Training and Safety Tip: Check your checkride stress at the door

But are you simply having a case of the jitters, or is your inner pilot trying to tell you that you’re truly not ready?

Next, consider that the examiner takes your CFI at his or her certified word, fully expects that you will pass, and even wants you to pass. The examiner isn’t out to “get you.” Examiners take no pleasure in failing candidates. Quite the opposite, in my experience.

Still, do people fail checkrides? Sure. Two in 10 on average. But that also means eight in 10 pass. You just need to believe that you will join the winning team. I’ll bet at least one of those two that didn’t pass the test got so stressed out that it caused them to fail. After all, their instructors said they were prepared and the examiners wanted them to pass.

If that doesn’t calm your jitters, ask yourself: “What’s the worst that could happen if I fail?” It’s not like you’ll be banned from aviation. The vast majority of those who don’t pass a checkride on their first attempt do just fine on a retest. If you are airline-bound, a recruiter will probably ask you about checkride failures at your interview, sure, but they aren’t actually interested in the event’s unsuccessful outcome. They are interested in how you take ownership of such a situation, and what you learned from it. They are curious about your character when they ask this, not your performance on a particular day.

But if the butterflies in your stomach persist after considering your instructor’s confidence, the absence of malice on the part of the examiner, and the limited consequence of failure, then perhaps you really aren’t prepared for the checkride. If that’s the case, it isn’t stress. It’s your inner pilot giving you a good heading to fly. Figure out where you are weak (you probably already know) and request help in polishing that area. Then there’ll be no reason for stress when you take the checkride.