What checkride did YOU fail?

Italianaviator

Italianaviator

Well-Known Member
With all of this talk about checkride failures, most of them BS from what I read, I'm curious to see what rides you have failed and why. Was the examiner having a bad day and failed you on something that wasn't PTS or was it legitiment?

I'll start. I have one failure with the possibility of a total of three. I'll explain.

1. I failed my private pilot checkride for soft field landings. It was legit because I was nervous and the check pilot began yelling at me once I landed too hard on the soft field landing saying "what's wrong with you?!! I know your a better pilot than this and you better make the next one as smooth as a cat pissing on glass. Im going to give you one more chance to redeem yourself." Well needless to say I made the next one ever harder, probably not understanding the cat pissing on glass comment but oh well I failed that one.

2. It was my single engine commercial check and I was told to perform steep turns. Did them PTS and then was told to do a steep spiral and messed it up pretty bad. I was then told that I failed and we could continue or return. Well I asked him why I had failed when he had already passed me on steep turns and the PTS states that he can choose one of those two maneuvers to grade me on and that both were not required. So he opens the PTS and says ok we can continue then. I know I dodged a bullet because the examiner does have the right to grade me on both but I figured I would speak up and see if he could give me a break and he did. So I did not fail that one.

3. CFI initial and as I'm performing Chandelles, upon the exit of the maneuver I gained 120 feet. He asked me what I did wrong and I told him, nothing and that I thought I had performed a text book chandelle. Well he told me that PTS requires +100/-0 on the exit. I told him that was BS and show me in the PTS. Well since it's not in there he then told me that upon the exit of the maneuver your supposed to speed up as fast as possible and since I was gaining altitude, I wasn't able to speed up as fast as possible. So we continued the checkride and I was told that I had passed because my overall performance was outstanding and that he would overlook the chandelle "bust". He made me feel like he was doing me such a great favor by bending the rules when there really wasn't a +100/-0 tolerance on the exit of that maneuver.

So I dodged 2 bullets. I know everyone hasn't been so lucky but I'm curious as to see what crap some exameiners have been able to bust you on and get away with it. Im not trying to put anyone on the spot and make them feel embarrassed for failing. I just figure maybe we can get some good laughs from some crazy stories and maybe some people can learn what works and what to watch out for.
 
I'm gonna take a shot and most people who busted any won't say anything... those who haven't will let everyone know. :D
 
Failed the initial instrument because I shot an ILS with no problem, then came back for an approach to the same runway on a VOR and did not change frequencies from the ILS to VOR. Totally my fault, and if anything, the perfect example of why someone should fail an instrument checkride. Ask the Markair guys who wound up in a pile of wreckage up in Alaska about the importance of turning and identifying the navaid. Earned that one, I did.

Failed the oral CFI-A (or whatever it was called back then) because I couldn't explain "center of lift" to the Fed's satisfaction. I was rocky, and I was certainly "failable", but I'm fairly certain, knowing what I know now about the Feds and the CFI, that I was more or less doomed from the start unless I was Ernest Gann or Bob Hoover (oops, nevermind, they busted him, too). Not the individual Fed's fault...I was within the legal letter of the law to fail, certainly, but it wouldn't shock me to learn that he had a quota of failures to fill, and I'll be damned if I'm going to say the man shouldn't have sought out a legitimate bust (which it was) to meet that quota. That said, I've flown with some CFIs who did their rides with a "company" DE who don't know the difference between the center of lift and the center of a barstool (both are unstable, it turns out). Lesson, if there is one, is that how many rides you fail has an enormous amount to do with where you do your training and how tight they are with the local FSDO. This is the political reality. Again, it's not that I think I should have passed, because I probably shouldn't have and the Fed I was dealing with was probably just doing his job as he should have. But if you think everyone who "earns" a CFI has a 9 hour oral, busts, and does another 5 hour oral to pass, I would point you towards certain very prominent puppymills and ask you if you've ever seen the same there. The standards should be high. I sadly suspect based on some CFIs I've seen that it's "adjustable" based on various economic transactions.
 
Private, also on soft field landings. Went up and did 10 soft fields with my instructor, re-check the next day, passed just fine.
 
Interesting thought Boris brings up. Fail to applicant ratios at puppymills vs mom pop fbo vs college program. I can't imagine the numbers being even.

2 Rides. Private and it was deserved. I learned a lot and grew from it.

Initial commercial ME. I did learn from it. Didn't see the necessity in the bust and found out a year later the CA was banned from the school.
 
Haven't busted a checkride... probably was one I should have busted.

Failed my first attempt at the Inspection Authorization written... That one hurt, I had to wait 90 days to take it again. Passed it handily on the second go 'round.
 
Roger said:
None of them.
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There are two kinds of pilots...those who have, and those who are fixin' to.

I flubbed the power-off 180 on my CSEL - examiner said "let's do that again". We did, and it was better.

*knocks on wood*
 
Autothrust Blue said:
There are two kinds of pilots...those who have, and those who are fixin' to.

I flubbed the power-off 180 on my CSEL - examiner said "let's do that again". We did, and it was better.

*knocks on wood*
Click to expand...

Isn't the same said about gear up landings? Yet, many pilots retire without ever scrapping the belly.
 
dhc2tacksby said:
Isn't the same said about gear up landings? Yet, many pilots retire without ever scrapping the belly.
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You've got a point there. Double ditto for groundlooping, but ever since tailwheels went out of style that's not been (as huge...) a problem.

The spirit of the post was "eh, could happen to me, but I'm going to do my damnedest to make sure it doesn't." You know?
 
I failed my private fixed wing and I deserved it. I made what could have been a grave error by lining up on the downwind of runway 30 and made a radio call saying I was on the downwind of 23. This was the first part of the checkride and I elected to continue the ride, and I did everything else to pts standards. Did the remedial training then went back up with the DE and did one pattern and that was it, I passed. The total costs of the two checkrides was 800 dollars.
 
Commercial Multi Engine. Get this. The glide slope failed on my checkride! When does the glide slope fail, ever? And it had to happen on CR. I thought I was flying the most magnificent ILS ever, as the GS was still giving off a few erroneous indications. I was also a little rusty on checklists, and I did the Vmc demo on the wrong engine, which I immediately realized and asked if I could have another go, which he granted. Overall, I probably did deserve it.

El burrito.
 
I think part 61 busts are not necessarily a "big" deal in the grand scheme of ones career. Like was mentioned above, there are so many variables involved with an initial rating checkride, its really luck that anyone can get through without a bust (or maybe a santa clause DPE at a pilot mill). Saying that, I went to a pilot mill and still ended up busting my initial ME commercial. To this day, I believe I failed because of scrutiny of the the DPE by the local FSDO. The guy was giving 2 checkrides a day, 5 days a week. Of course he HAS to bust someone every once in a while to keep the Feds off his back.

My bust was for not actually "touching" the gear handle on a simulated engine failure. It was in cruise and I called the gear up, but since I didnt physically touch the handle, He said I didnt veryify it was actually up. Questionable in my opinion... Of course I elected to continue the ride, finished all other tasks, and came back the next morning to do another engine failure.

Saying that, there were other initial checkrides in which I probably could have failed for valid reasons... nobody is perfect and the PTS expects you to perfectly pass each task. There is no legal discretion given to the examiner, even though they do use discretion. If not, many many more pilots would have more failures on their record!
 
I'm batting 1000, of course I have only had one checkride thus far. I did under-prepare for my private written though and ended up with a 70. That scared me because I have always been the don't study, still do exceptionally well type. That time I barely scraped by.
 
Italianaviator said:
... you better make the next one as smooth as a cat pissing on glass...
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A cat pissing on glass seems like it would be rather "splashy" and not so much "smooth." I've never seen a cat pissing on glass, and probably for this very reason.....I'm just sayin'.

Proof positive that at least that one examiner was likely out of his gourd.
 
I've passed every checkride on the first or second try.

But seriously, I've failed a lot and done a lot of stuff wrong well after checkrides. I blame me, nobody, and a puppy mill which will remain nameless.
 
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