San Diego International at dusk
I'll save you the suspense: I passed.
The checkride was probably the most stressful thing I've ever done. The examiner did his best to calm me, but it was no use. I was a big ball of nerves.
I showed up to the airport at 7 AM and ate breakfast with my instructor. An hour later, the examiner arrived, and after all the paperwork was filled out, the oral portion began. He started with a few pretty simple questions that I answered easily. Then the questions got more and more advanced. He took out a sheet of paper and drew a diagram of a weather system. He asked, "where would you be likely to find thunderstorms in this system?" I had no idea.
He asked me questions about airspace and my mind went blank (fortunately this was an open-book test; I was allowed to reference my copy of the Federal Air Regulations, which helped). An hour and a half later, about the time I started to feel like I was failing, he said, "You definitely know your stuff. I'm going to get a cup of coffee, then we're going flying."
I took a deep breath and tried to relax.
The flight test went similarly to the oral test. It started out easy, then got more and more frustrating and stressful. I performed each maneuver to checkride standards, but they were far from perfect. And the examiner let me know exactly what I was doing wrong at each step of the way. Every knot of airspeed too fast and every degree of heading off-course earned me a stern reprimand. At one point, I become completely convinced of two things: that I was going to fail the checkride, and that I was never, ever going to set foot in an airplane ever again. I just couldn't imagine putting myself through this stress all over again.
When it was all over, not only did I pass, I think I genuinely impressed the examiner. All that criticism during the ride? Just part of his job. I may have passed this checkride, but I have tons more to learn.
The next day (Sunday), I grabbed two friends and took a "victory flight" down to San Diego. I am now a private pilot!
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