My dad has done a fair amount of instructing and dealing with FAA check airmen and has been (and is) a check airmen on several aircraft in corporate aviation. Corporate aviation standards have an expectation of much higher precision than private. Some check airmen seem to be complete dicks on a power trip (hello FAA) while others it seems you will end the day at the bar with. However, as many pilots have told me, you must be relaxed during your check ride. Also remember that if you feel you need to practice more, there is no harm in doing that. My dad always, even after 10years of flying the Falcon 10, always spends days an enormous amount of time practicing for his check rides. Might as well view it as a challenge to see how precise you can be!

Goodly morning Tyler...

Well Tyler I have a little flying experience, about 65 years and 3 Log Books full of memories...

I was a check pilot and Instructor on DC3s, 4s, 6s, Consolidated PBY5As/Canso, a few DeHavilland Aeroplanes also.

Almost every First Officer going from the right to left seat were just like you, worried they were going to make mistakes.

I used to track the aviator down before the check ride and go for a tea, coffee, etc. and start talking about anything but aviation and the check ride.

By the time we got to the aircraft, we were both equals, both aviators...just like in your case.

Do not worry about the amount of hours you have, your instructors will tell you when you are ready and that is all that matters.

A good idea is to run through a check ride with your instructor.

The most important thing is to relax, be yourself, the person that will be doing your check ride is just like anyone else, they put their shoes on one at a time...

Look them right in the eye when doing your check ride, perhaps all you will see is your instructor...

Of course if they are the opposite sex of your instructor try not to laugh out loud...

Education and experience are what make an aviator, you have about 40 hours of experience, far more than the average person walking down the sidewalk.
Education, well every flight will be a learning experience, just like this check ride.

Savour it, relax and just do what your instructor showed you, nothing more, nothing less.

One last thing, I always told my students to look at the person doing the check ride as a student pilot or friend and you are about to teach them something.

That is right, you are about to teach this person what you know about flying and do it. 
That is what they want to see.

If you can do that comfortably, you got it made Tyler.

The battle for you is half over, you have asked the question here at Simviation and members and friends are going to help you out...

Not going to wish you good luck...you don't need it...you would not be doing the check ride if you needed good luck.

Relax, smile and have fun...

I'm presently watching "Bush Pilots", on British TV each evening at 8:00 PM...>>>

http://uktv.co.uk/dave/series/tvseries/257711

Some useful tips on training for a PPL, with new recruits vying for places...

Well worth a watch.

Paul.

Flying Trucker wrote on Jul 11^th, 2012 at 8:21am:


Hello Doug...

Its one of those Trans-Atlantic Peculiarities!.... ...!

Some programs we can get..others we cant!... ...!

"Bush Pilots" is presently broadcast each weekday evening, via a British "Freeview" set-top-box, on the; "Dave" Channel.

An excellent series, filmed similar to;" Ice Pilots" and "Ice Road Truckers", etc, but this time in Central Africa.... ...!

Maybe it will be made available on other Channels, later?

It illustrates just how difficult/impossible? it is to get a job as a Private Pilot, in competition with many others, aiming for the same job!

Paul...poking about in the bushes!... ..!

Thanks for the help guys. I talked it over with my instructor and he told me that he won't be putting me into the check ride unless he thinks I'll fail. We're gunna go over maneuvers again because we haven't done those in about a month and see which once I know and which ones I need to work on. I still need to burn 5 hours of solo flying but have a 3 hour cross country weekend that will fill that big gap. 

tcco94 wrote on Jul 13^th, 2012 at 4:09am:

I hope that was a typo

Trucker pretty much laid it out... but it bears repeating that you should definitely do a mock check ride with your instructor. Or better yet, a different instructor... in fact, it's routine for students to do a "stage check" with another instructor prior to the ride with the DPE. This will give you a taste of what it's like to fly with some unfamiliar presence next to you, watching you. Another instructor might also think of some little thing your regular CFI hasn't made quite clear to you yet, or some new "trick" that might be useful.

I'll also add that it doesn't pay to worry too much about your maneuvers, landings, etc... what is being evaluated is your ability to command, not your ability to fly like a "natural." Besides, if you can't make a 45-degree banked turn with the ball centered and not lose or gain less than 100 feet of altitude, you need more review, anyway. 

You also don't want to break the airplane on the check ride... 

But you get what I mean. It's great to fly precisely on the checkride, but it's not the most important thing.

The examiner wants to know primarily that you understand everything that's involved.  He wants to get inside your head. So it pays to think aloud- say what you're doing, and why. If you catch yourself making a mistake, admit it and just fix it.  You do not want the examiner, at any point, to point out some error you made that you did not acknowledge. That is a lot worse than the actual screwup! You will almost definitely have one "whoopsie" on your check ride; most people do. And any old graybeard pilot  who tells you he cannot make a mistake in the air is a liar (most of them, like Trucker, could go on for hours about the stupid things they've done, LOL). So if you screw up, just admit it and fix it if possible. That's all you can expect any pilot to do... perfection is just not possible, even for some "natural" with twenty dusty logbooks in his attic.

In the end, most pilots agree that the PPASEL ride is easier than they had feared, so be sure to relax. The biggest problem for PPASEL applicants is their own nervousness. It's a head game. It's kind of like your first solo- that first time you were by yourself, you only did something you'd already done before, with the CFI just sitting there watching you. The check ride is the same in that way, only you have to demonstrate a lot more than just three takeoffs and landings. So relax... if your instructor says you're ready, you will do fine if you unclench your brain and just do what you've been doing.