Whenever I feel down I just buy another gun and I miraculously I feel better. Then I go fly the King Air and life is normal again.

The aviation industry is all about luck and timing. Some bad people have good luck on checkrides and some good people have bad luck, that is not to say that skill isn't involved. Timing has everything to do with career progression in the airlines. Some will stay at the regionals for life, some will go on to the majors, others won't make it to 121 at all (if thats what was intended) I know people from all of the above categories. Just remember, I'd like to say its all about skill, but it seems to be more about luck and timing.

I've seen this a lot lately. I see really good pilots way better than me get turned down from places and I'm like damn how in the hell am I going to make it?

The general aviation playing field is certainly not level by any means, which is why I have a hard spot with employers holding 1-2 busts against someone.

But if the examiner has that bad of a reputation, I would start to doubt the judgement of someone who doesn't learn from the mistakes of others. specially if he keeps going back to the same guy.

We had a student who was morally opposed to paying $450 to a DPE when the feds would do it for free. After getting jerked around with scheduling for weeks, he had a 6-hour oral (commercial ASEL) followed by a pink slip for the PRE-FLIGHT. Then he went back to the same guy and pinked again, on the ground. This was a fed who had never in recorded history ever passed a student on any rating checkride...he obviously did that to discourage people from bothering him. That student was too stobborn for his own good.

Mistakes will be made, but never make the same mistake twice, that's a good rule to go by. There is always something to be learned. And if it's truly what you want (121) then you will not give up and figure out a way. Then after 6 months at an airline you'll miss being home, not having holidays, etc. But it's what all of us signed up for I guess.

Thank you for saying that!!! I told my friend not to take his ride with him better yet I begged him not to. After the first bust I pleaded him not to go again. He was to stubborn to learn and now he has 2 busts.

I am, USMC. And I agree with you totally. I'm just more interested in protecting myself than anything else, hence the first suggestion. Once these people start running around with subpoenas, clamoring for 'justice', people other than the ones at fault for the accident will feel the most effects. The CA and F/O are dead. 9L is now part of Pinnacle. Sure, some money will change hands, congressmen will grandstand about a 1,500hr rule, but really, the rest of the us who are safe, competent pilots will receive the fallout every time we go to work.

I have friends who I've flown many times with who are safe, knowledgeable pilots who can't find a job because of their failed check rides. I had my manuals checked by a Fed several times in one week as a 'crackdown' on the regionals, showing how 'safety conscious' our system is. It's all window dressing, and is what happens when the 'legal' system, and the 'public' get in over their heads....

Might all come back to pay... you get what you pay for.

When I was going through my school, I chatted with a former grad who was pink slipped for not landing center line on a grass runway. No way to contest that, nothing could be done. DPEs fail people for things that they shouldn't be failed for. I failed the MEI ride on the first attempt because I used 8" MP and Prop back to the detente to simulate zero thrust, as described by Beech for the BE-76. Was busted because I was not "...able to see exactly where 8" MP is because the MP gauge only goes down to 10" ". Even pulling out the manual and showing him still did not allow me to pass the first time. Second time I went up, did it his way (13" MP) and received the congratulatory hand shake. I assume he needed the reexamination fee to help pay for his luxury SUV with the leather interior.

In my opinion, 121 operators should not even care about failed CFI rides anyways. I'm not wanting to go there to flight instruct, want to go and fly something else besides a C-172. They should allow people to get the jobs, then if they can't make it through training, or pass their checkrides as suggested previously, then be let go. All I want is the chance to be able to prove myself, I can do it and be successful.

I've flown with a lot of guys who never failed a ride, that are at the regionals and else where, that I would be scared to put the neighbors dog on board an airplane they are flying.

Besides, wasn't the FO on 3407 the one who made a configuration change (raising the flaps) without the Captain's say so?

Is it your contention that this was the ONLY thing that you failed for on your MEI chekride?

That is an awfully expensive way to run a business. Those training busts are not cheap. One way to recoup those losses would be a training contract. Would you favor one of those? Obviously the business (any business) looks for a candidate that can pass whatever training regime is expected - whether it be academic or physical. Anything else is loss time and effort.

USMCFLYR