The Checkride

Checkride day started off early. I had spent the night before making all of the preflight preparations and assembling all of the papers in a neat package. The test itself would consist of an oral portion first and then a flying portion. I arrived early at the airport and rechecked the weather and my paperwork.

For various reasons, I will not go into the particulars of the flying portion. I had incorrectly assumed that my first solo flight would be the most stressful experience of my flight training. I was wrong because the checkride did not go as expected and turned out to create some severe stress on my part. Despite what I considered to be one of the worst flights of my life, I managed to overcome the stress and receive my certificate: Private Pilot: Airplane, Single Engine Land.