Ever wonder what the examiner thinks of you after your checkride? Well, Brooks Black’s new book, “Does That Mean I Fail? A Humorous Look at Pilot Checkrides”, might give you a little insight.
Black’s book could have used a good edit, but it is full of checkride tips and lessons. It felt a bit like a “Cliff’s Notes” version of taking a check ride — a peek behind the veil of the life of an examiner, if you will.
Personally, the mere thought of a checkride gives me anxiety. Perhaps that’s why I found little humor in the book.
Black is a 17,000-hour designated pilot examine,r as well as a U.S. Coast Guard captain certified to operate vessels up to 100 ton. “Does That Mean I Fail?” comes as a result of nearly 100 checkrides that I image ended with a pink slip of failure.
From my read, Black appears to be a tough, but fair examiner. While I had hoped for a bunch of detailed and colorful stories, the book reads like a logbook.
At 142 pages, it is a fairly quick read and is broken in chapters that detail Black’s early, middle and later years, aerodynamics for dummies, the amazing science and then stories by flight profile: Takeoff and landings, instrument flight rules, CFIs and, harshly, “You’re Too Stupid to Be A Pilot.”
“Does That Mean I Fail?” is reasonably priced at $14 and is available at Amazon ($9 Kindle version) and Dorrance Bookstore.
