What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating you r

Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

I clicked "ATP" without thinking about it...the upgrade/ATP training for my current ride was far more difficult than anything I did in jets.

Now that I really thought about it...CFI. ATP was still an ass-kicker, though. It was combined with a 135.293, .297, .299 check, and was done on a really crappy day up on the Cape.
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

ATP by far it was the most intense ride of them all, CFI initial was hard as well and by far the longest oral but it wasn't as hard as the atp ride. I did it all in my baron and it was almost all single engine simulated instruments. Very tough all around approach after approach with holds all holding the rudder. But it was fun just a challenge.
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

minitour said:
Initial CFI, which was for me, the CFI-IA.

-mini
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:yeahthat: Although it was the hardest, it was also the most fun and left me feeling the biggest sense of accomplishment out of any checkride.
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

My CFI ride wasn't as hard as what I hear other people's are like. It was only a 2.5 hour oral with a couple of breaks in there. The only thing he asked me about the aircraft system was, while doing preflight, he asked how the landing gear was actuated. I was done and leaving the airport by 1:30PM.
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

Stomp16 said:
:yeahthat: Although it was the hardest, it was also the most fun and left me feeling the biggest sense of accomplishment out of any checkride.
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I still, to this day, don't know how I passed. Not the instrument stuff or even the airwork...the landing. I had to demonstrate a circle to land...in a decent crosswind (Oklahoma - YO!)...it was "firm". Yeah, that's it..."firm".;)

-mini
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

Gosh, I can't believe so many people thought their Initial was tough! Come on, I had 8+hrs of fun!!









Lots and lots of :sarcasm:
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

If you can, wait to get your ATP until you have a type ride coming up. You can combine the two and it'll be MUCH easier.

For me, it was definitely the CFI (initial).

Private - Everything is new, but you're not expected to know much
Instrument - Very much about book learning and concepts
Commercial - Old stuff mixed in with new, but you're expected to know a lot more
Multi addon - An airplane with more levers! Not too bad
CFI initial - You need to know everything...EVERYTHING!
CFII addon - Can you read an approach plate and fly it from the right seat?
MEI addon - To be determined!
PIC Type ride - there's a reason you drink from a fire hose, it makes the checkride easy!
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

CFI was probably the hardest. Initial at the airline was a real kick in the pants also though.
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

I'd probably agree with everyone and say the MEI (initial) was the hardest ride, but it barely beat out the instrument ride.

There is just so much crap to know for the IR.
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

mshunter said:
I would have to say that my CFI was one of the longer rides, but not all that hard. After eight hours with the examiner, my brain was fried, but I felt well prepared. The IR was the hardest I think. After that, it was nothing but study study study for the CFI. And all the knowledge of the CFI goes right into the Comm. I ended up taking my CFI rides within weeks of my Comm. ratings.

The Comm ratings were by far the eaisest.
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That's what I think. IR was hard because the information was new. CFI was just lots of preparation but the information was relatively light with new concepts in comparison. I took my CFI ride about 2 years after commercial and instrument ratings.
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

I'd have to say my private checkride was the hardest. Going in, I had no way to know what to expect. After passing the first ride, you get some feeling of what checkrides are like and what to expect. Truthfully, I didn't think my initial CFI (CFII) was that bad. Maybe it's because I've read so many horror stories, which allowed me to compare mine against. Around 4 hours on the ground, and 1.3 in the air, and it was over.
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

KSCessnaDriver said:
I'd have to say my private checkride was the hardest. Going in, I had no way to know what to expect. After passing the first ride, you get some feeling of what checkrides are like and what to expect. .
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Same experience on the private. The instrument checkride was much easier, or so it seemed because I actually had a good idea on what to know and expect.
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

I clicked CFII, because I knew everything that I needed to cover and when I had to fly that was cake, but when the DPE took over, it was at first very tough for me to figure out how much should i really teach and how technical I should have been.
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

N18040 said:
:yeahthat:
I would agree that my A&P was my most difficult certificate. As far as pilot certificate goes I would probably say my instrument rating was the most difficult. It seemed to be the one that left me the most brain dead after a flight. I probably spent more time working on my CFI, but that was because I took the groundschool as a college class. CFI did take more work, but I don't think the flying was as difficult to learn the stuff as the IFR stuff was.
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You had Foulk! Your A&P wasn't hard!

Initial CFI (MEI) certainly was the most work, but I prepared well and well in advance so the actual ride was one of my easier ones.
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

I guess I got really lucky on my CFI. You can use DPEs in Florida instead of actual feds at the FSDO, and the DPE for my CFI did all of my other rides except for my private, so he already knew my flying abilities and book knowledge by that point, and he had encouraged me to go for the CFI. Made for a pretty relaxed checkride. Hell, we did the oral while eating burgers at the airport restaurant.

So, I guess the Instrument would have to be the toughest for me. Someone above had it right, though, with saying the Private is the most intimidating. Probably why it was the only checkride I've ever busted. I was a nervous wreck.
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

Initial CFI was hardest to study/prepare for, but in terms of the actual checkride, instrument beat it for me.
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

MEI was my initial. So had to select that. There was no instrument rating in a seminole to select otherwise it might of been that
 
Re: What was the most difficult license/certificate/rating y

The CFII not because of the instruments but teaching others how to fly inst and the ride with the Feds. Type ratings are usually a walk in the park.
 
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