Kenny Keller failed his first helicopter checkride because of nerves. DPE Randy Sharkey and Chris Hauser share how to manage anxiety before the exam: don't tell people your test date, remember the examiner wants you to pass, and use relaxation techniques to stay calm.
All right, we're on a roll. Welcome back to HOGS Daily Flight Brief. I'm Kenny Keller, creator Helicopter One Ground School. Chris Hauser, piloting at the moment. Randy Sharkey, dpe, designated pilot examiner with Sweet Helicopters. And Randy has another tip for you on preparing for a checkride. What not to do.
So go ahead, Randy, Kenny, Chris, welcome aboard the H130 as we cruise around northern Indiana today. Right now we are just to the east of the Goshen airport. Number four. It is one of the most difficult ones, and that is to relax. Probably one of the biggest obstacles that everyone has on checkride day is overcoming anxiety.
And I get it.
You know what? I take checkrides. I have to take checkrides with the FAA probably once or twice a year as part of being a check airman on a 135 certificate. So I get it. I get nervous, too. I've done it and over. So what we have to do as examiners, Kenny and Chris, is to help the applicant relax. We have to help them calm their nerves because we know as examiners, if they are relaxed, they will do a lot better during the questioning. So a good examiner will help the applicant relax. A couple of tips that I would give you to help you relax is don't tell the world that you're a checkride on a particular day.
I like that.
Probably the less people you tell, then that is the least amount of people that you would have to go back to and say, oh, man, it just didn't work out like I hoped it would, so just don't tell the world. Secondly, take the position that the examiner is there for the same reason that you were there, and that is to get that certificate that day, to get that reading that day. My position has always been that we're both here for the same outcome, and that is for you to pass today. So you have to prove to me a reason why I shouldn't pass you. Otherwise, somebody's already recommended you. A guy like Chris, a guy like Kenny has already signed your logbook and said, hey, this guy is competent and he is ready to pass today's checkride. So again, tip number four, relax.
I like that one. And it coincides with chapter eight. I just took a peek while Randy was speaking. And that in our chapter eight is know that the checkride typ. If you're prepared, you've been through the pts, your instructor gave you the proper endorsements, and you feel good and you're confident, there's no reason to freak out. But just do the Nature of the checkride, the dreaded checkride, it freaks people out and it always makes you nervous. When you're sitting across the table from a guy and you're trying to prove that you have the knowledge to the guy that you know has the knowledge, it's intimidating. But like Randy said, that's part of it. Being able to control your nerves is so big. That's why I failed my first CheckRide with the FAA because my nerves were rat. Just freaked out. And that's completely why I fell, because I didn't have the proper amount of sleep because I was so freaked out and I was so nervous and I.
It was horrible.
And I did that to myself. So I like that one a lot. Give us a thumbs up on today's video. Oh, oh, sorry. I got it. Oh, man. I rushed off without asking Chris if he had any. Yeah.
You know, Chris has got to make a comment in here.
I know. Sorry.
You know, that's one thing nice about training at Goshen is that my dpe, Randy is on site. He's on site. So a lot of times students will get introduced to Randy two or three times throughout their training course and that puts them at ease. Be like, hey, you'll meet Randy. He'll be your dpe. Randy will come in, have a, you know, just say hi because he's coming in and out of the office and, you know, and that kind of puts him at ease also because they've already met. I know a lot of guys, they don't get that chance. That's kind of a unique opportunity that we have here at Goshen. But I've, I've been through Randy's. I've seen Randy's checkrides. I know how he conducts checkrides and he's always good at putting my guys at ease. He does. And it helps that they've met him two or three times before.
Yes. Check ride.
So there are examiners that are just being reasonable and going through the pts like Randy does. And then there are some. There are some horror stories about some examiners out there, but we're not going to go there.
Nope.
Nope. But yes. So thanks for the input, Chris.
You're welcome.
Give us a thumbs up comment down below the video and we'll see you in the next one. Peace out. Oh, yeah. Don't forget this. Down below. Free. Speedy up.
Cool. Okay.
Number five, right?
We are at number five. How are we doing?
No, we're good.
Are we averaging about what, five to seven minutes on each one?
Yeah, I think so probably even less than that, because.
What's our timer say?
24 minutes, almost. Okay.
