Tell your story; help a student

A reader of my other work here, recently sent me an email asking what a checkride was like.  He said he was about halfway through training, but wanted to know what to expect.  Remembering back to my checkride, I still find it odd how I didn't know exactly what to expect going in to the room with the examiner.  Sure, I'd asked my instructor, but he'd always include the tag-lines "of course, that was my examiner, every one does it a little differently" and "that was years ago, too".  All I could do was tell him what my checkride was like.  I told him it'd be best to find someone that'd taken theirs with the examiner he intended to use and question them.  The guy who works the desk at the flight school I frequent had taken his with the same guy and he helped a lot.

The concept; tell your story to as many students that will listen.  Not only will they learn what lays ahead, it may soften the fears and nervousness one experiences when going into a checkride.  The aviation community is one that relies on the passing of skills, traditions, and stories.  If we intend to grow, we need to spread our ideas and passion; after all, who doesn't like telling their aviation stories?