PPL skills test

[james1983]

Well im on the long road to my ATPL and have my first mile stone tomorrow, my PPL skills test. I feel confident but nervous (if that makes any sense what so ever). I was wondering whether any of you guys and girls have any advice for me, as those ever familiar butterflies are just begining to set in.

Thanks in advance

James

[SupaMach]

Be confident, do things as you normally would and smile!

Good luck.

[james1013]

Ok here's the pep talk. First off remember there's 3 possible out comes tomorrow; pass, fail or partial pass. If you pass - brill crack open the bubbly. If you partial - not so brill but not the end of the World, take in the examiner's de-brief on the failed bit and hey-presto you've just gained a bit more airmanship (now make sure you don't fail the partial re-take ). If you fail then you've either had a bad day or you weren't ready for test - the bad day bit, you can't do much about, **** happens - the not ready bit, unlikely as any self respecting FI wouldn't put you forward for test unless they had confidence in you. And if you do fail, just take the test again. What I'm trying to say is don't whatever you do put any unnecessary pressure on yourself, try and have the attitude that tomorrow is your first attempt at gaining a PPL, if you pass it great, if you don't then the wheels aren't gonna fall off your ultimate ambition.

During the flight. Obviously concentrate and try your best but if you do make a slip up or "think" you've made a slip, move on and stay with the present/slightly ahead of the aeroplane. Dwelling on an error (or perceived error) is likely to help induce a later error and things could start to unravel. This applies to the test and is good airmanship for any flight. Let the examiner be the judge of whether what you think you've done wrong is actual a pass/partial/fail issue. Don't beat yourself while you still have lots of flight test to finish.

Any advise other than this is hard to give without knowing you or your training background however I would just add the following as a general bit of advice. If you find yourself off target for a speed, power setting, altitude, heading or circuit position etc then make a sensible correction in a positive manner as soon as you can (whilst maintaining smooth flight).

Hope this helps and good luck.

[james1983]

Thanks for the advice guys, passed it this morning. It wasnt half as bad as i thought it would be. hour building here i come.

[student88]

If you're distance learning for the ATPLs I'd hour build after you've passed your exams otherwise you'll end up with a ton of hours and no exams passed - use the hour building as your reward once the ATPLs are done.