Here is an example where you might be able to avoid answering "yes" to a check ride failure question and still keep a clean conscience. On the question of check ride failures, I had originally answered "yes" on my applications because I had failed my multiengine stage-check rating at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) early in my aviation career. I just assumed that counted as a check ride failure. Then I attended a job fair a few months later and sat in on a presentation given by the director of pilot hiring from HR at an airline that I was targeting. He asked if anyone had any questions about the application, so I asked if my stage-check failure constituted a check ride failure. His answer surprised me. He said that ERAU is a Part 141 school; therefore, as long as I did not receive a “pink slip” (FAA paperwork documenting a check ride failure), I did not need to answer "yes" on the check ride failure question on the application.