Are You Ready?
The purpose of the checkride is to determine, within the confines of the PTS, whether the applicant is a safe, competent pilot. The examiner has considerable freedom as to just how 'everything in the PTS will be evaluated. Past applicants have found that there are few 'two-time Tommys'. The better you have done on the written, the smoother your answers during the oral, the better. In the flight-test a display of aircraft knowledge, confidence, judgment and safety oriented maneuvers will get you through. Failing to keep a watchful eye out for other traffic is not the way to go.

In the real world of life some things are done too soon. Getting married, having children, picking fruit, and going into your own business are typical examples. Applied to flight instruction, we often find that students are pushed into solo or into the flight test before they are ready. "Picked too green", is the saying. I have picked several students for solo when they were ‘too green’. Usually, I know and the student known when the right time for solo happens. For the PTS flight test there are so many imponderables that knowing just when to go for it is a crap shoot.

As possibly only one of many instructors in several types of aircraft and many hours of instruction, the one who signs the Application Form cannot do more than review and check for proficiency. The examiner is in much the same position, taking only a series of snap-shots that show the performance skills and judgment skills required of a pilot.

The student pilot who is ‘picked too green’ has been exposed and perhaps even learned the required skills for the moment. The retention and carry through of these skills are degraded through lack of practice so that the ability to stay out of trouble is also degraded. The student, often ashamed to admit this lack of skill will find reasons not to fly and reasons not to get instructor help. It does not take very long for even an experienced pilot to revert to ignorance, out of currency, and less than proficient. An accident looking for a place to happen.

Allow yourself time to grow up as a pilot. Feeling uncomfortable about something is enough reason not to fly. Being scared of any or all aspects of the flight real or imagined is a valid basis for cancellation.

The actual flying is retained, it is the finer points of taxiing, communications, configuration changes, emergency procedures, situational awareness, and checklist use that fail first. In a way, we will all turn rotten to one degree or another when we do not fly often enough. An instructor cannot teach the new pilot everything needed, the examiner cannot test everything, and there is no way you can live and fly long enough to know all that needs to be known.

Initiating safety inspired go-around, sooner rather than later is the thing to do. You are more likely to be failed for not making the go-around than for the way you make it. It is your judgment the examiner is evaluating as much or more than your flying. By telling the examiner what you are doing and why you are doing it in a certain way you are giving him an opportunity to ask for something different.

Get your paperwork in order. Confirm that you meet the PTS flight time requirements Eat breakfast. Get the aircraft papers in order. Know the required inspections. Don't answer with more than is asked. Go over the 'game plan' with the examiner before the flight to make sure you both understand the ground rules.

Some pilots get a license and treat that as the end of their learning experience. It may be as a direct result of improper instruction. Instruction that instills an attitude requiring continued learning should be a goal of every instructor. Proper instruction makes the license as an intermediate step in the total flying lifetime.

Pilots should realize that every flight, is a "training flight". It's an attitude thing really. Some pilots, who have it, and set goals of performance each time they fly, will have a chance of surviving if an emergency occurs.

In an emergency, you do what you have to do. Normal approaches should be flown within the POH descent rates and airspeeds. Experienced pilots will slip after full flap deployment as required.

Calming Anxiety
Anxiety is generalized fear. Your body prepares you to run, fight or act to protect yourself. Your heart and blood pressure rise, blood sugar increases and blood flow is reduced to the head, stomach, skin, hands and feet. You sweat and your muscles tense up. This response is individual to your physiology, background, and inherited instincts.

Emotional stress is just as valid a concern as is physical distress. Being frightened and recognizing the fear is the first step in overcoming fear as a problem. Fear will keep you from doing stupid things. Fear is a protective mechanism that is a very valuable adjunct to your flying repertoire.

We can also fear abstract situations. We worry about the future, the flight to come, life, health, love, status and acceptance. These concerns can trigger the same instinctive responses, as could a lion to our ancestors. However, when we react to these ‘lions’ of psychological threat our behavior is deemed inappropriate. Your very real ‘fears’ and your reaction to them become a part of the ‘fear’ problem.

If you are anxious about a particular flying problem you are just being normal. The physiological effect of a solo flight exceeds the similar effects occurring in a parachute jumps or first combat. It is very difficult to express in mere words your concerns because they usually defy description. However, you can help yourself.

Just as your fears are related to imagination so is the overcoming of these fears possible through imagination. For starters, take a worst case scenario and work through the sequence of events as you have been trained to manage them. Ask yourself out loud if any of this is really unbearable. Remind yourself that some degree of discomfort may occur, but you’ll survive. Every time a new worry enters your imagination, write it down and drop it into your open worry jar. Everyone should have an open worry jar. Once you have put a worry into the jar, get occupied with something else. A worry jar is a place to keep your worries until you get a chance to work with them.

In the beginning, it will be difficult to put anxious thoughts out of your mind. Trying to suppress a concern may end up with even more thinking. Arrange to do something that will not allow you to dwell on the problem until you are ready. Try not to think about a coming flight. Don’t let the thought of the flight enter your mind. You’ll probably find it nearly impossible not to think about the flight.

Worrisome thoughts fuel anxiety. Ignored worries have a way of poking back into your mind. Set aside a time to dip into your worry jar. At your selected worry time, sit down with your jar of big and little worries.
What is the worry?
What is the probability of this worry happening?
What is the best thing that could happen?
What is the probability of this best thing happening?
What are the solution options to your worry?
What plan of action will give me the best options?

During your worry time do nothing by worry. Brainstorm through solutions. Scheduling a worry time cuts the amount of time spent worrying. Save all your old worries into an enclosed can. Save these old worries because you will soon learn that the majority of them either never happen or turn out much better than you expected.

I am asking you to look at your worries at arms-length and ask yourself if your feared ‘lion’ is being exaggerated by your imagination. Question the probability of what you imagine, has of happening. Of the sequence of events which are events that have circumstances you can control. Talk to someone about the events beyond your control. You must accept that there are some things over which you have little control.

Written Specifics:
Opinion on Written
How to study for the written.. The guiding principle is to focus on the correct answer and ignore the incorrect answer. Go through all the questions and circle/highlight the correct answers. When reviewing, only study the correct answer. Don't even read the other choices. You're not learning the theory behind the questions. Focus exclusively on the correct answer, so you will recognize the right one regardless if the number order is different. Greg H.

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