Under the JAA system, a complete fail of the LPC is uncommon. A 'Partial Pass' is more common but is often seen as a 'fail' by the candidate as the same warnings about not excercising the licence priviledges still has to be given.
Under the JAA rules a candidate can repeat an item if the examiner feels that there was a minor error. A successful repeat is seen as a 'pass at the first attempt'. If the repeat is not successful then it becomes a 'Fail'. The candidate is allowed to fail five items before the entire LPC becomes a 'Fail'. Any items that have been failed at the first attempt can be retested at the end (note the difference in the wording, 'repeat and retest'). If any item is failed on the retest then the entire LPC is a 'Fail'. Training, both physical and verbal, can take place prior to a Retest, but only verbal correction prior to a repeat.
The UK CAA rules for Licence Proficiency Checks are laid down in Document 24 V4 which is available to all on the
CAA website. Page 17 of that document gives the rules for debriefing a candidate. It states that the examiner should give the reasons for the failure in descending order of severity. They should be factual statements which are not open to dispute. The examiner should not ask the candidate to assess himself or be apologetic. This should be followed by stating the retest requirements, the effect on privileges and any retraining requirements.
The examiner should then comment on the whole flight bringing up both good and bad points and giving training input. Facilitative techniques, which are not allowed in the initial failure debrief, are positively encouraged in this area of the debriefing.
Airclues