Originally Posted by JetBlast77

Is it bad to tell them you had a significant personal distraction that affected your performance (death in the family, wife left you, ect)? Or does that make it worse by sounding like an excuse? I busted a recurrent ride years ago because I should have called down and rescheduled but instead I tried to brave it and try and get it over with. Big mistake.

Originally Posted by APCLurker

Sounding like an excuse may not be what makes it worse in that case. Wondering about poor judgement may. The interviewer's thought process could turn to: "would he still come in to work a flight in that situation if he did it for a checkride?"

Originally Posted by USMCFLYR

I had the exact same thought, but then the learning point would have been he learned NOT to be complacent in such situations and to say 'enough' when the limit has been reached instead of trying to tough it out.