Originally Posted by
stunami
It is very difficult to fly a 100% perfect check ride, but if you know your stuff and are a safe, competent pilot the examiner will (often times) overlook a minor mistake.
I can think of things on almost every checkride I've taken that could have been a failure...
PPL...focused a bit too much on my flying and missed an airplane that was getting pretty close.
Inst... Held on the wrong radial (but remained in protected airspace, was off by 10*)
Comm...8's on pylons..nuff said.
CFI...Hard landing
II...forgot to identify a station
MEI... almost let the examiner pull the mixture back during "simulated" shutdown. She started pulling back, looked at me, then I got the hint and quickly blocked it.
I would imagine there are very few checkrides that go 100% to standards in all areas. If that were the case, there would be a lot fewer pilots. Not to say you should get lax, but realize you ARE human. An (most) examiners realize that.