Hi all,
I've been struggling with this for the past few months and it is finally getting to me.
I have two checkride failures (1 oral and 1 practical) along with a busted written. Let me explain them below and tell me if I'm screwed getting any good flying anytime soon.
ORAL
It was a PPL checkride and I was so rushed that day it wasn't funny. I had been bounced around to about 6 CFIs during my training and even though all of them said "you fly amazing," I was still nervous. What do I find when I arrive? The head of the FSDO; he will be doing a check on my DPE. Now I had heard a ton of rumors about this man and there he was sitting along for my the ride; only after I busted was I told I could of asked for him not to be present.
Everyone says "I know my blank" but I know it my way and I find it really hard getting it out of my mouth. This is why I'm not a CFI (personal decision with a lot of consultation). So I was stumbling along in the oral, nervous as hell, and was doing pretty good. We got to class E/G airspace and I completely messed it up, my weak point as it was since all my flight training had been out of a class D airport that abuts class B. No excuse I guess. Over the past few years I've talked with others and we all agree that this wouldn't have been an oral bust if the FSDO wasn't there. However it was and I elected to continue and did good on the rest of it.
Came back two days later for like 5 minutes of oral and then went and nailed the flight. DPE complemented me on it as well which gets the peacock feathers up :laff:
WRITTEN
I was extremely interested in IFR stuff, did a lot of it on my own and got the rating in about two months. I had passed the ground school written with like an 89%. Then I let it lapse before I took the actual written. Took it on a spur of the moment and got an 68-69%. Took if later, passed and even got a comment from another DPE after my IR oral about it. He couldn't believe it after the ORAL we'd just had, he said.
PRACTICAL
Nailed the IR, DXR, Comm ASEL, and was treating my multi add-on just as a formality (had 30+ hours at the time of the ride). Yet I was still nervous but still was able to bust out a really nice oral/flight (according to the DPE). We were literally on the last thing, within about two minutes from being done, and I accidentally put an opposite yaw moment the the same moment he failed the engine for the third time on the ride (SE-IFR approach) which masked the failed engine. You can see what happens next......
Just a simple mistake (that I had never made to that point nor will make damn sure to never do again) but it put him in a position with no choice. He wouldn't even pass me with a VFR limitation since the IFR part wasn't the issue, he said. What made it worse was that he complimented me on a great flight all the way back and in the de-brief as well :drool:
Came back a few days later and literally did 0.1 on the hobbs (0.5 total including the run-up and flying to the IAF).
So now that you have a back ground, how bad am I messed up?
Please know that I'm not trying to "boast" about my flying. Just saying what people have said about my skills when compared to seeing two failures (sometimes three depending on if they count written tests).
Thanks in advance!
I've been struggling with this for the past few months and it is finally getting to me.
I have two checkride failures (1 oral and 1 practical) along with a busted written. Let me explain them below and tell me if I'm screwed getting any good flying anytime soon.
ORAL
It was a PPL checkride and I was so rushed that day it wasn't funny. I had been bounced around to about 6 CFIs during my training and even though all of them said "you fly amazing," I was still nervous. What do I find when I arrive? The head of the FSDO; he will be doing a check on my DPE. Now I had heard a ton of rumors about this man and there he was sitting along for my the ride; only after I busted was I told I could of asked for him not to be present.
Everyone says "I know my blank" but I know it my way and I find it really hard getting it out of my mouth. This is why I'm not a CFI (personal decision with a lot of consultation). So I was stumbling along in the oral, nervous as hell, and was doing pretty good. We got to class E/G airspace and I completely messed it up, my weak point as it was since all my flight training had been out of a class D airport that abuts class B. No excuse I guess. Over the past few years I've talked with others and we all agree that this wouldn't have been an oral bust if the FSDO wasn't there. However it was and I elected to continue and did good on the rest of it.
Came back two days later for like 5 minutes of oral and then went and nailed the flight. DPE complemented me on it as well which gets the peacock feathers up :laff:
WRITTEN
I was extremely interested in IFR stuff, did a lot of it on my own and got the rating in about two months. I had passed the ground school written with like an 89%. Then I let it lapse before I took the actual written. Took it on a spur of the moment and got an 68-69%. Took if later, passed and even got a comment from another DPE after my IR oral about it. He couldn't believe it after the ORAL we'd just had, he said.
PRACTICAL
Nailed the IR, DXR, Comm ASEL, and was treating my multi add-on just as a formality (had 30+ hours at the time of the ride). Yet I was still nervous but still was able to bust out a really nice oral/flight (according to the DPE). We were literally on the last thing, within about two minutes from being done, and I accidentally put an opposite yaw moment the the same moment he failed the engine for the third time on the ride (SE-IFR approach) which masked the failed engine. You can see what happens next......
Just a simple mistake (that I had never made to that point nor will make damn sure to never do again) but it put him in a position with no choice. He wouldn't even pass me with a VFR limitation since the IFR part wasn't the issue, he said. What made it worse was that he complimented me on a great flight all the way back and in the de-brief as well :drool:
Came back a few days later and literally did 0.1 on the hobbs (0.5 total including the run-up and flying to the IAF).
So now that you have a back ground, how bad am I messed up?
Please know that I'm not trying to "boast" about my flying. Just saying what people have said about my skills when compared to seeing two failures (sometimes three depending on if they count written tests).
Thanks in advance!