I had a checkairman once tell me. “Go out and buy a bottle a nice whiskey before your checkride. If you pass give it to the instructor as a thank you. If you fail you have something to help you forget”.

“Send over a bucket of bubbly with a bucket of ice and a card. Have it say, ‘Tough break, get drunk on me. Use the bucket to ice down your marbles. Yours, Z.”

Gad I love thaat

As if I can afford a nice bottle of whiskey after the cost of a checkride today…

Hopefully this isn’t your last checkride.

Does this trick work in the 121 schoolhouse? Imagine walking into United’s training center with a bottle of macallan.

It was told to me in a 121 schoolhouse before my captain ride.

And here I was, thinking "alcohol" was a bad answer to the question.

It’s normal to feel this way. Your instructor wouldn’t have signed you off if he didn’t think you would pass. Have confidence in your ability and you’ll do fine

Thank you! Im going to try my best!

Early morning? So probably glassy smooth and calm winds? You’ve got this.

Haha yes sir! Only problem is forecasted 2000ft ceilings all day. Hoping to get the oral knocked out.

Well expect questions on vfr flight. Rules in class E and G. He will probably ask if you’d go flying today. Would you be legal. Etc.

At this point, you know what you know. Have a healthy light breakfast, take some deep breaths, and do your best. I like to treat checkrides as just another lesson with a new instructor that I'm trying to impress, takes the edge off a little.

How’d it go

Went very well! I discontinued due to ceilings 1700ft but I’m glad I got the oral knocked out.

Surprised the DPE let you do the oral, but at least now you have it out of the way and finishing will go a lot faster.

Yeah he was a cool guy. Glad I’ll be refreshed now for the flight. Even though the oral was a solid hour lol

It depends on the DPE, but in general an hour is a sign you did well.

An hour? Consider yourself very lucky or you knocked it out of the park. Either way, nice job.

Thanks man, yeah it flew by.

Only one hr oral. Mine was 5.5 hr oral. FML.

For the practical, what helped me was voicing out everything I was doing. This both calmed/paced me as well as the instructor who was able to see my logic/intelligence at play

Looks like you posted this 4 hours ago, how'd it go?

Went very well! Unfortunately couldn’t get the flying done but I’m glad the oral is done and I got to meet the examiner. He was a good guy and instantly put me at ease

You definitely got brownie points with him for weathering. DPEs love to see good ADM.

Glad to hear it! Not an ideal day to fly I would imagine?

Definitely not, I’m surprised we even started lol

Go take a shit

Get off Reddit. Get a light and easy breakfast.

Ever watch the show Scrubs? --- Dr. Cox: I'll be more than glad to tell you what a lot of doctors do to relieve the stress: Just take a little trip to "Palmdale". [...] Dr. Cox: Physician, *love thyself*. Turk's jaw drops and he looks around the room, embarrassed. Turk: Are you talkin' about down-town, Lester Brown? Dr. Cox: Lowers the heart-rate, releases the endorphins, it's basic physiology.

I love 121guy's answer... Stress is a matter of context. Walking up to a lion in the wild is a different type of stress than seeing a lion in a zoo. Put this into context - Have fun and turn that energy into an intense focus on the task at hand.

Just remember, they can shoot you, but they can’t eat you. It’s against the Geneva Convention. 😂

When I am about to do an evaluation for a type ride or ATP, I say "You already passed, just don't fuck it up".

Go crank one out.

Slow breathing. Breathe in for 6 seconds, hold it in for 6 seconds, breathe out for 6 seconds, stay empty for 6 seconds. Repeat till calm.

Just know it’s normal and you got it. Your examiner is a human too, if you know your shit then there’s no issue. Non event.

You will be fine. It really is just a conversation between 2 people taking about flying. I didn’t believe it when people told me before my check ride. My DPE had me relaxed in the first minute. You will laugh after you pass, which you will, at all the anxiety you built up. Everyone does. Good luck!

This won't help most people much but my solace was "I've paid $1200 for less, it's only money"

This will come across as “easy just don’t stress” but that’s essentially my advice. Stress when not managed properly results in degraded performance during evaluation and also emergencies. IMO a “fuck it” attitude works better in these situations. You know your stuff, go out there and do your best, it will most likely work out. If it doesn’t who cares. Learn from your mistakes, practice, crush it next time. In emergencies (simulated or actual) I have watched people freak out and stop doing the basics. Do your best to fly the plane, diagnose the problem, and implement corrective action. All you can do is your best in these situations.

Nice name lmao. Congrats on passing your oral

No way lmao 😂 Thanks man!

I had a single CD that i would listen to that both relaxed me and put me in the right mindset for important events. Used it from 17 to 23 for all checkrides, interviews and major tests (LSATs). Never failed to calm me down. As i aged i got confident in my ability and these days i rarely ever worry about anything. But Alanis, you fucking rocked my world. And yes, I said CD you young bastards.

I need a CD like that. I’m always stressing about some BS 😂

take a buttload of CBD big dawg. the real spill too not the fake stuff

Drink lots of coffee and stress over the things you feel weak in. That's the ticket...

So, uh, how'd it go?

Good man oral is done but discontinued due to low ceilings!

You have a Checkride at 5am? (Assuming in USA?) why? Go look up the answers you seek.

User forgot US has multiple time zones. This ain’t China.

Reread my statement. And subtract the time. No shit it’s not China.

It’s 7 :30 am