Our FAA-designated check airman and his FAA observer came back into the debriefing room with serious faces following our line-oriented evaluation (LOE) in the Jetstream 41 simulator. My captain and I knew we had screwed up one maneuver and figured we would have to face the music with a verbal dressing-down. To our surprise, however, the event ended with a failure—the first for both of us.
What happened? The captain had failed to turn on the propeller heat for an icing takeoff, and I had failed to catch it. Once the ice detector chirped in the initial climb, I recognized the improper configuration and flipped on the switches. We finished the ride early, so our examiner had us repeat the icing takeoff maneuver with no issues, hence our hopes that it would require only a debriefing. But the FAA observer was of the opinion that we had put the passengers at risk on the first takeoff. That requires a failure according to the rules of our airline’s Advanced Qualification Program. Our instructor was forced to send us back to training, although there really is none that addresses a simple brain fart. We took the repeat evaluation two days later; my captain was handed his first type rating, and I officially began a career as an airline pilot.
While this first and only checkride failure was depressing and stressful, it gave me a head-first introduction to the rigidity of airline operations compared to all of my previous general aviation checkrides and simulator sessions. To the examiner’s credit, he pleaded our case with the FAA observer and clearly didn’t agree with the decision, but the rules were the rules. Besides the obvious takeaway to avoid a checkride with a fed onboard, in the intervening years I’ve learned to approach checkrides with an entirely new attitude.
To become a professional pilot, checkrides are an unfortunate necessity. The good examiners know that the checkride is a learning experience that will shape your future as a pilot. There are boxes that need to be checked, and your instructor or company training department knows whether you can handle those. But they can’t help you with the mental preparation for the ride—that’s all on you.
Relaxing is key. Knowing the rules and the limitations of the airplane, backwards and forward, will give you the confidence to relax during the oral exam. Doing what you’ve learned as a pilot will carry you through the checkride. If you make a mistake, do not look back! It’s history now and you must use your skills and any other tools, such as cockpit resource management, to work your way back to normal operations.
There are good examiners and bad ones. For my captain upgrade LOE in the J41, my examiner showed up quite late, throwing my partner and me into a panic. Did we somehow misread the show time at the sim building? Because of the early scheduled time, there was nobody in the training department to answer my phone calls to check. Our examiner rolled in about 30 minutes late with no apologies and no explanation. He was all business, as well, which certainly didn’t help us come back down from our panic.
After the ride, we received a few dress-down items, but we were confident that all was good enough to pass—although we certainly couldn’t tell from Mr. Personality. Finally, he said, “I don’t have any pink slips left, so I guess I’ll have to give you a white one.” This obtuse comment still rings in my ears today. Instead of leaving the sim building with an ear-to-ear grin and my first type rating, I walked away feeling like I had just walked off a battlefield lucky to be alive.
He was an anomaly among the check airmen I’ve had since then. Most are guys and gals just like you. They make mistakes too, and they know it. They also know how to set the tone right from the start to make a stressful experience a true learning experience.
Take some time to ask your instructor about your local designated pilot examiners to get a feel for whom the good cops and bad cops are. Last year, another FAA observer came along for my checkride, and the memories of my first J41 checkride came flooding back. Thankfully, though, the guy was great and put us at ease with wit and humor during the briefing. Overall, it was the polar opposite experience of my first airline checkride. I walked out of there with a grin—and a fresh signoff for another year.
Pete Bedell is a 10,000-hour first officer for a major airline. He holds type ratings in the BAe Jetstream 41, Canadair RJ, and Boeing 737.
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