Hey I was curious is there no hope for me at this time to fly for an airline? I have failed 4 check rides in my life time. 2 PPL Oral, 1 Insrument Oral, and 1 MEL flight. I’m curious as I have started to interview for some airlines and I get the same expression every time as I tel them my failed attempts. Not sure what to do if anyone has any words of advice let me know or am I just wasting my time?
T,
I’m not going to lie, that’s a tough one. While the airlines are pretty desperate for bodies, the want to know that a person can successfully complete training and won’t be a problem throughout their career.
Best I can say is keep trying.
Adam
You might need to look into some other, less traditional paths like flying cargo, skydivers, etc. Put some distance between you and those failed check rides, then try the airlines again.
Chris
I would still continue interviewing and just see what happens. The best you can do is admit to the mistakes you made and how you learned from them. Then have a solid game plan for how you could be successful in ground school given your track record. They will ask, the best thing you can do is be honest and candid in your responses. Then just wait and see if they decide to take a chance and offer a CJO.
After a handful of interviews, if you’re not getting any offers then look to continue flying part 135 and build your resume.
Hannah
I’m with the others on this, continue to interview and see what happens. If things don’t work out there are other avenues that were mentioned to build some experience and keep trying. 4 checkride failures is a handful, but maybe there is someone in the world that has just as many maybe more that fly for some charter or airline, I just don’t know anyone personally.
Brady
T,
Can you provide us with a little more information? What type of flying did you do after flight school? Were you instructing? Or something else?
To answer your question, I think it depends. You could be right. Maybe you are not getting any job offers because the airlines consider 4 to be too many? Or maybe it’s because the checkride failures were one after the other which does not show a pattern of improvement? Or it could be the way in which you present yourself when answering the question? Or it could be all of these things? Or none of them. None of us were on the panel.
Have you received any feedback? Or are you just assuming that it is because of your checkride failures?
The bottom line is that the airlines invest a lot of money into each an every candidate. New hire airline training is harder than any of the checkrides that you have experienced up to this point. So, why should they give consideration? It is your job to convince the interview panel that you are worth their investment despite your training record because it will also be your responsibility to successfully complete new hire training, not theirs.
The best way to demonstrate that your pattern of unpreparedness will not be an issue is to physically demonstrate that it won’t be an issue. The others have made good suggestions about alternative types of flying and they have also provided good reasons as to why those are good suggestions.
Aside from that, it might also help to receive some internal letters of recommendation so long as they are genuine. More importantly, it’s not just about getting the job. It’s your responsibility to keep your job. Apparently you and the interview panels that you have encountered have differing opinions on that probability.
So, the best advice that I have for you is to continue bettering not just your interview preparedness, but also your preparedness for each day of employment. Find a way to show that to an interview panel and you may have a different outcome.
Tory