Why did you fail your CPL or IR test

[EGCC4284]

I thought I would start this thread so as to enable others the opportunity to pass on any helpful tips and what to watch out for during a flight test. Any simple stupid mistakes that everyone may think wont happen to them etc etc.

Can anyone with any stories regarding failing your CPL or IR flight test and who may have any helpful advice of what to be aware of during our test please share it with us all..

Much appreciated.

[Aerofoil]

Good luck with it rob!

Il be back in 3 weeks to start mine.

Dave :ok:

[TheOddOne]

A bit of soul seaching here..

It was all more than 15 years ago for me. I failed my first CPL GFT out of Bournemouth.

Although well prepared by my instructor, I felt nervous and possibly a bit intimidated by the examiner (my fault, not his). I filled in all the paperwork and worked out the flightplan, Wt & Balance etc but in my rush forgot to sign off the Tech Log. I was conscious of it on the back seat as we rolled and just wished I could have turned around and signed it. I was sure he was going to turn to me at any second and say 'you're flying illegally, you haven't signed for the a/c!' Of course he never did, but after the first leg (which in retrospect went well) I'd just got it in my mind that I'd failed, so sure enough I cocked up the partial panel and we went back to Hurn with my tail between my legs. Lots of expensive lessons learned;
if you plan for failure then you will,
pay attention to detail,
put a mistake behind you and get on with the future,
you are your own person, don't be put off by more senior people. I took a failure rather than a partial (daft but I'm glad I wiped the slate clean)

The second test at Bristol was a delight. He was signing the pink slip as we were turning final back to Lulsgate. He'd put me at my ease. I felt able to engage with him. Circuits done at Compton Abbas - great! At that stage I had minimum hours (I think about 150) for taking the CPL GFT so I was quite pleased with my achievement.

Tips? Well, the examiner isn't there to fail you. Let them pass you, it's up to you. Do as you've been told by your instructor, you might not agree with everything the CAA wants you to do, but if you want the licence, it's the only way! Your instructors want you to pass, they won't get any students if they all fail.

That all may be ancient history - let's see if anyone else has a more 'modern' view, but I suspect the basics are the same.

Good Luck to everyone about to embark on the Great Adventure.

Cheers,
TheOddOne

[F/O Speaking]

One of my colleagues at Oxford forgot to put the gear down on his IR a few years back. That`s always a good one to remember!!!

Funnily enough he still managed to get a partial pass????

I can`t recall whether or not they clipped the props or not but it was a common occurence as a few of the examiners liked to pull the CBs to stop annoying horns going off.

Anyhow, he happily drives 757s for a major UK charter company now

On a serious note though. One thing that does look sloppy on an IR is people who don`t correct themselves when they get a little high or low. If you`re supposed to be flying at 3000' for example DO IT. Don`t accept 2900' or 3100' and maintain it. If you get a little out correct yourself.

This is especially important when attending SIM rides for job interviews.


:ok:

[piper pervert]

CPL

I luckily got through mine first time but only just.All went well until the circuit section,i knew it was the last stage of the test and what id done 'til that point had been fine so the pressure was on! The actual shape of my first circuit was anything but correct,didnt allow for winds and turned/descended at the wrong place so i was short and v high on final.When he realised how wrong i'd got it he asked me to go around and try again which luckily went fine.
Contrary to the scare stories, the examiners i've come across have seemed very fair and understanding of the huge pressure and nerves involved,and seem to take it into account.

On a side note, i know of 2 people that failed on the same basic thing.At the end of the nav they were asked to track a vor, both guys got there to's and from's mixed up and failed that section.I would consider both to be above average students but it shows what a lack of concentration does to your confidence and your wallet!

PP

[You Gimboid]

There was a guy out of Hurn who forgot to change the fuel tanks over during the CPL test. Just as they were rejoining Class D airspace everything went very quiet as the tank went dry.

He followed the drill correctly and managed to get it all started again - perhaps that was the only reason he still got a partial. (Also possibly to save the examiners blushes as he had obviously forgotten it as well)

I failed mine first time round - on the recovery from stall on simulated base turn, I didn't put enough rudder in when I put the gas on. I then put my glide approach in like a carrier landing so failed both sections. Luckily passed straight through at 2nd attempt.

Needless to say was petrified throughout most of it - forgot just about everything, and the worst moment was when the airplane didn't start first time with the examiner sitting there - I still had the mixture to cutoff, durrr!

[Fancy Navigator]

Gimbo,
Did he fail you because you did not apply enough rudder....! That's tough! :(
FNav

[DeltaSix]

Hi guys,

Failed IR exam on the first try but got a pretty good score on the second attempt at the exam.

CPL - nearly failed it 4 years ago coz I nearly entered controlled airspace without a clearance. Wasn't watching my DME and basically lost my situational awareness due to the examiner asking questions while I was flying. So, my advise during flight test is, do not loose situational awareness even if the examiner is talking. Know where you are all the time ( or at least some idea ).

good luck boys and girls


DeltaSix

[Keygrip]

Examiner talking during the nav?

Hold up your hand and say "Please, I'm concentrating".

Any more "chat" (at the wrong time) moves towards a Regulation 6 appeal.

I've always been a great pro-ponent of 'chatting' to candidates on test - but only to PPLs. Partly to calm their nerves and partly to see how they would handle the situation when 'passenger' starts asking daft questions at wrong time.

CPL? Not allowed to open chat to candidate (altough CAN respond to his/her chat) - certainly during nav - I emphasise it on the pre flight brief. "I'm going to go very quiet, just to give you 100% opportunity to concentrate. Please don't think I'm being unfriendly"

[DeltaSix]

Keygrip.

Might be not allowed to chat but it did happen and can happen.

It's actually a good lesson for me coz when I started flying people around they ask questions which can distract you and will do.

From that point on, everytime I have a pax beside me who talks for the whole 1 to 2 hours of the trip, I constantly remind myself of what happened on my testing day.

D6
:ok:

[Fancy Navigator]

...Well, I have been taught to treat the examiner like a passenger on a pleasure flight and talk to him about local features, etc... Also, the examiner did stipulate that he would talk to me during the flight and therefore, expected me to chat back.... A bit of a killer for concentration, ain't it...? Probably to add to the difficulty....but it is manageable.
FNav :)

[Sky Wave]

Hi

Managed a partial on both the CPL and the IR :(

IR

Set up my instruments on the ground prior to departure and the first time I would need the VOR the course would be 284 out of SAM. Whilst in the departure I accidentally moved the course knob instead of the heading knob, I quickly reset the course but not well enough. 282 instead of 284. Doesn't sound too much however on the ADSON - EXMOR leg you're about 40 miles away from SAM and you eventually lose SAM. Couple that with the fact that the southerly wind was not as strong as the forecast and I ended up a long way south of track. I should have used a method of cross checking off of BCN, however my Nav had always been spot on in the training and practice tests so I'd never had to cross check it. I ended up about 4nm south of EXMOR.

CPL

Examiner said smoke from the right engine, I didn't interpret smoke as fire, so I throttled the engine back rather than hurriedly shutting it down. I then thought better of it and decided I should shut it off, however since I'd already throttled back I chose to go feather then mixture then fuel rather then Fuel, Mix, Feather, Throttle as is correct for an engine fire. Examiner said should have done fire procedure because there's no smoke without fire. Next he said there was acrid smoke in the cockpit, I thought it's most likely to be avionics so I shut the avionics masters off (touch drill). He said that had helped, so I proceeded to work out if it was avionics 1 or 2. He then said it's getting worse and shutting off avionics no longer helped so I went for batt and alternator and followed the checklist. Examiner said I should have gone straight to battery and alternator. Anyway, on the retake I had a different examiner, who also gave me smoke in cockpit, I did Batt and Alt straight away and followed the checklist, and although he passed me he criticised me for not thinking about the reason for the smoke and said I shouldn’t have just jumped straight into shutting off all of the power (we'd just turned the heater on and he was imagining a heater problem.) You just can't win. Never the less it's all done and dusted now. I’m just about £1200 worse off for it.

Good luck

SW

oops, just seen this post was month's ago. I expect you've done yours by now

[Send Clowns]

Because I flew when I shouldn't have!

Partialled my CPL. Came from a system where if it was within limits, you went on test. If the examiner judged it was too difficult, he would stop the test. Then had the frustration of delays due to weather/illness, a test cancelled due to weather, another not complete due to gear failure.

Came to complete, the weather was in limits, in fact ideal. However as we taxied ATC reported 6kts gusting 21 as a squall came through. Afterwards my examiner said she was surprised I continued, and did not delay for an hour, and I see that I should not have; however habit is ingrained, the wind was within limits if rather tricky.

Everything went OK until my glide, when the gust hit me as I turned final a little low anyway, and seemed to drive me relentlessly down. Nearly made it, but needed power at the last minute to get down.

Moral of the tale is don't press on into bad conditions, if they seem poor bin it early by choice, complete later.

Best of luck!

[Northern Highflyer]

I partialled the IR on my engine failure.

The weather was poor with gusty winds, low cloud. and turbulent weather on the day, and just within the limits to go. Off we went and all was going well until the engine fail. I hit the wrong rudder and immediately recognised my mistake, corrected and continued but it was too late. During my training the instructors generally pulled the throttle fairly quickly but on the test the examiner did it very slowly. After what seemed like an age I detected the yaw and began the recovery, the wrong one. With hindsight I think the turbulence on the day was what I had detected and I reacted too quickly, expecting the yaw as I had seen in my training. The examiner said I handled it well but had just drifted outside the 30 degree limit. If I had kept it within that he would have given me the benefit of the doubt. The restest took all of ten minutes :{ .

That was the only time I had made that mistake and was mortified that I had done it on the test. I even landed with a 20 knot tailwind on the test (so I was told by the examiner) and nailed all the procedures better than I had ever done before.

Moral of the story : don't expect the examiner to do things exactly the same way as your instructors.

[Send Clowns]

Take note of Pressman's post. I had exactly the same experience with one of the most feared examiners! She was actually very fair to me.

[Rubber Dagger]

Knowing you as i do Rob, you won't need all these "helping hints" to fluff it you will quite easily manage that on your own!!

:ok: :yuk:

[EGCC4284]

Rubber Dagger

testing 12 12 12 testing, can you hear me mother.

Regards Rob the white rabbit out of hat puller. da daaaaaa.

[Northern Highflyer]

:confused: I think he has finally lost it. :E