As Certified Flight Instructors (CFIs), we wear many hats: teacher, mentor, evaluator, and sometimes even psychologist. Our primary mission is to shape safe, competent pilots who can handle the skies with confidence and sound judgment.
This extends to checkride day, where just preparing our students may not be enough. In some rare cases, and as an indicator that the student really might not be as ready as you might have thought, you may have to step in to stop them from proceeding with the scheduled event for the likelihood of their success, or worse, their safety.
The “Desire to Get It Done”: How Eagerness Clouds Judgment
The infamous “desire to get it done”is a psychological trap every pilot falls into at some point, but students are particularly vulnerable. After months of training, the checkride looms as the gateway to freedom—solo cross-countries, carrying passengers, or advancing to the next rating. This eagerness can distort risk assessment.
Psychologically, it’s rooted in confirmation bias: Students fixate on favorable forecast elements (e.g., “The TAF shows improvement by noon”) while downplaying negatives (e.g., “But there’s a SIGMET for turbulence”). Loss aversion plays in too—they’d rather risk a marginal day than “lose” the slot and wait weeks for another.
Real-world examples abound. I recall a student who insisted on a private pilot checkride despite gusty winds forecasted at 25-30 knots. “I’ve practiced in worse,” he said. But during the test, a wind shear forced a very rough landing, and I had to step in as the DPE to save it. No, this isn’t a pass.
The question could be asked here: Did the student fail the maneuver? Or did they really fail well ahead of that moment when they decided to fly in weather conditions that were outside their personal minimums and beyond their realistic ability to safely perform the required maneuvers for the practical test in the conditions that existed that day?
Had the CFI been more engaged, they could have vetoed the student’s plan to proceed with the test, no matter what that day.
We try to teach personal minimums, and hope our students have learned them, but sometimes the pressures of the moment override their decision-making talents.
Encourage students to set conservative weather criteria early—say, no checkrides with winds over 20 knots or 15 knots of crosswinds, perhaps, or ceilings below 4,000 feet (depending on the maneuvers required for the practical test. Review these during engagement sessions and adjust based on experience.
Doing this ahead of time means the students will have some parameters to apply on checkride day, making them more likely to stay within them.
Knowing the Plan: Why CFIs Must Track Practical Test Schedules
One of the most overlooked aspects of CFI responsibilities is monitoring when students intend to take their practical tests. The FAA requires us to endorse students for the checkride, but that endorsement doesn’t end our involvement. In fact, it’s just the beginning. You need to know the exact date, time, and location well in advance.
It is amazing how many times I have had CFIs not know when their students were actually taking a checkride and hadn’t spoken with their students the night before or the day of the scheduled test, if there were any questions about the weather for that day.
This gets even more important when the student will be travelling to a DPE at another airport, sometimes a bit of a way away. This adds layers of complexity: fuel planning, airspace navigation, and most critically, weather assessment. If you’re not aware of the plan, you can’t provide that final layer of oversight for your student.
Weather Decisions: More Than Just Passing the Test
Weather is the great equalizer in aviation. It doesn’t care about your logbook hours or enthusiasm; it demands respect. For practical tests, students must demonstrate proficiency in weather interpretation and decision-making, but ironically, their own checkride day can test this skill in real-time.
Remember, part of the test is their decision making abitliy. The choice of whether the weather conditions are good enough to do the test and complete all the required maneuvers.
In a worst-case scenario, a student makes a terrible weather decision before the test even begins, trying to fly through weather beyond their own or their aircraft’s capabilities. Hopefully not with a catastrophic outcome before the test even begins.
Safety extends beyond the test itself. If flying to the DPE, en route weather must be factored in. A 50-mile flight in VMC is fine, but add low-level wind shear or convective activity, and it becomes hazardous. Post-test, elation or disappointment can impair judgment—fatigue sets in, and a marginal return flight might seem acceptable.
The CFI as the Last Check Valve: Safeguarding Against Risks
In the chain of safety, you’re the final barrier. Students might not see the risks—they’re focused on the prize. But with your experience, you can identify red flags others miss.
Act as the check valve by:
- Requiring Pre-Test Reviews: Mandate a meeting 24-48 hours before the checkride to review weather, aircraft status, and personal readiness.
- Simulating Scenarios: Incorporate weather decision drills into lessons. Use apps to pull real forecasts and debate go/no-go calls.
- Encouraging Contingencies: Always plan for Plan B. Discuss alternate dates, ground transportation if weather sours, or potentially using alternate airports if weather is better at other locations.
- Documenting Discussions: Log these talks in the student’s record. It protects you legally and reinforces accountability.
- Postponing Without Judgment: Frame delays positively: “This ensures you’re at your best and safest.” Share stories of successful reschedules to normalize it.
Remember, FAR 61.43 requires practical tests under conditions conducive to safe flight. If you suspect otherwise, withhold or withdraw endorsement. It’s tough, but it’s our duty.
Why do I write this now, you may be asking?
Well, let’s go with story time from a recent practical test that was scheduled.
It started with a text from a fellow DPE who had the commercial single-engine initial test scheduled at an airport. When the weather was pretty rough.
That got me curious that morning. Was this applicant really going through with the test?
A quick look at the METARs should have told anyone logical that the test wasn’t going to go that day. Well, it shouldn’t, at least.
There were literally GALE warnings out on the Great Lakes, and the METARs were already showing the ramping up of the winds. And the declining ceilings.
The applicant had flown to the destination airport the night before when the weather was better. Unfortunately, he hadn’t bothered to take the time to really look at what the weather was going to do the next day or figure out how they might get home after a test in the forecasted conditions.
The DPE tried to be as helpful as possible. Hinting to the applicant, “Maybe today isn’t the best day to do this…” before they even started.
But the applicant persisted, saying it would be fine. Decision-making skills obviously already in question.
The ground portion didn’t last long, which was unsurprising given the decision-making skills already demonstrated. A disapproval was issued for multiple ACS-based deficiencies.
At this point, the DPE tried his best to convince the applicant to borrow the airport’s courtesy car, that they would help put the plane in a hangar to keep it out of the weather and warm, and to drive home, come back, and get the plane another day. The airport manager was in full agreement, and the team at the airport was trying to get the applicant to make a good decision and not try to fly home in the weather.
But, stubborn and bound to fly the mighty Cessna 150 home into whatever weather was ahead, he launched.
While the applicant was preflighting, the DPE tried to reach the CFI to see if a call from them might better influence the applicant. The CFI wasn’t available or responsive.
As DPEs, we can’t detain a person, we can’t “STOP” them from flying, we can try to influence as best we can. But the applicant wasn’t hearing any of it.
With the applicant launched, the other DPE called me, and we talked. Both of us were sincerely concerned for the applicant’s safety along his intended route of flight back to his home airport
The next two pictures show the radar he was headed toward, and the one showing it was not only super windy, but he was also headed into freezing rain with descending ceilings.
We honestly had the feeling that we were watching an accident chain unfold well into the making.
And then, the ADS-B track stopped.
We waited a bit, hoping it was that he had diverted to another airport, not fallen out of the sky short of any airport as he iced up the 150 in a determined effort to fly no matter what.
The good news is that the applicant did divert. He did land at another airport. He had made it only about 21 miles from one airport to another before even further ceilings forced him down, scud running to get in and saving himself from much worse conditions ahead.
The next few days were extremely windy and were followed by a major snowstorm in Michigan. I have no idea if the applicant was able to get the aircraft into a hangar at the airport he finally stopped ator not. All we know is he didn’t die that day. Thankfully.
Reading this, you all can probably see how this could have gone WAY worse. As an armchair quarterback we can say, “I would never do that,” or “My students would never have done that!” But we have to remain engaged with each other, and as CFIs, especially with our students as they feel the pressures of getting a checkride done.
This obviously applies to all of our flying, and the pressures we have to complete flights. But those skills need to be built at the base levels of training if we are going to effectively employ them later when we are flying on our own.
So, CFIs out there reading this, help us not let applicants get to DPEs with these major challenges so obviously present. If you are reading this as a student, think critically and make good decisions that won’t force your CFIs to have to be last check valve on your safety decisions.
Fellow CFIs, let’s recommit to deep engagement with our students. Know their practical test plans inside out, guide their weather decisions with wisdom, and counter the “desire to get it done” with reasoned caution. By doing so, we ensure they pass not just the test but emerge as safe aviators. The skies can be unforgiving, and sometimes as a CFI we have to be that lastcheck valve for our students.
What’s wrong with this picture?