Career: Top 10 checkride tips

1. Know the winds. “Presumption of no wind derails a lot of checkrides,” Hidayat said. “Hitting a waypoint and flying the published course with no regard to wind is my first clue that [the checkride] won’t go well…. Conversely, I know it will go well when the applicant briefs the next course and the heading he/she will fly to hold the course based on estimated winds.”
2. Hidayat says a common error during instrument rating checkrides is descending after a fix without positive course guidance. “Don’t be in a hurry. Wait for the course deviation indicator [CDI] to at least begin to come back to center before starting down,” he said. “Use the three-to-one descent rule to get a rough idea of what kind of descent rate will be needed after passing the fix. Most times you’ll find that you’ll have plenty of time to wait before you need to start down, even when there is a tailwind.”
3. Knowing your equipment is vital to pilots at all levels. Accident reports are littered with pilots who got burned by not being intimately familiar with equipment such as navigators, radios, and especially autopilots. Hidayat shared a story in which an applicant didn’t know how to identify a VOR. Unfortunately, his instructor hadn’t shown him how to do it in the airplane he was flying for the checkride, which wasn’t his usual ride. For example, Garmin has you push the volume knob to identify, while others require a pull. Either way, know the equipment. For those flying with modern displays, a visual presentation of the station ID can substitute listening for a Morse code.“If it looks like you’re not going to make it—go around. There’s nothing in the airman certification standards that says you can’t give it another try.” —Sharif Hidayat
4. Situational awareness (SA) is an obvious trait that pilots need, but it often disappears during a nerve-wracking checkride. On private and commercial checkrides, the power loss followed by a forced landing maneuver often exposes this. “You’d be surprised how often applicants prematurely commit to land in a field,” Hidayat said. “Look for an airport by banking the wings left and right to scan the area. Often there’s a suitable airport within easy gliding range.”
5. During a power-off 180-degree turn to a landing for the commercial certificate, Hidayat said he again notices pilots not taking the winds into account. The maneuver has the pilot land at a target point with a 200-foot buffer beyond it. “Check the windsock, get the ATIS or AWOS winds, and visualize how it will affect your glide,” he said.
6. Along the same lines, the short-field landing maneuver for the private provides you a touchdown point plus 200 feet. “If it looks like you’re not going to make it—go around,” said Hidayat. “There’s nothing in the airman certification standards that says you can’t give it another try.”
7. “IPads can be a pilot’s own worst enemy,” Hidayat said. “Often it’s too big a crutch and—contrary to logic—SA goes out the window.” Being proficient with your iPad’s app and using it only as necessary is the key to making the device work to your benefit. (See number 3.)
8. Know your sources for inflight weather advisories, how to find them on a chart, and how to communicate with a flight service station in flight. Many require transmitting over one frequency and receiving via a VOR.
9. Using the checklist. Even if you have your checklists committed to memory and accomplished via a flow, pull it out and say, for example, “before-takeoff check complete.”
10. During the oral exam’s preflight planning section, Hidayat said not to overlook making the top of climb a checkpoint on a cross-country flight. And also use the time/fuel/distance to climb chart, not the cruise chart, for the climb. The cruise chart comes into play after the top-of-climb checkpoint. Likewise, if there’s a time/fuel/distance-to-descend chart in your airplane’s manual, be sure to create a top-of-descent waypoint and use that chart for the descent segment. Not all manuals include this chart, however.

Hidayat said lack of student/CFI communication is a problem. Don’t be afraid to ask what you might think is a stupid question. Instructors, likewise, must not simply assume a student grasps a certain concept. Perhaps, they’ve just been lucky that a mistake hasn’t been exposed.

Hidayat urges students and instructors to visit the FAA’s Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) website, which can answer many questions and clarify how things are tested and graded. For example, SAFO 17009 details and clarifies the ACS policy on slow flight and stalls, which underwent a recent overhaul.