Pilots are by nature confident, accomplished people. We know that most people who undertake pilot training are by nature driven and used to succeeding at whatever they set out to do. That’s why it can be so devastating, and in some cases crippling, to fail your check ride or practical test.

According to a recent survey of aviation bulletin boards, a surprising number of pilots have failed at least one check ride, for a variety of reasons ranging from nervousness to a lack of preparation for the test. Many people fail because of outside pressures—not getting enough sleep, pressure to “get it done”—that make them do stupid things on a check ride that they never would have done during training. And yet each of those failures has been reported by a pilot, a person who accepted the failure, learned from it, and went on to accomplish that goal of becoming a pilot or achieving a higher rating.

The most embarrassing part of failing your practical is usually telling your friends and family, people who have followed your progress through training and who likely have all sorts of celebrations planned for the “big day.”

One pilot reported that when he called his wife to tell her he had failed, she said, “You’re kidding, right? You couldn’t possibly have failed.”

Unlike other tests where a lapse in one area simply results in a lower grade, your failure to accomplish just a single task requested by the examiner during a check ride means you will fail, and instead of receiving a new rating, you’ll be getting that dreaded pink slip.

In the real world, not all preparation is perfect, and pilots do fail their examinations. Even with great preparation, a pilot can make a silly mistake and fail the check ride. Examiners are often as forgiving as they can be, nudging you toward the correct answer or response without actually coming out and telling you what to do. If you take the hint, you can avoid failure.

If you miss it, you fail. If this happens to you, you have plenty of company and nothing at all to be ashamed of. The FAA is quite forgiving toward students when it comes to failing a practical test. You simply demonstrate competence in the area that is lacking within 60 days after receiving some additional instruction, or you must take the entire check ride over again if you don’t re-test within the required 60 days.

Instructors also know that a pilot can get confused and make a mistake. The FAA monitors the rate of success of instructors and holds instructors responsible for the outcome of each exam. So your instructor knows that students must be proficient at every task prior to receiving a recommendation for a check ride, and that’s why those last few weeks of training prior to the check ride, weeks when you know you are ready, sometimes are the most painful.

Your check ride has an oral and practical component. The oral portion of the exam must be passed before the flight portion can take place. The oral exam guides that are available for study correspond closely to what is in the practical test standards or PTS. If you thoroughly understand the tasks listed in the PTS, then you will likely pass the oral. The PTS standardizes check rides and makes sure that all pilots are judged with consistency, fairness and accuracy no matter where and with whom they take their exams.

If you are not familiar with the PTS at the time you are scheduling your check ride, then you have a very big problem. Take time to look at the PTS because it describes what your check ride will cover and what you are responsible for.

A typical oral exam can take a couple of hours. Your preparation with your CFI for the oral exam should be many hours more than that to ensure you are prepared for every question.

Leave no required task listed in the PTS unexplored before sitting down with the examiner. If, during the questioning on your check ride, an area is uncovered where your knowledge is lacking, it’s best to say, “I don’t know, but I can find the answer.” Then you need to be able to find the answer. This requires a familiarity with the text-based materials that have been presented during your training.

Hopefully, you understand the value of this part of the test. The knowledge you are responsible for will enable you to handle emergencies and difficulties with a greater probability of a successful outcome in real life. Your ability to explain the oral material and to find needed information should be carefully prepared with your instructor.

Your challenge during the oral portion of the test is to go beyond just facts. For example, if looking at a sectional chart, you must be prepared to identify every class of airspace that is represented at each point and altitude. This includes where Class G airspace is found. Expect that your examiner will point at your sectional chart and ask, “What are the required VFR cloud clearances and visibilities at this spot at a particular altitude?”

You have to be prepared to integrate different knowledge areas and to make connections rather than just regurgitate facts.

The questions that can be asked can cover a multitude of realistic scenarios that could be based on different types of weather or mechanical difficulties. You have to know how to handle these situations smartly and legally. If you can truly put the information together, then you will pass the oral portion of the exam with flying colors.

If you are the nervous type, make sure that your instructor uses the required three hours of preparation within the past 90 days—required by FAA regulation—giving training in the form of a mock check ride.

There is no reason to be surprised by anything on the practical test at all, and the check ride is not the time to say, “Aha, now I get it!” A good CFI will go through the tasks listed in the practical test standards and make sure that the student understands and is competent to properly execute any task that the examiner could ask to see. The student should be able to execute every flight task at or above PTS standards on a consistent basis without coaching prior to the check ride.

It’s not enough for the instructor to see positive results while coaching is taking place. So, if you want to be sure that you, as a student pilot, are ready to be a private pilot, you need to be good enough so that your CFI can observe in silence and with nodding approval. You need to be able to perform the tasks on your own, without help or prompting in order to be able to function as a pilot, and your examiner will expect nothing less.

You also need to make sure that you are mentally and physically prepared for the test.

More than one pilot has failed a check ride for grabbing the wrong approach plate, tackling wind or weather conditions that were well beyond their capabilities, or just trying too hard when the odds were stacked against them.

Dr. Bill Mitchell, an ER doctor from Waco, Texas, always thought he was as good after a 24-hour shift as he was on a full night’s sleep—that is, until he decided to take his instrument check ride after working a 24-hour shift in the ER.

Mitchell said he nailed the 45-minute oral exam, and then took to the air for the flight test. After making two relatively minor-yet-obvious mistakes, he went missed on a VOR approach and forgot to retract the flaps. “I’m going to do you a favor,” the examiner said. “Let’s complete this another time. You’ll be a better pilot for it.”

Mitchell—an accomplished doctor—got a dreaded pink slip, but after some practice with his instructor and a few weather delays, he eventually went back up for the re-test. They shot one approach and the examiner said, “Now circle to land and if you don’t kill us, I’ll pass you.”

“It taught me a very, very valuable lesson,” Mitchell said. “I work in emergency rooms all over the state and I fly everywhere. I’d always though that I was just as good the morning after [a long shift] as I was before, and I never realized that I could be fallible. It was a very, very important lesson.”

Will your check ride become your Waterloo? If you fail, will you exhibit symptoms bordering on a psychotic episode? Hopefully not. Hopefully, if you’ve prepared and given yourself the appropriate time and focus for the test, you will pass on the first time. But if not, treat it as a valuable lesson.

Learn from it, and go back and pass it the second time. You can do it, and you’ll be glad you did.

—Richard is the chief flight instructor at Panorama, which is a full-service FBO and Cessna Pilot Center located at Westchester County Airport (HPN) in White Plains, NY.