What checkride did YOU fail?

Busted my instrument and CFII, both when I was partial panel. For the instrument it was for dipping below the min. altitude for that fix, and for the CFII it was for overshooting my course. I was only supposed to turn 90 degrees but I fixated on the altimeter for a second and didn't take out the bank until about 180 degrees. I thought the examiner was supposed to wait for a full or half scale deflection but he called it just as i was starting to correct.

Hope those few moments don't define the rest of my career.

I got hired by a regional and have the same busts. It happens and is a learning experience. When I asked, I took responsibility for them and explained what happened. We moved on.
 
None, although I should have failed the CFI-A addon. Hershey bar Arrow & 20 knot 90 degree crosswinds don't turn out well for a power-off 180.
 
I failed my commercial single add on in a 172. My lazy 8s weren't lazy and my soft field landing wasn't soft enough. It ended up being a really good learning experience for me as the DE showed me stuff in the plane that the pilot mill instructors weren't able to (or allowed to). Stuff I'd never do, but was glad to know was possible.
 
Private pilot on my 20th birthday. All because of nerves. Touched down too early on my short field landing. What a great birthday present I gave to myself! :laff:
 
Failed the oral for my PPL first time around. I wasn't fully prepared, but I felt there may have been more to it then that. So I went to Seymour, Indiana to take the next one and passed it with flying colors.
 
I busted my CFI initial checkride oral exam. It was a legitimate bust. I didn't understand my aerodynamics well enough, but I learned from it. I took the checkride again two days later and it went fine.
 
I have one failure. Busted my Instrument Checkride on a partial panel NDB approach. At MDA I was no where close to where I should have been. It was the very last item on the checkride, and the ride had gone perfectly up to that point. Not that it was any consolation at that point, but the examiner said minus the failed NDB, it was probably the best instrument checkride he'd ever seen.

I hate NDBs. :(
 
busted 2

Private- couldnt navigate to a VOR. Kind of a chicken crap thing to get busted on for a private ride, but oh well.

Initial CFI- busted on the oral. After 9 hours of grilling he decided to ask me about dynamic/static stability and what makes a plane inherently stable/unstable. By that point i really didnt care, i just wanted to go home one way or the other.

If i were in the position, id be a lot more concerned about someone washing out of training or busting line checks than i would be about check rides that happened 3000 hours ago.
 
I have one failure. Busted my Instrument Checkride on a partial panel NDB approach. At MDA I was no where close to where I should have been. It was the very last item on the checkride, and the ride had gone perfectly up to that point. Not that it was any consolation at that point, but the examiner said minus the failed NDB, it was probably the best instrument checkride he'd ever seen.

I hate NDBs. :(

INOP

print this out and put it on your panel and your golden! kidding of course...just in case anybody wants to report me to the FSDO. NDB approaches are a major PITA and are almost gone in the U.S thankfully.
 
INOP

print this out and put it on your panel and your golden! kidding of course...just in case anybody wants to report me to the FSDO. NDB approaches are a major PITA and are almost gone in the U.S thankfully.

Sorry, I've already made the phone call. :bandit:
 
One so far. I busted my instrument rating practical test on the first approach--an NDB approach. We were going to do the hold at the NDB, followed by the approach inbound. The examiner was very pushy, badgering ATC for sequencing, using the hold as an excuse to get us on the approach in front of a commuter turboprop on a long straight-in. Well, I completed my entry (Teardrop), and crossed the fix before turning outbound. As we were rolling wings-level outbound, we got cleared for the approach. I wanted to continue in the hold and finish the outbound leg, then turn inbound, but the examiner insisted that we continue our turn back to the inbound leg. When I rolled wings level inbound, I was somewhere near the NDB, which was ~5.3nm from the airport, and the surface winds were high. It was quite bumpy.

Ok, that's not the greatest setup, but as I'm continuing inbound, I notice that the needle is remaining about twenty degrees off the tail. So I apply a correction, with about three miles to go to the runway.

I would love to say that the NDB needle suddenly swung away, and I realized that it had stuck, but no. I got the correction wrong and was expecting the wrong needle indication. So I ended up being way the F off.

During training, before the checkride, my CFI had basically told me: "Once you cross the fix inbound, just hold that inbound heading. You can't get that far off in five miles, but you can get much further off trying to correct for it. I've seen more busts that way than any other."

Yeah, and I even thought about that when I was inbound, but I was really uncertain, because I wasn't sure whether I'd crossed the NDB abeam it, or over it, or overshot it.. in short, I had low situational awareness on the approach and was trying to get back to my navaid. I screwed up the correction and busted. Can't blame the examiner, can't blame the NDB. Can't blame my flight instructor, whose advice would have saved the approach regardless of where the NDB needle was pointed. No, it was all me.

The examiner suggested that I should terminate, as typically people perform terribly after a bust, but I elected to keep going. Did everything else razor-sharp, completely perfect, in so much turbulence that the examiner was slightly airsick by the time we got back on the ground. She actually seemed fairly distressed that she had to fail me, telling the owner of the flying club that he should 'rip that damned thing out of the plane'.

I spent two hours flying NDB approaches with my instructor.

Couple days later, we went up and shot a single NDB approach, and I was instrument rated.

I still kinda feel like a tool about that one, though. My flight instructor had told me exactly what to do between the NDB and the runway, and I tried to get creative anyway.

I've had moments during other checkrides where I... um, temporarily deviated from perfection.. but nothing as dumb as that, and never was the outcome of the maneuver or maneuvers was never seriously in doubt; I suspect that may be the most basic standard, except when the examiner is having a ratio problem.

~Fox
 
INOP

print this out and put it on your panel and your golden! kidding of course...just in case anybody wants to report me to the FSDO. NDB approaches are a major PITA and are almost gone in the U.S thankfully.

Haha, Darn! Where were you 4 years ago, I could have used useful information like that, LoL. I think the amount of NDB approaches without GPS overlay in the United States is in the single digits. And I think most of those are in Alaska.

They will be gone soon, and I won't miss them at all.
 
I know this question has been asled many times before, but does failing an end of course check (in a Part 141 school) in which I would be receiving the new certificate/rating, count as failing a checkride?
 
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.

That sounds exactly like me...except I didn't pass my private written by 1 question. But I've only done up to instrument and am working on my commercial now. Haven't busted an oral or practical yet even though I very well could have on my instrument when I completely ignored the examiners climbout instructions in favor of the ODP. Whoops.
 
Private Multi-Engine add on..............My instructor was a new MEI so he would simulate the engine failure after take off at 1000 agl, when I took the checkride the examiner did that right at 400 or 500 agl and I saw trees so I did the "pull up and forget blueline" thing.....woooops. hugee learning experience for me thats for sure!! I'm chasing blueline always now!
 
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