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Posted by lucyball11@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 18 comments
My cousin’s husband is trying to become a pilot through independent Part 61 training. He quit his job to focus on it full time and averages about 10–15 flight hours a month.
It took about 9 months to reach his first checkride. His instructor pushed it back once, then he pushed it back himself. The first time he showed up, he got turned away for missing required items. Since then, he’s failed the checkride twice and is preparing to take it again next month.
He says a lot of the issue is that his instructor is new. Is this considered normal progress for someone pursuing aviation professionally?
HoldAutomatic2088@reddit
Definitely not normal. Honestly sounds like someone’s making excuses. First time showing up unprepared (he’s lucky they didn’t count that as a fail), then failing twice after that, clearly he’s not ready.
CFI shouldn’t have sent him if he wasn’t ready, but he still needs to take responsibility for his own training and shortcomings. If the CFI isn’t good then why is he still with him?
Bad CFIs definitely exist, but so do bad students who blame their CFI for their own failures.
Sunsplitcloud@reddit
The check ride doesn't start until AFTER the candidate is determined to be eligible. So not having required items would not allow the check ride to start.
Just_Another_Pilot@reddit
This is definitely not normal, both the nine months of full time training just to hit PPL, and the multiple failures. I used to train people all the way through CPL/IR in that amount of time, usually with zero failures.
Not saying he's completely cooked, but failing the same checkride twice is a major red flag. Where I trained and instructed it would be grounds for removal from the program barring significant extenuating circumstances.
lucyball11@reddit (OP)
That’s good to know! He also for about 7 months didn’t have a job just to focus on this. The other three months he is just working 20 hours. The wife said it’s cause it’s hard material and she would take way longer if she was trying to do aviation…
always_gone@reddit
Most of my full time students had part time jobs and knocked out PPL in 3 months, maybe 4 if weather was particularly bad, and none of them ever failed.
I did my PPL in 6 months while a junior/senior in engineering school and IR in 6 months while a senior. I was also on a nationally competitive collegiate academic team at the time. Took a break, got an engineering job to pay the bills, came back and did my commercial and CFI in 6 months combined while working well beyond full time as an engineer.
Not everyone is wired for that workload, but 9 months for full time training with no other workload is atypical at best.
Sunsplitcloud@reddit
Probably best to go back to the job he quit. Failing PPL twice is telling.
THevil30@reddit
Showing up without the required items is 1000000% your fault. Not your instructor's fault. Not your mom's fault. Your fault. It's incredibly clear what you need to bring, just take 4 hours and a 3 ring binder.
always_gone@reddit
Training full time while averaging 10-15 hrs/month, taking 9 months for PPL and failing multiple times is not normal. Sounds like his instructor probably isn’t great, but at a certain point personal responsibility comes into the mix. Fool me once…
Vast-Negotiation9068@reddit
I hope he didn't burn any bridges on his way out.
Gabriel_Owners@reddit
First bad decision was quitting his job to flight train. Everything else is downhill from there. Nothing about what you just said is normal. Failing PPL twice with nothing to show for it is not normal.
He has a ton of checkrides to go and more failures means less chance of getting hired.
554TangoAlpha@reddit
No failing ppl twice is not good. If he blames his instructor he should’ve switched instructors, they work for him not the other way around. He sounds underprepared, he hasn’t ruined his career yet but needs to progress flawless to not tank his job prospects.
vivalicious16@reddit
This is 100% spot on. If your instructor sucks and you continue to stay with them, that’s on you. I think OP isn’t hearing the full story since this is their cousin’s husband, of course he’d want to blame it on the CFI!
HoldAutomatic2088@reddit
Definitely not normal. Honestly sounds like someone’s making excuses. First time showing up unprepared (he’s lucky they didn’t count that as a fail), then failing twice after that, clearly he’s not ready.
CFI shouldn’t have sent him if he wasn’t ready, but he still needs to take responsibility for his own training and shortcomings. If the CFI isn’t good then why is he still with him?
Bad CFIs definitely exist, but so do bad students who blame their CFI for their own failures.
SP_Aman@reddit
Divorce
RapidRoastingHam@reddit
NTA his life his choice
Guysmiley777@reddit
Failing the PPL checkride twice (so far...) is not good at all. And "oh my instructor totally sucked" is not a great plan for a future interview.
MaybeBowtie@reddit
Ehh, pushing back checkrides is normal, but normally you don’t really want to.
And what missing requirements did he not have? You should fix that asap.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
My cousin’s husband is trying to become a pilot through independent Part 61 training. He quit his job to focus on it full time and averages about 10–15 flight hours a month.
It took about 9 months to reach his first checkride. His instructor pushed it back once, then he pushed it back himself. The first time he showed up, he got turned away for missing required items. Since then, he’s failed the checkride twice and is preparing to take it again next month.
He says a lot of the issue is that his instructor is new. Is this considered normal progress for someone pursuing aviation professionally?
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