Toughest Ratings?

[Redbirdfan]

My private took the longest, but I was in High School so I only flew on weekends, and the middle of the winter in St. Louis is just not condusive to flight training. As far as which one was the toughest for me to grasp, it was the instrument. I didn't realize what was really going on until 2/3s of the way through the course. The hardest checkride I ever had was far and away the CFI. Can you say "8 Hour Oral Exam"???

[sorrygottarunway]

[ QUOTE ]
My private took the longest, but I was in High School so I only flew on weekends, and the middle of the winter in St. Louis is just not condusive to flight training. As far as which one was the toughest for me to grasp, it was the instrument. I didn't realize what was really going on until 2/3s of the way through the course. The hardest checkride I ever had was far and away the CFI. Can you say "8 Hour Oral Exam"???

[/ QUOTE ]

my instructor described it to me as "5 hours of oral and 3 hours of anal"

sheesh, I guess its gonna be a tough one. I've had a habit of having my friends wait for me while I go and take the test. But now for this one Í guess I'll give them a list of errands, money for lunch and dinner, a manicure, and see them back at 10pm...

[hammer]

OK ... I'll be different

The 180 degree power off landing for the commercial single add-on was my hardest (and still is) ... I think I can hit that point about 30% of the time if I'm lucky!

Instrument was the easiest for me.

Does anyone know what the official statistics are for first time pass rates on the different checkrides?

[viper548]

[ QUOTE ]
OK ... I'll be different

The 180 degree power off landing for the commercial single add-on was my hardest (and still is) ... I think I can hit that point about 30% of the time if I'm lucky!

Instrument was the easiest for me.

Does anyone know what the official statistics are for first time pass rates on the different checkrides?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think most of them are around 80% and the initial CFI is less than 50%. Almost all the CFI's I know had to take the CFI twice

[sorrygottarunway]

why is the initial CFI supposed to be a horror ride? Wouldn't the FAA/FSDO want to work with you to make sure you will be giving the best education to your students?

like... "I'm from the FAA and I'm here to help?"

or do I have the wrong idea of our government.

[Alchemy]

You have the wrong idea about our government. Their thinking is more like...why in the world should we let YOU go around teaching people how to fly? But I should probably shut my mouth since I haven't actually taken the CFI practical, only attempted to once and was shot down before the test even started.

[Redbirdfan]

The FAA sees the CFI initial ride as their first and only oppurtunity to educate you personally. Therefore, they want to have as much time with you as they possibly can. They fail a huge number of first timers because they figure two things: If you don't come back, you wouldn't have been any good anyway, and when you do come back, you'll know twice as much as you did the first time thanx to more studying.

[Hootie]

CFI by far. Private a distant second. CFI tops them all. How can you compare a 6-12 hour oral and a 2-3 hour checkride with a 50% pass rate to anything? No other rating comes close.

[fender_jag]

I agree with the majority of the posters; the CFI initial is really hard, and they can fail you for any of the following: chewing gum, constantly fidgeting, repetitive phrases (such as saying "Uh" too many times or saying "OK" at the end of every sentence), or just not being "professional".

Just follow the old CFI training adages: Simple to complex, don't reveal everything you know about a topic (in other words, let him ask the questions and give only a bare-minimum answer), and speak slowly!

[Acadia]

[ QUOTE ]
CFI by far. Private a distant second. CFI tops them all. How can you compare a 6-12 hour oral and a 2-3 hour checkride with a 50% pass rate to anything? No other rating comes close.

[/ QUOTE ]

6-12 hour oral?!

My CFI oral was about 3 hours.

[mtsu_av8er]

[ QUOTE ]
CFI tops them all. How can you compare a 6-12 hour oral and a 2-3 hour checkride with a 50% pass rate to anything? No other rating comes close.

[/ QUOTE ]

I stressed so much for my initial CFI, and I did my CFII initially, which added more crap to deal with!! I stressed and stressed, and slept for about 2 hours the night before. What happened? I stressed over nothing! It really wasn't that bad!

My instrument training was pretty hard, though - alot of stuff to learn. I think I read every book on instrument flying!!! By the time the CFI came along, I just reviewed and flew a little bit!

[ready2fly]

[ QUOTE ]
My instrument training was pretty hard, though - alot of stuff to learn. I think I read every book on instrument flying!!! By the time the CFI came along, I just reviewed and flew a little bit!

[/ QUOTE ]
My hero!

Seriously, I'm stressing hard about the upcoming Commercial ride(s). I'm freaking more over the oral exam stuff - you know - the crap you're supposed to know inside and out and be able to spew forth on demand..... the stuff that I'm trying to cram in my already saturated brain.

Whoever said the Commercial was "easy".... LIED!

[MikeD]

The oral for my Recreational Pilot certificate-Multi-engine land was by far the toughest checkride one can go through.

[mtsu_av8er]

[ QUOTE ]

Whoever said the Commercial was "easy".... LIED!

[/ QUOTE ]

I always hear people say that, but it's far from the truth!! I was borderlining on scare everytime we did a short field landing, or a power-off 180. I just knew I was stalling and landing short....

[ready2fly]

The flying part doesn't spook me. It's the verbal part. Hell, I freez on info with my instructor.

I'm pretty sure "Uhhhhhhhhh...." isn't going to do me any favors in the real deal.

[mtsu_av8er]

[ QUOTE ]
The oral for my Recreational Pilot certificate-Multi-engine land was by far the toughest checkride one can go through.

[/ QUOTE ]

But where else can you fly at 400 knots @ 200 AGL - inverted??

[Mr_Creepy]

[ QUOTE ]
my instructor described it to me as "5 hours of oral and 3 hours of anal"

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm speechless!

[ready2fly]

Bet you wouldn't be after 3 hours of...... well... you know.

[mtsu_av8er]

[ QUOTE ]
Bet you wouldn't be after 3 hours of...... well... you know.

[/ QUOTE ]

LMAO

[drumminpilot]

[ QUOTE ]
Seriously, I'm stressing hard about the upcoming Commercial ride(s). I'm freaking more over the oral exam stuff - you know - the crap you're supposed to know inside and out and be able to spew forth on demand..... the stuff that I'm trying to cram in my already saturated brain.

Whoever said the Commercial was "easy".... LIED!

[/ QUOTE ]

Glad I'm not the only one freaking over my commercial ride.

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
The flying part doesn't spook me. It's the verbal part. Hell, I freez on info with my instructor.

I'm pretty sure "Uhhhhhhhhh...." isn't going to do me any favors in the real deal.

[/ QUOTE ]

1. Don't freeze.

2. Don't offer excess info unless asked. Make them ask for it. The more you talk and "search" for an answer, the deeper a hole you can dig for yourself, and you give the examiner more options/thoughts/ideas to ask you more and more, especially if you state something a little unclear or vague. Answer all questions to the absolute minimum. A checkride isn't the time to shine your a$$ intentionally, you'll get plenty of tries to do that accidentally.

3. No outward stress showing. Gotta make like it's nothing but a thing.

4. Once complete and the examiner is finished with debrief. If you have any concern whether he examiner graded you on technique versus procedure, voice it in a diplomatic manner. There's nothing worse than examiners that grade based on how you accomplished a task that met guidelines. Giving feedback about your technique is great to help make life easier, but if your way met standards, then it can't be held against you.

Take these to the bank and you'll be fine.

[RiddlePilot]

I just took my Commercial Multi oral today (flight tomorrow...I'll post a gouge on both then), and it really was not as difficult as I expected. I was pretty nervous about the whole deal, but you'd be surprised at just how much info you can spew that you didn't even remember learning.

[FLYNOVRU]

As many people said the CFI can be difficult. It also depends how much prep you do before you go. My school made me have intructor outlines and lesson plans for each item in the each of the Private, Commercial, Multi, and CFI PTS's done. The school ride was difficult, but it helped me to pass my all of my CFI rides the first time.

My intial instructor ride was the MEI, which means one thing, you're going to teach VMC. I had awesome handout to teach with, and that impressed the D.E.. When I went for the CFI and CFII, I was asked all sorts of creative questions. The examiner's thinking was, since I already had my Initial Instructor, I knew my stuff, but he just wanted to see how I could apply that knowledge.

The instument wasn't too bad for me. If you have simulators to practice on, it helps. I did my instument in a Seminole, so that adds some extra factors in the ride such as engine failures, etc.

As with what was said before for the commercial, the 180 degree poweroff landings are tough. There are very tough margins for the landing, and with winds it makes it even harder to judge. Even though you can safely land the airplane on the runway, it has to be within the PTS limits. I landed 100ft long of the PTS limit and failed my ride because of it. In my opinion, that is one of the hardest part's of the commercial ride.

Tim


PHX

[DE727UPS]

"Don't offer excess info unless asked. Make them ask for it. The more you talk and "search" for an answer, the deeper a hole you can dig for yourself, and you give the examiner more options/thoughts/ ideas to ask you more and more, especially if you state something a little unclear or vague."

Wiser words never spoken....

"Once complete and the examiner is finished with debrief. If you have any concern whether he examiner graded you on technique versus procedure, voice it in a diplomatic manner."

Be careful with this one. One Feds technique could be the next guys procedure. There is no union to back you up and there is no standardization amoung FSDO's inspectors like there should be. I'd just smile, thank the guy for the ride, and walk away...you never know when you might see him again. If you have to say something, be VERY diplomatic....as MikeD said.

[Doug Taylor]

My hardest checkride was probably the multi-engine instrument. I got caught up in too much of the Riddle-minutia instead of just flying the darned aircraft.

But the one that frightened me the most was probably the CFI and II. I basically studied my arse off expecting the worst, had a long oral, flew the aircraft and was congratulated on one of the best checkrides the SJC FSDO has seen that year.

Wow!