Rotorcraft Checkride Failure
 

Will a rotorcraft commercial add-on checkride failure disqualify me for Spirit Airlines? (I have an otherwise spotless record and meet the preferred qualifications)

Same with the other guy who asked about a checkride failure: Just like there is no magic combination of hours that guarantees you will get hired, there’s really not a particular blemish that will outright prevent you either.

There are far too many variables, how long has it been, how many other successful checkrides have you had before and since, what was the nature of the failure (just outside PTS or did you violate a reg or jeopardize safety).

Best thing you can do is be honest, and do you best to get in front of a chief at one of the events to put a face and some background to what happened.

To me these types of questions are moot...... you could have 100 guys on here tell you it’s hopeless/pointless, but are you going to be the type who gives up?

Seriously? You think it would put you behind a thousand people who have no rotorcraft time at all?


:rolleyes:

Thank you both for your replies. No, I’m definitely not a quitter, but I am an investigator. Since Spirit doesn’t count rotor time, I was really hoping they wouldn’t hold a rotorcraft failure against me. I didn’t find what is was looking for on the company website, so I threw it out to the experts on this forum. I’m relieved that you are both in agreement, and thank you both again for that.

The failure was a result of misjudging when to enter a 180 degree autorotation, which caused me to miss my spot. (There was an audience, so no second try). I did one retraining ride and nailed the maneuver on my next attempt. The only other FAA checkride I’ve taken since then, was my fixed wing ATP. No issues with that at all.

Excargodog doesn’t work here; he is an FO at Compass who likes to dabble in Spirit affairs.

My opinion, and for what it’s worth, is a failure will be viewed as a failure. I don’t think it matters that they don’t count rotorcraft time and that being a factor in not counting the failure; just as a CFI failure is still a failure even though we don’t have a dual given requirement.

But...

This is a perfect example of being honest with it and describe, as you did above, what happened. Airplane only guys are usually fascinated with rotorcraft; so once you start talking about a 180 degree autorotation, those interviewing you will be more intrigued vs concerned.

Don’t worry about 1 bust

But did you run the QRH?

For. The . Win.

I had three pink slips, and still made it through. Stop overthinking it. You’ll be fiiiine.

Thanks all 👍

Any training failures in the past 4 years will affect things. It’s not a disqualifier, but it will hold you back a bit. If it’s been more than 4 years, you should be fine. I can’t speak specifically for the fact that this happened in a helicopter, but I’d imagine they’d weigh it similar as to an airplane. I don’t think they’re necessarily concerned about what the failure was in, they’re just looking for failures in general as our training program is on the intense side and some folks struggle.

Not saying this is fair, but it’s how I understand the process works.