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Remarks: Remembering Checkrides

Adam Wright Photo
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • The author chronicles a multi-decade journey through nine diverse aviation checkrides, progressing from a private pilot certificate to an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) rating, often with significant time gaps between additions.
  • Each checkride presented unique, often memorable, and sometimes unconventional experiences, ranging from an impromptu engine repair during an SES ride to an examiner needing an IPC during a CFII check.
  • Despite periods of "dabbling" and challenging situations like illness during a crucial ATP ride, the author emphasizes the fun and continuous nature of aviation learning, hinting at potential future certifications.
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Recently my wife and I were musing about my checkrides, so I went through them. My private endured loneliness for about 15 years before I added SES (single-engine sea) to the certificate. Those two hung out together on my paper certificate for about another 15 years as I was mostly a dabbler, flying when time, money, and obligations permitted. Then, my certificate enjoyed a flurry of changes over the next few years as I added an instrument rating, commercial, multi, and finally all three CFIs. 

A few years later, the airline I’d joined after dumping my high-tech career, paid for my ATP. So, I’ve had nine checkrides. I remember some and have forgotten a few. But, there are stories.

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