I am not going to debate the question of whether or not three checkride busts is too many. What I do have to say is that there is a complete lack of standardization among checkrides. I know 141 guys who failed a checkride and had it changed to a training mission on their syllabus. I know some 61 examiners who say that the FSDO starts to get cranky when their pass rate goes above 80% and the flight schools, that provide the bulk of their business, do the same when it falls below 70%. I dont believe that there are very many illegitimate busts out there, but I do believe that there is a significant amount of passes where the examiner gave an extra long leash to the applicant. The point being is that a guy who failed three times may have had the unfortunate luck of running into a couple of buzzsaws, while the perfect record applicant may have floated by because the examiner at the time either changed it to a training mission or gave the guy additional leeway.