Everyone facing a flight evaluation has some nervousness and anxiety; no one likes to be “under the microscope.” But for some people, this experience rises to the level of disabling panic. As a DPE, I have seen people who literally could not breathe and were having a full-on panic attack when walking in for an evaluation. This is unnecessary and avoidable with knowledge and preparation. As your panic level rises, your chances of success definitely diminish. Here are some comforting facts that should help reduce the panic.
1) You start with 100%!
First, remember you start with 100% on every FAA flight test. Once your CFI approves, signs and submits your application into IACRA, you are essentially a fully qualified PIC at the level of your application; you just need to prove that to your DPE. You actually fly your flight test as a PIC. Your certificate is already prepared in the IACRA system (and viewable) *before* you fly your flight test – just go earn it! All you have to do is fly all the maneuvers that you already practiced and prove to the examiner you meet the minimum FAA standards (more on this in a moment). So you do not have to “climb the ladder” in a flight test situation, you start at the top. All errors (and there will be things that don’t go as you wanted or imagined) are just a markdown.
2) You already did all this (many times)!
You already successfully performed all the maneuvers to the FAA standards, there are no surprises! This flight is called a “check ride” because the Designated Pilot Examiner is checking the training and approval already conducted by your flight instructor. DPEs are selected because they have many more years and hours than the ordinary CFI. But instructors are the people that create the pilot; DPEs just “check.” Your instructor probably spent 40-50 hours educating and preparing you to be a pilot. A flight test will probably take less than two hours in the plane. DPEs are the “gatekeepers,” they check and approve the “final product.” Instructing by a DPE is strictly prohibited on a flight test by the FAA. Your DPE should never be taking the controls and saying “watch this.” And they cannot legally add personal items or apply a personal standard to the testing requirements.
3) 70% is a passing grade (not perfection)!
You only need to achieve a 70% on any maneuver to pass. All FAA evaluations are pass/fail! And though 70% is undesirable, this fact may provide comfort to an unnecessarily nervous applicant; you do not have to be perfect! Perfectionism and the associated hypervigilance (and choking) are common applicant obstacles- most applicants are their own worst critics. Be thorough and confident with your preparation, then just do the best you can (and accept that little errors are just going to happen).
Many pilots walking into a test want 100% and are expecting perfection in their performance. This is a great goal but it is essential to overcome this idea to have a productive experience. Otherwise, every slip-up will destroy confidence and erode performance. Pilots as a group tend toward perfectionism and every error can appear fatal in their imagination; don’t go there! An examiner is required to inform you immediately if a maneuver does not meet the FAA standards. If something did not go as you would have liked but the examiner says nothing, you are still in the game. Put mistakes behind you and “throttle on.”
4) Use your checklist, take your time, and breathe!
Think of the test and the standards like driving down a highway you know well with the white lines on either side – comfortably wider than your vehicle. It is OK to occasionally hit a white line (a limitation in the standards) or even cross over a line briefly. Just “promptly correct” back to the center (smoothly). Steady and smooth is the best performance, and that is what nervousness and perfectionism can quickly ruin.Consistent checklist usage is required on all evaluations and will curb a tendency to rush; Stay calm and organized.
If you exceed a standard get back on heading, speed or altitude promptly so your evaluator knows you are aware of a slip-up and also capable of fixing that excursion. Remember, every flight is a series of small corrections back to a desired (or required) standard. Better pilots are just correcting more frequently and more smoothly; no one is perfect! And remember, every good DPE really wants you to pass also.
5) You got this, (dig deep with your preparation)!
Take comfort in the fact that you have already consistently accomplished all the maneuvers required in the test many times with your instructor or you would not be recommended. And your DPE is required to adhere to these FAA testing standards there should be no “personal tests!” If you hear a DPE talk about “their test” avoid this person (or discontinue the test). There is only the “FAA test” that every DPE is empowered to administer. DPEs are required, however, to cleverly disguise some requirements in scenarios that you should have experienced in training with your CFI. See “Checkride Ready!™” You are dependent upon your CFI to supply you with creative challenges (you can’t always “surprise” yourself). This is necessary to prepare you for the scenario format of testing specified in the ACS.
6) Practice scenarios; the “what if?” habit!
Scenarios are a requirement in flight training because your experience as a student pilot is necessarily limited to a small quadrangle of geography under very carefully controlled conditions. Your certificate, however, is valid for the whole USA (and more) for the rest of your life, day and night (with appropriate review). Every DPE is required to assure your ability to handle all of these future challenges with the application of good judgment.
Every applicant can see hypothetical scenarios on the FAA test site: FAA scenario guide for examiners. DPEs (and your CFI) are required to formulate situations like these that require a pilot to apply their skill and judgment at the correlation level. So instead of just saying “go-around,” your CFI is hopefully are saying, “a truck just pulled onto the runway ahead, what are you going to do?” This develops the pilot habit of continuously “testing themselves” with the “what if” technique. Every safe pilot is maintaining vigilance and “expecting” surprises (like a good stoic). Best of luck – fly SAFE (and often)!
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How To Pass A Checkride
“Let’s talk checkrides for a moment shall we? It’s an interesting and important issue to all of us who fly, and I believe it deserves some special attention. I’ve noticed through the years that this issue comes up many times when pilots get together to talk shop, and it’s been an issue on the student newsgroup as well. It’s an issue that all of us, from our pre-solo checks through our ATP route checks have to deal with sooner or later if we intend to remain pilots. We’ll have phase checks, flight tests, checkout flights, and continuing proficiency checks to deal with sooner or later in our careers. I’ve been both taking and giving checkrides in airplanes for about fifty years now, and I believe I’ve learned a few things about both ends of the spectrum. With your indulgence, I’d like to pass some of what I’ve learned on to you, especially those of you just starting out on your long aviation journey,
Let’s concentrate on the flight test check flight for a Private Certificate as an example. I choose this scenario because it’s really the first “serious” flight check you will receive as a pilot, and as such, many have a tendency to bring unneeded fear and apprehension into this equation. I’d like to address these possible fears and apprehensions, and perhaps steer you into a proper state of mind for taking on this all important checkride…..the one you have worked so long and hard to pass! Lets talk for a moment about attitude, then we’ll take a short look at the checkride itself, and how you should interface with the examiner during the test. You will notice immediately that I am shying completely away from maneuver technicalities and maneuver discussion. I think we can all assume that prior to taking a check flight for a certificate that you have been properly trained and recommended for the flight test. What I’m getting at here is above and beyond this. It concerns the attitude and mental preparation you take with you when you get into the airplane with the check pilot or examiner.
First, and this is probably the most important single factor involved in a fight test; RELAX! Realize that the examiner doesn’t expect you to be perfect; the examiner expects you to be SAFE!!!!! Now, what does this mean to you? You should arrive for the test as prepared as possible. This doesn’t mean you have to know the answer to every question you will be asked. It means that if you don’t know the answer, you DO know exactly where to find it. It also means you should expect to make mistakes. This is extremely important so remember it; the examiner EXPECTS you to make mistakes. In fact, the examiner WANTS you to make mistakes so he/she can immediately see if you can both recognize that you have made that mistake, and as well CORRECT the mistake within safe parameters.
Now this point deserves a bit more attention, so listen up a moment here. Why are mistakes important to an examiner? Here’s the answer. The examiner is constantly asking him/herself all through your flight, “How safe is this applicant” “How would this applicant react to this or that if I wasn’t here?” These are important and pertinent questions. How does the examiner deal with this? ERROR ANALYSIS!!! That’s how! There is absolutely no better way to evaluate a pilot in flight than allowing that pilot to fly into an error; then view EXACTLY how long it takes for the pilot to recognize that error, and EXACTLY how long it takes to initiate orrective action, and most importantly, EXACTLY what that corrective action is!!! What I have described
here is not only what a good examiner is doing, but also the formula for teaching someone to fly an airplane properly. A good instructor NEVER rides the controls on a student. A good instructor knows EXACTLY how far to allow the student into an error and makes every effort to talk the
student through a correction without grabbing control from the student. Doing this correctly is the mark of both a good CFI, and a good check pilot……so remember this.
Back to the examiner; they want to observe your errors, so if you make them, and you most certainly will make them, face the error immediately; state the error; and begin correction immediately. Nothing impresses an examiner more than a pilot who faces a mistake immediately by recognition and correction. Remember this!
You will probably discover somewhere in any check flight that the pilot giving you the check does things a bit differently than you do, or how you were taught to do it. In almost every instance, you will find that you can
do it BOTH ways correctly, so demonstrate it as the examiner suggests. In closing, let me say that it really all boils down to keeping calm…..being relaxed……and giving the examiner a SAFE, HONEST, flight. Recognize those errors…..correct them immediately….and when in doubt….take the SAFE option. Best of luck to all of you on your future check flights!!!”
Many of the links in these articles are dead. I’m using the app on both an iPhone and iPad. Same problem. It seems that the dead links are the ones to other SAFE articles.
I checked through that article and updated: hopefully all now working. Many were referred to safepilots.org (rather than the blog) when we migrated our websites last fall.
I’ve had so much trouble posting on this forum (I hate to say it) but I’ve finally given up.I have no idea why my posts haven’t shown up here but they haven’t.
Perhaps this one will get through. :-)))))))
Still not working for me David. I tried rebooting and closing out the app too. No help.
I’m seeing my posting here on this thread.