Student pilot why so nervous on check rides
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Student pilot why so nervous on check rides
I am a student helicopter pilot. Why do I fly like crap with anyone but my instructor, and what can i do to help my self ? If anyone can explain this to me please do. 
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You will get over it
When you first start out you will always fill nervous with other people. I was the same, because I felt even though I had low hours I had to try and prove myself to whoever got in, especially if they were a pilot.
Give it time and just relax. Just keep doing what you were taught.
Give it time and just relax. Just keep doing what you were taught.
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It's even worse with me. I fly like I normally fly with my instructor and he quite happy with the check ride. Then (and this could be an hour later), the same man takes me for my LPC. I am awful. He commented on it and asked why I was nervous, it was only him?!
I said yes, but you're not an instructor today, you're an examiner!
I have my next LPC due shortly; I'll let you know if I'm still the same!
So mjc, this doesn't help you except let you know it's not unusual and other piltos are the same!
Cheers
Whirls
I said yes, but you're not an instructor today, you're an examiner!
I have my next LPC due shortly; I'll let you know if I'm still the same!
So mjc, this doesn't help you except let you know it's not unusual and other piltos are the same!
Cheers
Whirls
Having been flying for a couple of decades, and coming up on 50 odd types as PiC, they still scare me.
My biggest fear is that actually I can't fly for toffee, I've got away with it by pure luck so far, and that the next checkride will find me out
G
My biggest fear is that actually I can't fly for toffee, I've got away with it by pure luck so far, and that the next checkride will find me out
G
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Just to be dull...
Sit with the Flight Manual and re-learn EVERY single limit. Play hangar pilot and rehearse every emergency that can possibly happen to you.
If you're in the position to, use up an hour doing all the stuff an Examiner will do with you (Apart from engine-offs!)
I suspect if you become fully confident in your own abilities, you'll be OK.
I wish I was diligent enough to do all of the above, all the time!
Sit with the Flight Manual and re-learn EVERY single limit. Play hangar pilot and rehearse every emergency that can possibly happen to you.
If you're in the position to, use up an hour doing all the stuff an Examiner will do with you (Apart from engine-offs!)
I suspect if you become fully confident in your own abilities, you'll be OK.
I wish I was diligent enough to do all of the above, all the time!
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MBJ is right - and I was advised to do similar many years ago. Knowledge is power and the more you have about about your machine, abilities and the plethora of ****e you just have to know - then the greater you confidence. It's a time thing and as you progress you will discover you will loose some of that nervousness. But hey, its that nervousness that can be used to keep you on the ball. Complacency is the killer..............
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I save up all my errors and failings for the whole year and get them all over and done with on my LPC. This year I managed to invert it on the steep turn! The examiner said as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat "At least you didnt loose any height".
Sorry Norman.
Beware of overconfidence.
Sorry Norman.Beware of overconfidence.
The Original Whirly
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My biggest fear is that actually I can't fly for toffee, I've got away with it by pure luck so far, and that the next checkride will find me out
I recently took on someone else's student, an instructor who'd left. The chap had about 12 hours, and I'd been told he was doing quite well. He started the checks and start-up, and was obviously absolutely terrified of making a mistake. I finally stopped him and had a chat, telling him I knew he hadn't flown for a bit, wasn't there to criticise him, wasn't bothered if he made mistakes, and knew exactly how he felt as I hated flying with new people too. I think it helped, not sure...anyway, he's still flying with me.
mjc269,
You are not alone, not at all. But can any of us explain it? Not sure. It sounds a little like a lack of confidence thing...which is better than over-confidence anyway. Try just accepting that this is the way you are and don't fight it. Not sure if that'll make it go away, but at least it'll stop you complicating the issue.
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Absolutely agree with all the above.
It is also my experience that it is worse with some examiners than others. Some give the impression of trying to encourage you, whilst other feel like trappers. I have come across one or two that seem to want to catch you out to prove how much better they are than you...
It is also my experience that it is worse with some examiners than others. Some give the impression of trying to encourage you, whilst other feel like trappers. I have come across one or two that seem to want to catch you out to prove how much better they are than you...
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Mighty Gem is right; 6000 hrs and you will still hate check rides. The only way round it is to take MBJs advice; Play hangar pilot with the FLM before each and every every check. Why do you feel that you fly better with your instructor? Because you are safe in the knowledge that you can't cock it up - He is your mental safety check, when you are on your own your brain is working at twice the rate to make up for it. You will improve with time and experience.
Gotta agree with Helinut. Some of my previous examiners for LPC/OPC have been brilliant, you feel at ease and you learn from them. Others, it has to be said, are crap....
Gotta agree with Helinut. Some of my previous examiners for LPC/OPC have been brilliant, you feel at ease and you learn from them. Others, it has to be said, are crap....
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Check-itus? The answer is NOT to bone up even more and more on the book, because it is not that extra bit of knowledge that screws up the checkride. Quite the opposite, it is virtually NEVER a bit of knowledge that make the ride go badly, and if you treat the ride as something extra-ordinary and requiring a crash course in esoteric memorization, you will feed the monster that wrecks checkrides. That monster is the self-consciousness that the pilot feels.
How does a check ride go bad? While flying, the pilot starts self-examining and critiqueing, and chews up reserve mental powers saying things to himself like "Oh, gosh, did he see that? What is happening here? Gee, the RPM is off now, too! Uh, Oh, did he see that? What is happening"
No student pilot has much reserve capacity, it is natural that the workload of just flying the thing is high. Once you start down the slippery slope of also maintaining a running dialog of critique, you are dead, and surprises start to mount, you get further behind, and the ride goes to hell.
How do you stop the check-itus insanity? Do not let the self critique start, just fly the darn airplane, and do what you usually do. Have faith in yourself, and learn to stop the internal loop of questions and critiques.
How does a check ride go bad? While flying, the pilot starts self-examining and critiqueing, and chews up reserve mental powers saying things to himself like "Oh, gosh, did he see that? What is happening here? Gee, the RPM is off now, too! Uh, Oh, did he see that? What is happening"
No student pilot has much reserve capacity, it is natural that the workload of just flying the thing is high. Once you start down the slippery slope of also maintaining a running dialog of critique, you are dead, and surprises start to mount, you get further behind, and the ride goes to hell.
How do you stop the check-itus insanity? Do not let the self critique start, just fly the darn airplane, and do what you usually do. Have faith in yourself, and learn to stop the internal loop of questions and critiques.
"....just fly the darn airplane, and do what you usually do..."
Well said! Pet hate number one: Pilot returns from leave and complains about doing an OPC. So, does that mean you aren't able to fly the line???
Well said! Pet hate number one: Pilot returns from leave and complains about doing an OPC. So, does that mean you aren't able to fly the line???
A wise old examiner once gave me the following explanation:
RETREATING BRAIN STALL
(ri-trēt'ing brān stôl): This is a condition of severe mental dysfunction, where the information flow in the advancing half of the brain (the input and retention half) is drastically unbalanced by the requirement for rapid output of information from the retreating half of the brain (the output half), resulting in a temporary stall of information flow from ANY part of the brain.
This debilitative condition is often found in student helicopter pilots, and occasionally in rated pilots, when they are under the stress of situations such as rigorous training sessions, phase checks, and especially, FAA check rides. This condition is transitory in nature and if encountered on the ground (such as during oral exams), usually clears up after a brief moment of relaxation. However, if this condition occurs in flight while one is acting as pilot-in-command, prolonged retreating brain stall may have fatal results.
RETREATING BRAIN STALL
(ri-trēt'ing brān stôl): This is a condition of severe mental dysfunction, where the information flow in the advancing half of the brain (the input and retention half) is drastically unbalanced by the requirement for rapid output of information from the retreating half of the brain (the output half), resulting in a temporary stall of information flow from ANY part of the brain.
This debilitative condition is often found in student helicopter pilots, and occasionally in rated pilots, when they are under the stress of situations such as rigorous training sessions, phase checks, and especially, FAA check rides. This condition is transitory in nature and if encountered on the ground (such as during oral exams), usually clears up after a brief moment of relaxation. However, if this condition occurs in flight while one is acting as pilot-in-command, prolonged retreating brain stall may have fatal results.
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I completely screwed my CPL flight test because I had got myself so nervous.
I blamed my poor autos, but in reality, it was just an all-round crappy attempt!
Anyway, I had convinced myself that my autos were to blame, and during a practice flight after the failed test, my instructor suggested that I try and hum the 'A team' theme as loud as I could...sounds rediculous, but I actually found that the timimg of the theme worked particularly well with the final stages of the flare.
So I sat the flight test again, and felt quite confident. I did a lot better, although definitly not up to my usual standard. It started to look like I was going to get nervous again and stuff it a second time.
I was requested to demostrate a 180 auto, and decided to try the 'A Team' trick. I pulled off an absolutely perfect text-book auto to the spot, which ensured a pass...
Anyway, long story short...
"If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team."
I blamed my poor autos, but in reality, it was just an all-round crappy attempt!
Anyway, I had convinced myself that my autos were to blame, and during a practice flight after the failed test, my instructor suggested that I try and hum the 'A team' theme as loud as I could...sounds rediculous, but I actually found that the timimg of the theme worked particularly well with the final stages of the flare.
So I sat the flight test again, and felt quite confident. I did a lot better, although definitly not up to my usual standard. It started to look like I was going to get nervous again and stuff it a second time.
I was requested to demostrate a 180 auto, and decided to try the 'A Team' trick. I pulled off an absolutely perfect text-book auto to the spot, which ensured a pass...
Anyway, long story short...
"If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team."
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Please explain the A-team theme timing thing - I struggle a bit with flare timing, and it sounds useful. Bearing in mind that I'm a beginner, feel free to explain everything in great detail, using easy words 
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I think it would be foolish of me to tell you how to execute an autorotation using the A team theme.
The point is that you need to lighten up a bit...or at least i needed to lighten up when I was in the same situation. Using something like humming a tune is mearly a way to lighten up and take a bit of the over-seriousness that you have created away. We all know that when you tense up, your control inputs become less smooth, and sometimes mechanical. It is this that I believe was creating my bad autos. Simply by making myself relax a little, everything just came together.
At the end of the day, you probably know how to do everything you need to demonstrate in your flight test. You probably know how to do most, or all of it well. The only difference is that there will be more pressure during the flight test, and you are the one creating that pressure, so find something that will make you chill out a bit...preferably not drugs or alcohol!
The point is that you need to lighten up a bit...or at least i needed to lighten up when I was in the same situation. Using something like humming a tune is mearly a way to lighten up and take a bit of the over-seriousness that you have created away. We all know that when you tense up, your control inputs become less smooth, and sometimes mechanical. It is this that I believe was creating my bad autos. Simply by making myself relax a little, everything just came together.
At the end of the day, you probably know how to do everything you need to demonstrate in your flight test. You probably know how to do most, or all of it well. The only difference is that there will be more pressure during the flight test, and you are the one creating that pressure, so find something that will make you chill out a bit...preferably not drugs or alcohol!