Need advice on my checkride failures

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04-17-2023, 08:38 PM

#21

Otterbox

Gets Weekends Off

Joined APC: Oct 2015

Position: Gear slinger

Posts: 2,909

Quote:

Originally Posted by tnkrdrvr

Yikes! This somebody could be a great person, but your tone implies that a different career would be wise. A bad day at the office can kill in this profession. Sometimes you need to know when to fold them. To the OP, you obviously have a desire to fly for a career. You need to take a long look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are willing to bet your family’s future on your flying ability. Hooking a checkride doesn’t make you a bad pilot, but it implies that at least one person who specializes in judging pilots thinks you didn’t have it that day. It appears a significant number of examiners thought you don’t belong in a cockpit. They might all be wrong, maybe.

It’s not necessarily that another career would be wise… but some self reflection, realistic evaluation of strengths and weaknesses and acceptance of circumstances would be. 4 check-ride failures when one is young and dumb can be overcome with some personal and professional growth. When you have a bunch in the past then start having issues early on in an airline career It may be that you’re best to stay put and grow where you’re planted vs keep shooting for the next best thing and struggling every time.

04-18-2023, 04:55 AM

#22

TiredSoul

All is fine at .79

Joined APC: Sep 2016

Position: Paahlot

Posts: 4,120

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickair7777

If you're dealing with older, wealthier students or foreigners with different cultures and languages the progress of training and checking is harder to predict.

That’s exactly the student demographics that I had…Gold Seal CFI and I still have the NAFI Master CFI plaque somewhere.
Unfortunately I have to agree with JB on his assessment based on the info we’ve been given.
Product of poor training not delivering a good product to his students.
To the OP, you’ll need years (plural) of success to make this go away.

04-18-2023, 05:25 PM

#23

Stratoliner

Line Holder

Joined APC: Feb 2022

Posts: 52

Quote:

Originally Posted by dera

Delta just hired a guy with almost identical checkride history to yours.
Needed a solid resume after the failures but it's not game over, yet.

Fail one 135/121 ride and your career is toast.

Delta hired a guy who crashed a 172 as a CFI while instructing a student pilot. Crashed short of the runway in good weather conditions.

04-18-2023, 09:30 PM

#24

JohnBurke

Disinterested Third Party

Joined APC: Jun 2012

Posts: 6,069

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stratoliner

Delta hired a guy who crashed a 172 as a CFI while instructing a student pilot. Crashed short of the runway in good weather conditions.

Again, you can cherry pick one-off examples all day long of exceptions to the rule. Exceptions do not the rule make.

Everybody knows that "one guy."

One ought not bet one's career on being the exception to the rule, nor to one's ability to slip through the cracks. Or one had better be exceptionally well connected, and reasonably sure not to ding an airplane again. Otherwise, one becomes a shining example in ground schools everywhere for decades to come of a picture-perfect smoking hole in the ground dotted with the corpses of nuns and housepets named Dandy,, and the test case for the next congressional act cum aviation regulation. One had best not be that guy.

04-20-2023, 04:29 PM

#25

dera

In a land of unicorns

Joined APC: Apr 2014

Position: Whale FO

Posts: 6,486

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stratoliner

Delta hired a guy who crashed a 172 as a CFI while instructing a student pilot. Crashed short of the runway in good weather conditions.

And one who had an emergency revocation of all certificates for falsifying information.

Again, the point being, anything can be overcome these days, as long as there is sufficient time between the ding and your application. If you have 5 fresh checkride failures, you won't get a call from any of the top tier companies, but if you have a solid 5+ year history of success, the older ones tend to diminish in importance.

04-20-2023, 04:32 PM

#26

dera

In a land of unicorns

Joined APC: Apr 2014

Position: Whale FO

Posts: 6,486

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnBurke

In this case, the rule is made. The rule is, you need a long string of successful training events to overcome past failures. If you have 5 failures, you better have 10 successful events - ideally under Part 121 or 135 - and then you likely will get a chance to explain the old ones in an interview.

But if you have 5 failures, you pass 121 initial but fail your first recurrent, you are in a world of hurt with that record.

04-21-2023, 08:54 AM

#27

TiredSoul

All is fine at .79

Joined APC: Sep 2016

Position: Paahlot

Posts: 4,120

J,

I’m honestly thinking 135 is your best route.
You can still get hired based on people knowing you and willing to give you a chance.
Give them 2-3 years loyalty in return and that should give you 4-6 recurrent training and testing events.
Upgrade successfully then start looking at 121 again.
Fair or not I think that’s your best way forward.
I still like to know why your pass rate is not impressive and why you’re not a Gold Seal instructor and not at least Asst Chief Flight Instructor and why you’re not a volunteer FAAST member.
https://www.faasafety.gov
Whatever phase of your life you’re in, snap out of it and make everything you do about improving yourself.

Last edited by TiredSoul; 04-21-2023 at 09:07 AM.