Well...it finally happened.

[A150K]

3 years as a CFI and 10 sign offs later I finally had my first bust on an instrument ride for failing to tune and identify the cross radial that defined the FAF on a localizer approach and losing situational awareness thereafter. Guess it had to happen at some point...

 

[DE727UPS]

Worst one I had was failing to monitor the ADF audio ident on and NDB approach. Actually, he was monitoring it in the background but the examiner turned the volume down all the way to see if the student would catch it. In the heat of battle the student didn't catch it and got busted.

Was your student identifying the FAF another way and the examiner expected him to use a VOR radial?

 

[A150K]

Worst one I had was failing to monitor the ADF audio ident on and NDB approach. Actually, he was monitoring it in the background but the examiner turned the volume down all the way to see if the student would catch it. In the heat of battle the student didn't catch it and got busted.

Was your student identifying the FAF another way and the examiner expected him to use a VOR radial?

Nope. In fact, the examiner was going to wait to see if he would decend at the marker and let it go, but it never happened...He just headed straight ahead for the airport at FAF altitude (2000 AGL). Kind of a stupid thing to bust a checkride on ( this particular student is a bit on the...challenging...side, gets extremely nervous when being evaluated and was getting nowhere with his old instructor, which is why the chief put him with me for the second half of his training) especially since the examiner mentioned that everything had been almost perfect up until that point and it was the last approach of the checkride, but at the same time it should be a relatively easy fix and he'll be instrument rated very easily come re-ride time on Tuesday.

 

[Houston]

Brain freeze has probably caused more check ride busts than any single event. It's also the hardest thing to prepare a student for.