Getting My PPL, What will be the hardest part???

[Alaska170A]

Hi,

I am trying to figure out what is going to be my hardest part and maybe get some stories from you guys on what was harder for you getting your ppl. I have 48 hours and have passed my written with a 87%, i have been dreading my check ride and oral exam. I have met all the requirements but just have a fear of not passing the test when that day comes, is the check ride as bad as im thinking it is going to be?? Was the written the hardest test?? Any input would be greatly appreciated, also i live in Alaska if that makes any difference at all.

Thanks

[3958v]

As long as the examiner is not too bad the test is not all that bad. Most people around here have about 60-70 hrs before trying. I had the feeling that the examiner was most concerned with you being a safe pilot. On the oral, the examiner was most concerned with what I missed on the written and "did I now understand it?" While no one wants to its fail not the end of the world if you do. They want you to pass as much as you do but they sure don't want to see you in the NTSB reports. Bill K

[170C]

If you studied the manual, learned the procedures as taught by your instructor you shouldn't have a problem passing both the oral and practical. Do some extra study prior to the actual oral/practical and give it a go. Ask other pilots who is the better examiner to use (if there is a choice). Like all folks, there are some examiners who will work with you to help you and unfortunately there are a rare few who are more interested in being so much by the book that it would be difficult for anyone to meet their level of expectation. Hopefully none of the latter are in your area. Helping you to pass and at the same time helping you to be safe is the mark of a good examiner. Should you not pass the first time , get back up on that horse and try it again. You can do it! Good luck.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

If I were you I would set a date and just do the check ride. Scheduling a check ride is like scheduling a dental appointment. I won't schedule one unless the dentist office calls or pain gets to great. It is unlikely your pain will ever get to bad but it will gnaw at you as something left uncompleted. Just do it. Do it before you lost the freshness of your training and you question your skill or knowledge.

Be assured that most of us rated pilots remember about a 1/4 of what was once taught to us. You probably have for the time retained more. Yes some of us have areas of expertise because our job requires it and some of us seem to know about every FAR or aerodynamic question because we've been doing this for years,..and our job requires it, and after hearing it so many times we have a 75% chance of getting the 50/50 question right. And we have learned how to artfully take a check ride.

Yes it is always good to know something about your examiner. There will be under ground intelligence about them. What they like to see. What their favorite question is. That sort of thing. The intel on the examineer for my first 135 check ride was the examineer was retired military and loved military stories.. There were two of us taking the check ride and we would do the oral exam together. As we were both military we figured we could spend at least some of our allotted time talking war stories but of course we better know our stuff. As it turned out we exhausted our stories and heard all of his it seems and we never talked about the aircraft or the FARs while in our oral time.

So you might think we got of easy with that check ride. Well we didn't. You see there are two types of examiners. Those that understand that most folks who have been recommended and sent to them know the minimum knowledge required. And if they find you just don't it is not necessarily a reflection on you but your instructor who sent you. Your instructor wouldn't recommend you if you haven't demonstrated proficiency. These examiners observe. They don't have to ask you how many periods are published in such and such FAR. More important they feel you know where to find the FAR and are capable of counting the periods. Good examiners understand the check ride is part of a continued education and they treat it that way. I've learned more good technique will on a check ride than many other times. Of course I knew the basics.

Then there are the other kind of examiners. These guys will not pass you on your first check ride now matter what. They are bad examiners but they are out there. If you have no other choice, you just have to play their game. Know your stuff as best you can and do the best you can but understand your coming back. I've run into these guys from time to time. Maybe more in the military. I once sat with a military examiner for 4 hours. He would ask a question then start humming the Jeopardy TV show jingle. Then he'd take a phone call. Ask another question. After half a day of this I got up and said see you tomorrow. He said what do you mean. I told him he had no intention of completing the check ride until the second go around and I'd had enough of the first. The jig was up.

Bottom line just get it done.

[GAHorn]

Alaska170A: Sometimes one gets so worked-up in anticipation of the check-ride that it makes one a nervous wreck...only to find out the check ride is nothing more than what your instructor has already done with you over and over again.

It might be helpful for you to realize that your instructor has as much or more at-risk than you do...for he has to recommend you for the check ride before you are allowed to undergo it.....and that the failure of any applicant goes on that recommending instructor's record. An abnormally-high rate of failures of that instructor's applicants will call into-question that instructor's own certification, and may result in a demand for the instructor to re-qualify.

The bottom line is: Quit worrying. Worry is unavailing. Your recommending instructor will not submit you to an examiner he does not already know personally and professionally. He has recommended others to that examiner, and he knows what that examiner will require. (Further, so do you. If you don't have a copy already, then download a copy of the Private Pilot Practical Test Standards at: http://www.faa.gov/training_testing/tes ... rds/pilot/

Your examiner will not require any more than those published Standards. )

Your recommending instructor does not want a failed application on his own record, and you will not be recommended until he is certain you will pass that oral and check-ride. In other words,...it is not for YOU to worry...it is for your instructor to do so.

All YOU have to do is perform as you would for your instructor...and the examiner will be happy.

Hope that helps.

PS: If it helps you to relax about this, you might like to know I am an examiner.

[lowNslow]

Hi,

I am trying to figure out what is going to be my hardest part .....

Writing the checks.

[GAHorn]

Hi,

I am trying to figure out what is going to be my hardest part .....

Writing the checks.

LOL LOL .....Correct!

(I personally never give check-rides...... CASH ONLY!)

[flat country pilot]

i have been dreading my check ride and oral exam. I have met all the requirements but just have a fear of not passing the test when that day comes,

Do it now. Whether you think your ready or not, or that you will pass or fail, your probably right. Be positive and optimistic.

I took mine with 40 or 40.5 hours, have to look back to be sure. But I had scheduled the plane for five straight days to fly and practice every day before the check ride. The wind blew 25 plus from the wrong direction every day and I didn't get to fly until the check ride. I passed.

I think the oral part and the flying were equaling challenging. I don't remember the specific questions, but there were two questions I did not know the ansers. I thought a bit and said " I don't know". That just lead to more questions which eventually took me to the ansers. Therefore, be prepared but don't try to BS the examiner, they know the anser to the question they ask.

Most examiners are just people like you and I, they want you to pass, you just have to go do it.

[marathonrunner]

If you are in Anchorage, my daughter just did hers in March with Heidi Ruoss of I think Arctic Flyers. Anyway, she put her at ease and the check ride was enjoyable for her and she HATES (emphasis added) tests. She has a couple degrees and has always stressed and did over this one too but had a good and enjoyable ride

[N3548C]

Hi,

I am trying to figure out what is going to be my hardest part and maybe get some stories from you guys on what was harder for you getting your ppl. I have 48 hours and have passed my written with a 87%, i have been dreading my check ride and oral exam. I have met all the requirements but just have a fear of not passing the test when that day comes, is the check ride as bad as im thinking it is going to be?? Was the written the hardest test?? Any input would be greatly appreciated, also i live in Alaska if that makes any difference at all.

Thanks

Look over the practical test standards. During flight test prep the CFI, whom I'd only flown with once, had me do 45-degree (private steep) turn. We almost fell out of the sky. Over the course of my flying with several instructors (same flight school), steep turns somehow fell thru the cracks.

[canav8]

I would also add that before the checkride. Try to fly the day before with your instructor doing the checkride mock scenario. The written test is the toughest for 80% of all applicants because most pilots are hands on learners. 20% can read a book and fly it.

Make sure that during the oral. You will indeed forget stuff that was taught to you. I would like to encourage you to be honest when responding to the examiner. My suggestion is when a question is asked, do not be in a hurry to fill the void or vacuum of silent air with a response. Think it through. If you cannot come up with an answer then say "I Dont Know but I know where to find the answer. This will work 20% of the time. You must get 80% of the questions correct. A good examiner will try to be indirect and not ask a question to expect a canned answer. It is really about theory and if you understand the concept. The examiner has only one question to ask of the applicant after the checkride is over. If I put my son or daughter in your airplane, could I be reasonably assured that they would come back safe and sound. Everyone you talk to will say relax, and that is physically impossible. You will handle it the only way you know how. I would put all your books away about 3 days before the checkride. If you do not know it you will never learn it in the last three days of cramming before the checkride.
I have sent many students up for a checkride. The best students are the ones that are nervous before the checkride. If you run into problems during the checkride. FOCUS! Continue the checkride and stay engaged. The Checkride is not over till the ride is stopped by the examiner. So if you make a mistake, focus keep trying to do your best and let the mistake go. To many unsuccessful applicants make a mistake then they disengage the checkride. That is what often costs them the ride. Try to remember what it was like when you took your driving test for an automobile. The examiner had his clipboard. He wrote down notes. If you see this, that means there is debriefing items, that is a good thing. Best of luck to you and please let us know when you hit the skies with your first passenger.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

That was well said Doug.

[mrpibb]

I would like to add that don't be afraid to ask the examiner to clarify or to re explain what he is asking you to do. I was performing a approach for my instrument check ride, it wasn't a published approach, it was something he made up due, a dme arc to a fictitious airport, he had drawn it out on a piece of paper ( yeah, I know weird), i flew the approach how i interpret it, flew the arc, made my turn inbound. after a few Min's he said to me "what are you doing? you are going the wrong way!" at first I accepted the failure, he asked if I wanted to continue the check ride or stop and reschedule for another. I thought about it for a few seconds then said, "I'm sorry I just really didn't understand what you were asking of me". He said "well im glad you said that", in that case It could not be held against me and let me redo the approach, in which of course i turned the other way.
Vic

[canav8]

Wow Vic, sorry but there is no excuse for that kind of conduct. On a checkride? Are you serious? This is absolutely unacceptable conduct. Trying to make up procedures on a checkride is unacceptable. I understand the theory by clarifying what the examiner wants but the example was bad. You should have never been exposed to that scenario in the first place and you should have had a free ride. It is these stories that give the FAA a black eye.

[GAHorn]

Wow Vic, sorry but there is no excuse for that kind of conduct. On a checkride? Are you serious? This is absolutely unacceptable conduct. Trying to make up procedures on a checkride is unacceptable. I understand the theory by clarifying what the examiner wants but the example was bad. You should have never been exposed to that scenario in the first place and you should have had a free ride. It is these stories that give the FAA a black eye.

Doug... how do we know it was an FAA employee that was the examiner...in order to give FAA a black eye? It may have been a designee. In fact, I'd be willing to bet a doughnut it was not an FAA employee, as FAA is very strict about such matters. I agree, that was not likely a valid manuever to require on an actual check-ride.
As for a "free ride".... no such thing. It's either a satisfactory ride, or an unsatisfactory ride.