Passed my PPL Checkride!

Hello Mentors,
After putting in the hard work/effort I was finally able to pass my first ever checkride! It was definitely nerve wrecking since it was my first checkride, my DPE noticed how nervous I got whenever he would ask me such a simple question such as “what are you using for identification today?” and i go “I would like to use my government issued photo ID”
He’s give me that obvious look and smile and rephrase his question “what type of identification would you provide?” then I’d say “photo ID that was issued by the government”
He laughed out loud and he’s like “tell me that’s your driver’s license harsh, don’t be very nervous I can already tell you are”
But he did his best to calm myself, and I did just find after that.
Did my oral then had to discontinue because the thunderstorms were moving in our way. Following day did my flying portion of the checkride and that was also nerve wrecking especially since I’ve never had anyone else besides my instructors sit beside me. I held on to the yoke so hard and we would keep climbing while I kept fixing not recognizing it was my grip and this was all due to me being nervous and he would often tell me “loosen that grip harsh, i know you’re nervous just breathe and you’ll be okay”.

Overall, my first checkride went well! I did make a couple mistakes that I fixed after recognizing them. I know where I could have done better and I’m sure I can improve on that.
Thank you to all the instructors and mentors on here that have helped me through my first step of this amazing journey!

1 Like

Harsh,

Glad it went well. Congrats! You’re a pilot!

Adam

Congrats Harsh! I wish I had a secret to address checkride anxiety. All I can say is usually it gets easier with more experience.

Tory

Congrats, you’re a pilot!

Unfortunately checkride nerves hit everyone. The best thing you can do is learn how to cope with them. Take deep breaths, focus on one task at a time and if you can, have light conversation with the examiner. It will help you realize they are just a human being too.

Hannah

Harsh,

Congratulations on passing your check ride and welcome to being a pilot!

I still sometimes find myself having a death grip on the yoke and have to tell myself to relax my grip. For some reason it was even worse with the Airbus side stick.

Thank you for the update, please keep them coming and next time we want pictures!

Chris

That’s because if you grab that stupid stick with more than 2 fingers it will literally become a death grip!?! #ScareBus

Adam

1 Like

Harsh,

Congrats on the Private Pilot checkride pass!

You will make mistakes, that is normal - we are humans (Unless you’re like @Adam, you’d be a Yoda). One thing that always helped me during checkrides was arriving early and just getting everything that the DPE could expect from me during check-in ready to make the process smoother. Now you know what to expect for your upcoming checkrides, please keep us posted.

Brady

1 Like