My training is finally complete and I have, as promised, opened up this thread regarding my checkride (and the subsequent retraining and recheck). Yes, that's right; I was unsuccessful the first time around. Armchair quarterbacks might say, "Well, (he or she or you or I) must not be very good, or weren’t prepared, or can't handle the pressure, etc." The Citation X is my fourth type-rating in fifteen years of flying. I started with Huey Helicopters and King Airs in the Army, then the Beech 1900 as an airline pilot, then the Citation IIs and Vs, Boeing 737s, and the Beechjet. I am approaching 5000 hours in helicopters, props and jets, so I have a little experience under my belt. Which is why I think this is so important to talk about openly.
Checkrides are in a way a big deal because of the self imposed stress we pilots put ourselves under but they're also NOT, because failing a checkride doesn't mean you're a failure. (If you can remember that when it’s most important, you are a better person than I!) Besides, what other jobs are out there that ask you to potentially prove all you know once, twice a year – or even more often? Not to mention the ultimate test, completing safe, legal flights time after time (bonus points for making them speedily and comfortably). "Failure is an event, never a person; an attitude, not an outcome." Zig Ziglar
My dad used to always get mad at us kids for saying, “I was gonna….” As in, “I was gonna clean my room.” His ingenious response: “I’m gonna ‘I was gonna’ you.” Anyway, my point is that I am not afraid to take responsibility for my actions. I’m not going to cry foul, and say things weren’t fair. As the instructor stated, he was able to give us any number of failures throughout the checkride, everything is fair game (and why shouldn’t it be? Who knows what will happen in the actual airplane? Just ask the pilots of United Flight 232
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_232.
The morning after that first checkride, I had to go in for some “retraining” after which I retook the checkride. I did the maneuver in question successfully and walked away with my new type rating. My biggest concern during all of this was starting my new job and having a black mark on my training record – it’s a small tick in there, but doesn’t come with a space for comments, explanations or “excuses” so the whys and wherefores don’t matter and they don’t change the outcome. And yes, it was upsetting. No one wants to appear inferior to their colleagues who didn’t have to recheck.
But I don’t have to wear a scarlet F on my uniform. My license is not “conditional.” I only bring up this whole situation because people DO fail checkrides. I have said for years that “they,” meaning the checkpilots, can fail you for anything. Rarely does anyone have a PERFECT flight. The key is making sure that you recognize what you’re doing wrong and make the correction. Off altitude? Correct immediately. Don’t understand your clearance? Ask ATC to repeat. Back yourself up constantly. Utilize your copilot (if you’re in a two person airplane). And don’t give up. Whatever happens just keep flying the airplane (you’ll find this works well in an actual crisis as well). There are more people out there than you are aware of that have failed a checkride. That doesn’t make them (or you) a failure.
By now you’re probably thinking, “Yeah, so how come you’re admitting to this in front of everyone?” The goal of Girls With Wings is to promote camaraderie between present and future pilots, and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t share my experiences with all of you. In turn, I would hope that others will post their thoughts, encounters and advice here as well.
The lesson I would like you to take away (not to mention I’d like to take) is this, courtesy of Johnny Cash, the Man in Black: "You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space."
