You mean he had to retake the CFII checkride twice? I am not sure how that counts in terms of number of busts but I think the point is, he has to be fully open and responsible for however many busts he had, even if it was multiple busts on the same certificate. He has to answer for it, no matter what. How it counts is really semantics, and I doubt there is any magic number. Multiple busts for the same ticket would seem to suggest he had a lot of trouble or maybe he wasn't prepared properly, but whatever it is the key is to tell the whole story and always accept full responsibility.

It's always tough telling the whole truth about these things and everyone struggles with telling the whole truth at times. Life has a way of pitting truth against easy payoffs, but I tell you it is worth it to be honest as possible. Airlines can do record checks and even those operators who can't will know a weak pilot from a good one. No need to go blabbing all your faults and failures to everyone but then again self-deception is really worthless. We all want to be heroes, but we have to accept what we really are. One of the things I realized along the way was that in the end it is only what I think about myself that really matters and I should at least have as solid a respect for myself as I expect anyone else to have and it should be based on real character, not a patchwork of dodged responsibilities, omissions, or forgotten failures. Self-respect is something you can take to the bank even if the person you become never gets any money, attention, or glory.