Flunky takes IFR checkride..

fiveoboy01

fiveoboy01

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Dirty B
Boo!

Did my IFR checkride today. I was very nervous about the oral portion and not worried about the flight portion. Turns out things happened the opposite way...

Oral, breezed through it. One or two questions I needed a hint but the majority of it I had no problem with. I studied a LOT.

Flight portion - first instrument approach was an ILS. Went ok... half a dot off here and there. Missed approach procedure is a hold on a radial 9.2 DME(VOR on the field). Made the teardrop entry.. Mistake: forgot to spin the OBS to the inbound course. Stayed on the protected side anyways. Realized my mistake, spun the OBS 180 degrees, did one more lap. Timing by the 4th lap was pretty close. Not fail-worthy.

Forgot the pre-landing checklist on the first approach. Remembered it the other 2 approaches.

Followed up with a GPS approach including a course reversal. Easy, no problems, LPV approach, both needles dead on the entire approach to the miss.

Last approach - VOR with a circle to another runway. Due to runway closures this was a VOR approach to 18 with a circle to 21. ATC vectored me in sort of close, but I wasn't worried. Just before I got established on the final approach course, DPE covers my DG and AI. I was expecting it, so no big deal. But the cover kept falling off the AI. At one point he had to take the controls while I fished it out from between my feet. Distraction...

I misread the plate. Descended to 2600 when it should have been 1620(ish). I remember looking at the DME reading 2.5(the altitude limit is no lower than 1620 at 3.0 DME), and I was at about 2500 feet. Everything from there on out went to ****. I increased my descent rate, and I don't remember looking at the DME again. The GPS was counting UP from 4+ miles(presumably from a prior fix)... this most likely was the biggest distraction that screwed me up. I didn't know what I was looking at there. I don't remember if the TO/FROM flag flipped. I caught a glimpse of the airport in my vision and we were almost over the airport and that's when the DPE took the airplane away from me. At that point the ride was over.

I've read numerous times that if the approach gets away from you, full-scale on the needle, or an unstablized descent, whatever.. go missed. The DPE flat out said that if I would have gone around, he would have given me another shot at the approach. I knew I was high, and I knew my descent rate was excessive... and I was obviously not situationally aware of where I was in relation to the missed approach point. Why I didn't go around or why it didn't even occur to me, I have no idea.

Very frustrated and a little angry with myself. It's pretty hard for me to write all this but I hope that perhaps someone reading it will learn a lesson and not make the same mistake.

Positives - altitude and heading were dead on the entire time. Approach briefings were excellent. 25 or so knots of wind at 3000 and quite bumpy. That certainly didn't help. Fatigue had started to set in a little bit.

Anyways.. flying with my CFII this week a couple times. Retest Saturday morning. All I have to do is a VOR or LOC approach partial panel and circle to land. If I fail it again, I probably don't deserve an instrument ticket.
 
Don't beat yourself up. You'll smoke the retest. A lot going on the instrument ride. Always know where you're at. Terrain may get you if you don't.
 
Good write up,keep a good attitude,and good luck.
 
Yeah, I FUBARed a custom hold on my instrument checkride, due to at least four mistakes. When they happen, they pile up. I hit the OBS button early on the GPS (losing my tracking -- the CDI had been set to the inbound heading), restored sequencing, but it went past the waypoint to the next leg. It was obviously wrong, so I reverted to the VOR backup, set the CDI to the inbound heading like I should -- but it was full scale due to the previous errors and I forgot about reverse sensing in that configuration, so I turned away from the outbound (parellel entry) .... and I was done.

Went real nice on the retest, though.

I really can't fault the DPE for that at all. He gave me every chance to salvage it. I learned a lesson about cascading errors that day, though. Turning away from protected airspace (in mountainous terrain!) would be a potentially fatal error.

IFR, one error is VERY often followed by another. It's best to just get out of there, take a deep breath, and try again, especially on an approach.

It's an expensive and truly irritating mistake, but you'll get it.

FYI, I fly holds with the CDI always set to inbound heading. You don't fly the CDI outbound except for parallel entries. But the cost is that it makes the SA a bit different. I don't screw that up now -- and I have been retested on it by CAP -- but I sure did on my instrument checkride.
 
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Yeap. I think a few of the little things early on piled up and rattled me. I thought I had recovered as the GPS approach went great and vectors to a VOR approach should be gravy... told the tower this would be a full stop and it would be done... apparently not.

The FSDO guy in the back seat didn't help... mostly quiet, but a couple comments here and there were pretty distracting. Don't really think that it would have made a difference in the outcome though.
 
You're not the first person to fail a checkride. I know that for a fact based on personal experience...
 
In the long run it will make you a better (and safer) pilot. No doubt in my mind.
 
Go Around/Missed if anything is ever getting away for you. I'll never fail a student for choosing to go around/missed, the first time. It show great ADM and PIC authority. There has been a few times I've had to resit the urge to shout, "please, go around/missed". :)

You'll do great on your retest. Especially after you know your weak areas and how to address those weakness.
 
On my checkride,I forgot to twist for the inbound after the course reversal. Took me a minute to figure out what was going on, but I wasn't descending. The DPE asked me why I wasn't descending and I said it was because I wasn't established yet (the needle was fully deflected and when I turned toward it, it wouldn't come in). I told him I was going to go missed, but finally figured it out and turned back to the approach course. Luckily, I was still far enough out to recapture and descend to land at a normal rate (it was my last approach). After we parked, he said he was POSITIVE he'd have to fail me because he expected me to start the descent while off course. Because I didn't (even with his coaxing), he said he was happy with the way I handled it and said I'd probably never make that mistake again. So far, he's been right...

Get back out there on Satuday and fly the partial panel approach. You'll get the rating and be safer for having made a mistake that you likely won't make again.
 
MAKG1 said:
I learned a lesson about cascading errors that day, though. Turning away from protected airspace (in mountainous terrain!) would be a potentially fatal error.

IFR, one error is VERY often followed by another. It's best to just get out of there, take a deep breath, and try again, especially on an approach.



.
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Great comments.
 
Definitely a good comment.

If I learned anything about this, if any one facet of the approach isn't right and/or isn't easily and quickly corrected, start over. Might save you from a discontinuance... and save you a little money too:)
 
Everything heats up with a DPE in the other seat, but that's nothing compared to bouncing around after a long day in actual. On my IFR ride, the examiner was specific about how transposition kills pilots. Imagine the reverse - if you go to 1620 some day when the safe altitude is 2600.

You'll do just fine on the re-ride, and you'll be a safer pilot because of it. Report back this frequency!
 
MAKG1 said:
You don't fly the CDI outbound except for parallel entries.
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You don't fly the CDI outbound then, either.

"The parallel entry procedure would be to turn to a heading to parallel the holding course outbound on the nonholding side..." --AIM.
 
Remember, failing a check-ride means... That you have to go fly some more!

Terrible! Haha.

Just a little something to make you smile. You know what you goofed. You'll fix it.
 
Thanks for the write up. Have mine coming up in a few weeks and these write ups help us all keep focused. I busted my ppl check ride, got with my instructor then came back and aced it. You will too


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
dmspilot said:
You don't fly the CDI outbound then, either.

"The parallel entry procedure would be to turn to a heading to parallel the holding course outbound on the nonholding side..." --AIM.
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GPS, at least the 430 wants you to fly the holding course outbound on a parallel entry. It even tells you to lead the turn to do it instead of waiting to cross the fix and then paralell the course out bound. That just ends up giving you less time to get established on the course after the inbound turn. I ignore the "turn now", wait to cross the fix, then fly a real paralell entry
 
denverpilot said:
Remember, failing a check-ride means... That you have to go fly some more!

Terrible! Haha.

Just a little something to make you smile. You know what you goofed. You'll fix it.
Click to expand...

Ha. That was funny. Perspective I guess.
 
@fiveoboy01 don't beat yourself up about it. I've made mistakes on all three of my check-rides. We all make 'em.

If you don't make a mistake you don't learn and you're also probably some type of robot/god-like person who, like unicorns, doesn't exist...

The instrument check-ride is definitely one of the hardest ones you'll take, so the good news is if you go on to commercial afterwards, it's all downhill :).
 
You will be confident on the re-ride, and you will always remember this experience. In the long run, you'll be a better pilot because of this.

You got this.
 
Sounds like the flights with the CFII are an unnecessary expense. If you could re-test right now, my guess is you'd crush it. The training value has been realized and you're good to go. I'm all about efficiency in training and based on what you've described, I'm not seeing what you're going to get from the 'couple of flights' with the CFII. However, if time/money isn't an issue, then it's not a bad thing I suppose.
 
coma24 said:
Sounds like the flights with the CFII are an unnecessary expense. If you could re-test right now, my guess is you'd crush it. The training value has been realized and you're good to go. I'm all about efficiency in training and based on what you've described, I'm not seeing what you're going to get from the 'couple of flights' with the CFII. However, if time/money isn't an issue, then it's not a bad thing I suppose.
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It's a requirement for me to get recurring training after failing the ride.

There's no hourly requirement. I could go up with him, shoot the approach once, and that would suffice. And yes, I could fly it right now and do just fine. I just don't think my head was clear at the end of the ride.

Everyone says I'm hard on myself, and I am. Everyone makes mistakes, but I would have rather been failed for screwing up on something more difficult:)
 
It's a hard check ride... don't beat yourself up. Thanks for sharing the experience. You're going to nail the re-test.
 
I agree with the majority here: you learned a big lesson. I think the lesson would be that if anything is wrong or you lose yourself, go missed, climb, get to a safe altitude, get your mind and systems in working order and try again.
FWIW, my personal advice is not only to memorize the missed procedure but also visualize it. As I am memorizing it while briefing the approach from the plane, I make gestures with my hands in front of myself, such as "climb straight to 3000" and then "turn left to 4500" or similar. It helps me greatly with situational awareness. And if I even lose it (situational awareness) on approach and my brain is close to shut down, I am hoping these memorized gestures might save my behind.

But go out there, fly some more and take the retest, should be np.
 
fiveoboy01 said:
Anyways.. flying with my CFII this week a couple times. Retest Saturday morning. All I have to do is a VOR or LOC approach partial panel and circle to land. If I fail it again, I probably don't deserve an instrument ticket.
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I'm expecting good news to be posted in this thread sometime soon.
 
I forgot about it ha!

One VOR approach partial panel and a circle to land. Took off at 6:30am, it was smoother than glass... Not a single bump. Executed flawlessly and the landing wasn't bad either! Not sure why I couldn't do it Monday but today I was completely relaxed... Unlike before. Probably didn't hurt:)
 
fiveoboy01 said:
I forgot about it ha!

One VOR approach partial panel and a circle to land. Took off at 6:30am, it was smoother than glass... Not a single bump. Executed flawlessly and the landing wasn't bad either! Not sure why I couldn't do it Monday but today I was completely relaxed... Unlike before. Probably didn't hurt:)
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Congratulations! And just in time to (maybe) get it wet with the weather moving in next week.

I'm OK with the showers in the forecast, but not too excited about the potential for thunderstorms. Hopefully it ends up just being some benign lower clouds so you can get out and practice what you've shown the DPE you're capable of doing!
 
Congrats.

My second time was similarly quick, simple, and flawless. When you make a catalog of all your mistakes, you make DANG sure not to make them again.
 
I think the IR check ride is the hardest, I was more nervous on my private, but the IR has the most going on in a short amount of time. My multi IR ride wasn't as bad, but I had the same examiner both times. As others have said, don't beat yourself up, I bet there are a few instrument rated and current pilots that probably wouldn't pass a surprise check ride on their next flight. :rolleyes: The problem is you may never hold in real life, you can go years without an actual missed approach. I had 2 holds in a 3 month period around 1998! I think my only missed approach in actual IMC was in 1998 or 1999! In real life you have to be able and confident to shoot an approach to minimums, but will you take off on a trip knowing the airport on the other end is 200- 1/2 mile? Go and enjoy yourself, you've earned it! :)
 
fiveoboy01 said:
It's a requirement for me to get recurring training after failing the ride.

There's no hourly requirement. I could go up with him, shoot the approach once, and that would suffice. And yes, I could fly it right now and do just fine. I just don't think my head was clear at the end of the ride.

Everyone says I'm hard on myself, and I am. Everyone makes mistakes, but I would have rather been failed for screwing up on something more difficult:)
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My son busted his PPL ride and went up with his CFI for an hour or two and retook the failed portion that afternoon, it was a LONG day for him, but he was happy when he got home!
 
Congratulations!!!! You did good!!! All that matters is you've passed... Doesn't matter what you had to go through to get here...:) Now go get your ticket wet and enjoy cloud flying...:D:D:D
 
Congratulations. Glad it was uneventful. Enjoy flying in the clouds!!
 
Thanks guys, relieved it's over, but the truth is that it's just started... lots more to it than just passing the PTS as most of you know.

Might get some soupy weather here this coming week. Depending on conditions I might go up.
 
Definitely go up into some IMC within your personal minima. Don't delay and seek it out when you can to stay on top of the skills.
 
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