I always say about it, is it's a lot better to bust a checkride than bust a plane.

Apparently your guy needs some work on crosswind technique. No big deal...a heck of a lot better to find that out from the examiner than from the sound of the wingtip scraping pavement when he's out by himself at a lonely, windy airport in the middle of the night. He's going to be a better, safer pilot as a result of this.

At least that's how I see it.
 
Dazzler said:
He botched up a crosswind landing.
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Hey that is how my one and only (for now) student bust happened.

It had me down in the dumps to, but look how he bust. It wasn't the lack of knowledge or preparedness on your part; if he passed or failed that is something to keep your head up about!
 
We tend to learn more from our problems then from our triumphs. While it is painful in the short term, in the long term it will make you that much better a flight instructor. Just use this as a springboard to reach greater heights.

Incidentally, the worst feeling is not having a student bust a check ride. The worst feeling is having a student become involved in an accident, even if it is years after they were your student.
 
Dazzler said:
I've seen him perform stellar crosswind landings and stall recoveries before. Putting it down to checkride nerves. He confided in me that he hates tests, and the examiner apparently did have to tell him to relax as he started off with a death grip on the yoke.
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Did you have him fly with another instructor doing a simulated checkride?
That helps a student - especially a 'nervous' student - who tightens up in the presence of 'authority'.
I find a 'pre-ride' ride with some old crusty swearing smoking coughing bad instructor really helps the nervous student 'get over it'.
 
Guy said:
We tend to learn more from our problems then from our triumphs. While it is painful in the short term, in the long term it will make you that much better a flight instructor. Just use this as a springboard to reach greater heights.

Incidentally, the worst feeling is not having a student bust a check ride. The worst feeling is having a student become involved in an accident, even if it is years after they were your student.
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i concur.
 
Dazzler said:
He's not planning on making a career in aviation so no-one is really going to care that he failed down the road anyway, except it'll be a bruise on his ego - and we all know that there's no room for an ego in the cockpit anyway.
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It is true that some employers might look down on someone who's busted a checkride before, however, busting my initial CFI ride didn't stop me from getting job offers teaching at two local flight schools and a regional airline over the course of my teaching career.

There is nothing wrong with busting a checkride and it shouldn't be look at as a career ending tragedy. Please do not pass that mentality on to your students who are pursuing aviation as career. I literally thought my career was done after I busted that checkride. I felt that way for about a month, but I passed the ride, went on to my CFI-I and started teaching.

A lot of people could use the humbling experience of busting a ride.
 
iceman21 said:
It is true that some employers might look down on someone who's busted a checkride before, however, busting my initial CFI ride didn't stop me from getting job offers teaching at two local flight schools and a regional airline over the course of my teaching career.

There is nothing wrong with busting a checkride and it shouldn't be look at as a career ending tragedy. Please do not pass that mentality on to your students who are pursuing aviation as career. I literally thought my career was done after I busted that checkride. I felt that way for about a month, but I passed the ride, went on to my CFI-I and started teaching.

A lot of people could use the humbling experience of busting a ride.
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we all been there before. it's not that easy to overcome that feeling. no one has ever told us that busting a checkride is equivalent to ending a career, but students just take it literally. especially for those who got brainwashed of getting "elite" flight training.
 
Dazzler said:
Of course he's pretty bummed and feels like his world is coming to an end, .
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How did the DPE explain it to him? A good de-brief can head off a bad reaction to failing a checkride, and a bad (or no de-brief at all) will absolutey lead directly to a bad reaction.
 
Good news - after going out for a couple of flights to polish up on stalls and x-wind landings, my student took his retest today and passed easily.

Phew!
 
Dazzler said:
Good news - after going out for a couple of flights to polish up on stalls and x-wind landings, my student took his retest today and passed easily.

Phew!
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Great news! That's how it's supposed to work.

A bust should be a learning experience, if not always the most pleasant (or cheapest...) one.
 
ILS37R said:
Great news! That's how it's supposed to work.

A bust should be a learning experience, if not always the most pleasant (or cheapest...) one.
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Yeah he said he learned a lot, and in fact the examiner said that he (my student) was entirely a different person on the retest - much more relaxed. Guess it was a case of checkride-itis the first time around.

Now he's looking forward to doing his instrument rating!
 
Dazzler said:
Guess it was a case of checkride-itis the first time around.
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Checkride-itis caused me to bust the flying portion of my initial CFI ride. I let myself get overwhelmed with the idea of perfection that I got hung up on the mess ups instead of flying the plane.
 
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