Worst or craziest checkride
11-06-2008, 07:13 PM
#1
Gets Weekends Off
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Joined APC: Aug 2008
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Worst or craziest checkride
Having managed flight schools for five years, I have heard some great stories about checkrides. My favorite?
It was a hot day in Chicago. A student was on his Private ASEL checkride, and all was going well. They were working on the takeoffs and landings, and the student had just one left. Because it was hot, the examiner opened her window while they were taxiing back. A large bee flew into the aircraft, and the student freaked out because he is deathly allergic to bees. The examiner had to take the controls because the student lost control while frantically waving his arms in an attempt to shoo the bee away.
When they returned, the eaminer told me, "He did a great job, and he was almost done. Wouldv'e passed if I didn't have to intervene." The student's instructor then asked me, "So what am I supposed to do to retrain him on 'areas missed'? Should I stick my face next to him and say "BZZZZZZZZ really loud while he is taxiing?"
It was a hot day in Chicago. A student was on his Private ASEL checkride, and all was going well. They were working on the takeoffs and landings, and the student had just one left. Because it was hot, the examiner opened her window while they were taxiing back. A large bee flew into the aircraft, and the student freaked out because he is deathly allergic to bees. The examiner had to take the controls because the student lost control while frantically waving his arms in an attempt to shoo the bee away.
When they returned, the eaminer told me, "He did a great job, and he was almost done. Wouldv'e passed if I didn't have to intervene." The student's instructor then asked me, "So what am I supposed to do to retrain him on 'areas missed'? Should I stick my face next to him and say "BZZZZZZZZ really loud while he is taxiing?"
11-06-2008, 11:00 PM
#2
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Joined APC: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,270
I posted this in another thread, but its certainly more relevant here....
My private pilot check ride, things are going well, no problems. We just finish locating the alternate after 'diverting' from the x-ctry flight plan when my designated examiner opens the fresh air vents to full open (it's january, mind you), and doesn't say a word. Not more than 5 seconds later does the most awful, rancid smelling fart hit my nose. I mean, there are nasty farts, and then there are PUTRID farts. Talk about providing realistic distractions! I thought a furry woodland creature may have died inside of his rectal cavity. Meanwhile, nothing but awkward silence. I say nothing, he says nothing, but we both know what happened and who did it. Several more long seconds tick by, and he finally pipes up, and says in a matter of fact tone of voice, "Well, lets head on back to the field and wrap this up." No ground reference, no BAI; he probably felt like he had put me through enough suffering. I was actually concerned that he may have **** his pants.
Long story short, I nailed the landings, learned what he had had for lunch without asking, and got my private ticket!
My private pilot check ride, things are going well, no problems. We just finish locating the alternate after 'diverting' from the x-ctry flight plan when my designated examiner opens the fresh air vents to full open (it's january, mind you), and doesn't say a word. Not more than 5 seconds later does the most awful, rancid smelling fart hit my nose. I mean, there are nasty farts, and then there are PUTRID farts. Talk about providing realistic distractions! I thought a furry woodland creature may have died inside of his rectal cavity. Meanwhile, nothing but awkward silence. I say nothing, he says nothing, but we both know what happened and who did it. Several more long seconds tick by, and he finally pipes up, and says in a matter of fact tone of voice, "Well, lets head on back to the field and wrap this up." No ground reference, no BAI; he probably felt like he had put me through enough suffering. I was actually concerned that he may have **** his pants.
Long story short, I nailed the landings, learned what he had had for lunch without asking, and got my private ticket!
11-07-2008, 04:37 AM
#4
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Joined APC: Sep 2008
Posts: 57
Had a student (19-20 years ago), who was determined to fly himself to the "Sun"...as in the bright orange ball in the sky. We discouraged him from flying after a couple "questionable" moments in the cockpit. Long story short, he takes our recommendations seriously enough to not continue. A year later, same guy...different guy. He apologized a hundred times and said that it was a tough time in his life and he's good to go. Ok, second chance guy that I am, and the fact that we needed bread on the table...off we go. The kid shows no weird tendencies to fry himself and actually goes through the program with high grades and a great attitude.
Checkride day.........
Fires up the trusty C-150 and taxis out. He's supposed to turn right to head for the airport where the examiner was (Grand Prairie, Tx). He departs off 17 at RBD, is cleared as requested and turns left. My instructor friends and I stood there with nervous laughter. Off he goes into the morning sun. We later found him in east Texas (GGG) and he said he had a "moment". Needless to say I made another entry in his logbook..........
Takes all kinds.
Checkride day.........
Fires up the trusty C-150 and taxis out. He's supposed to turn right to head for the airport where the examiner was (Grand Prairie, Tx). He departs off 17 at RBD, is cleared as requested and turns left. My instructor friends and I stood there with nervous laughter. Off he goes into the morning sun. We later found him in east Texas (GGG) and he said he had a "moment". Needless to say I made another entry in his logbook..........
Takes all kinds.
11-07-2008, 03:06 PM
#5
Gets Weekends Off
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Joined APC: Aug 2008
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Posts: 407
Wow, two great stories. I've had an examiner beef in the airplane before too, but it wasn't that bad.
Another good story from Chicagoland. This is second-hand, so the facts might not be totally accurate, but the general outline remains the same.
A student was getting ready for her first solo xc, and she asked her instructor (as he was preparing to sign her logbook), "Do you think my Prozac and Lithium will make me too drowsy?"
Her instructor picked up the phone and called her A.M.E. right in front of her!
Another good story from Chicagoland. This is second-hand, so the facts might not be totally accurate, but the general outline remains the same.
A student was getting ready for her first solo xc, and she asked her instructor (as he was preparing to sign her logbook), "Do you think my Prozac and Lithium will make me too drowsy?"
Her instructor picked up the phone and called her A.M.E. right in front of her!
11-07-2008, 11:03 PM
#6
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Joined APC: May 2008
Position: Thrust Manager Extraordinaire
Posts: 17
Not too bad, but a couple of checkride experiences to talk about:
Instrument checkride, it happened to be one of those days when there was quite a bit of traffic and the airport was down to single-runway ops (relatively busy Class C airport.) As I'm holding short of the runway at an intersection in line for t/o, I try to make small talk with the examiner and when there's no response I turn to him and notice he is sound asleep. We had only been there for 5 mins!! Then an MD-80s and the loudest Learjet ever took off right in front of us, and the gentleman starts snoring (not too loud, but enough to hear over the headsets.) Anyways, we were cleared for takeoff and I wasn't sure if I should wake him up or not. He finally woke up about 1/3 down the runway....didn't say anything and I played it off like I had not noticed. Nothing unusual after that except when having me do steep turns while on the outbound leg of a hold.
For the commercial ride, the examiner was coming from out of town and said he would be about 30 mins. late due to being stuck in traffic. That turned into more like and hour and a half late, and since we had two airplanes to go on and a set timeframe (172 for maneuvers and PA-28 for landings and complex stuff) I ended up doing most of the oral portion in the airplane....while trying to do maneuvers, listen to ATC, etc. etc......I had never heard of that at the time and asked my instructor after I passed if that was even legal
(joking about it, of course.) He said that examiner had done similar checkrides before, so I guess he wanted to see how your multi-tasking skills were.
Instrument checkride, it happened to be one of those days when there was quite a bit of traffic and the airport was down to single-runway ops (relatively busy Class C airport.) As I'm holding short of the runway at an intersection in line for t/o, I try to make small talk with the examiner and when there's no response I turn to him and notice he is sound asleep. We had only been there for 5 mins!! Then an MD-80s and the loudest Learjet ever took off right in front of us, and the gentleman starts snoring (not too loud, but enough to hear over the headsets.) Anyways, we were cleared for takeoff and I wasn't sure if I should wake him up or not. He finally woke up about 1/3 down the runway....didn't say anything and I played it off like I had not noticed. Nothing unusual after that except when having me do steep turns while on the outbound leg of a hold.
For the commercial ride, the examiner was coming from out of town and said he would be about 30 mins. late due to being stuck in traffic. That turned into more like and hour and a half late, and since we had two airplanes to go on and a set timeframe (172 for maneuvers and PA-28 for landings and complex stuff) I ended up doing most of the oral portion in the airplane....while trying to do maneuvers, listen to ATC, etc. etc......I had never heard of that at the time and asked my instructor after I passed if that was even legal
(joking about it, of course.) He said that examiner had done similar checkrides before, so I guess he wanted to see how your multi-tasking skills were.
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