FAA Checkride Failure – The Ultimate Guide to What Happens If You Fail It

Let’s be real—no one wants to talk about failing their checkride. But it happens. A lot more often than people admit.

An FAA checkride failure doesn’t make you a bad pilot. It just means something wasn’t up to standard on that day. Sometimes it’s nerves. Sometimes it’s a missed regulation. Either way, you’re not alone—and you’re definitely not done.

This guide breaks down exactly what happens after an FAA checkride failure, how to recover without losing momentum, and what to expect on your second attempt. No judgment. No fluff. Just clear steps to get you back in the air, more prepared than ever.

What Is a Checkride and Why It Matters

Before understanding what happens after a FAA checkride failure, it’s important to know what the checkride actually involves.

A checkride—officially known as a Practical Test—is the final step in earning your pilot certificate. It includes two parts:

The oral exam, where you demonstrate your knowledge of aviation rules, weather, procedures, and flight planning.
The flight test, where you fly with a Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) and prove you can safely operate the aircraft.

The checkride isn’t about flying perfectly. It’s about showing sound decision-making, safety awareness, and a solid grasp of regulations. When something falls short—whether in communication, judgment, or technical execution—that’s when a FAA checkride failure can occur.

But here’s the good news: it’s recoverable. And the better you understand the process, the easier it becomes to bounce back.

What Counts as a Checkride Failure (And What Doesn’t)

Let’s break it down.

A FAA checkride failure doesn’t mean your training was a waste or that you’re starting over. It simply means you didn’t meet the required standard on a specific part of the exam.

The checkride is made up of two sections:

Oral Exam – Covers regulations, weather, aircraft systems, charts, weight and balance, and scenario-based questions.
Flight Test – Evaluates your real-time decision-making, aircraft handling, checklist discipline, communication, and emergency procedures.

You can fail only the oral portion if your responses during the preflight questioning are incorrect, incomplete, or show a lack of understanding. This part is designed to test your knowledge of FAA regulations, weather, systems, and safe decision-making. If you hesitate too much or provide vague answers, the examiner may decide you’re not ready.

You can fail only the flight portion if your aircraft handling, situational awareness, or judgment falls below the required standards. This could be due to unstable maneuvers, missed checklist items, poor radio work, or a safety-related mistake. Even one critical error can lead to a FAA checkride failure during the flight segment.

In some cases, a student may fail both sections, but this is less common. It typically happens when the pilot isn’t fully prepared in either knowledge or skill. If both parts are unsatisfactory, the examiner will mark them separately, and both must be retaken.

Common Causes of FAA Checkride Failure:

Incomplete or vague answers during the oral exam
Missed checklist items or incorrect emergency procedures
Poor radio calls, communication breakdowns, or loss of situational awareness
Inconsistent control of altitude, airspeed, or heading
Breaking FARs, airspace violations, or unsafe flight decisions

If you fail either part, the examiner will issue a Notice of Disapproval. This document lists:

Which tasks you passed (you don’t have to repeat these)
Which tasks you failed (you must retake only these)

That’s key: A FAA checkride failure is often partial, not total. You’re not resetting your training—you’re focusing your effort where it’s needed most.

You also won’t lose your logbook endorsements or previous flight hours. You just need a new instructor endorsement once you’re retrained in the failed areas.

What Happens Immediately After a FAA Checkride Failure

If you don’t pass your checkride, the first thing that happens is a debrief. The examiner will walk you through every task you performed—what you did well, what fell short, and why. This is one of the most valuable parts of the entire process. Take notes. Ask questions. Learn from it.

Next, you’ll receive a Notice of Disapproval. This is the FAA’s official record of your checkride outcome. It lists two key things:

What you passed – These tasks don’t need to be repeated.
What you failed – You’ll need to retrain and retest only these.

A FAA checkride failure doesn’t wipe your progress clean. If, for example, you pass the oral exam but fail a flight maneuver, you’ll only need to repeat the flight portion on your retest. Your passed elements remain valid for 60 days.

At this point, you’ll return to your instructor. Together, you’ll develop a plan to fix the weak areas. Your CFI must re-endorse you before you’re allowed to schedule another attempt.

There’s no mandatory wait time after a FAA checkride failure—but you shouldn’t rush it either. Take the time to prepare properly so your second checkride becomes your final one.

Retesting Rules – How Soon Can You Take It Again?

After a FAA checkride failure, you don’t have to wait long to try again. In fact, there’s no minimum time frame set by the FAA. You’re eligible to retest as soon as you’ve received additional instruction and a fresh endorsement from your flight instructor.

However, just because you can retake it quickly doesn’t mean you should. Most CFIs will advise you to slow down, focus on the weak areas, and make sure you’re truly ready this time around.

If your failure was partial, you’ll only be retested on the sections listed in your Notice of Disapproval. You won’t need to repeat the entire oral or flight unless you let more than 60 days pass—after that, the previously passed portions expire and must be redone.

Keep in mind that DPE scheduling can also affect your retest timeline. Some examiners are booked out weeks in advance, especially in busy training regions.

Bottom line? You can retake the checkride soon—but take the time to fix what went wrong. A rushed second attempt often leads to a second FAA checkride failure, and that’s what you want to avoid.

How to Recover – Step-by-Step Plan After a FAA Checkride Failure

Failing your checkride isn’t the end—it’s a turning point. What you do next determines how quickly and successfully you bounce back.

Step 1: Debrief with Your Instructor – Go over the Notice of Disapproval with your CFI. Discuss each task you missed and why. Your instructor will help identify whether the issue was technical, procedural, or mindset-related.

Step 2: Target the Weak Spots – There’s no need to relearn everything. Focus your training on the failed areas only. If your FAA checkride failure was due to soft-field landings or cross-country planning, isolate and drill those specific tasks.

Step 3: Schedule Mock Checkrides – Practice under pressure. Have your instructor run you through simulated checkrides with full oral and flight components. Treat these like the real thing—no help, no shortcuts. You’ll build confidence and catch mistakes early.

Step 4: Stay in a Tight Study and Flight Rhythm – Stick to a consistent schedule. Fly frequently enough to keep your skills sharp, but don’t overtrain to the point of burnout. Mix in daily study sessions to reinforce regulations, systems, and weather interpretation.

Step 5: Get Re-Endorsed – Once your instructor believes you’ve corrected the issues, they’ll provide a new endorsement in your pilot logbook. This clears you for your retest.

Every pilot who succeeds after a FAA checkride failure follows the same formula: reflect, refocus, and retake with confidence. Use the failure as fuel.

What Instructors & DPEs Wish You Knew About Failing

Here’s something most students don’t hear enough: failing a checkride doesn’t mean you’re not pilot material. It means you’re still learning—just like every other pilot who came before you.

Most instructors agree that a FAA checkride failure is often more about nerves, mindset, or inconsistency than a lack of ability. It’s normal to stumble under pressure. What matters is how you respond.

Examiners (DPEs) aren’t looking for perfection. They’re looking for safety, sound decision-making, and situational awareness. You can make small mistakes and still pass—what you can’t do is let those mistakes affect your judgment or escalate into risk.

Instructors also emphasize honesty. Don’t try to cover up confusion or guess your way through the oral. If you don’t know, say so. Examiners respect honesty more than overconfidence.

Finally, remember this: a FAA checkride failure isn’t a career-ending event. It’s a teachable moment. Most great pilots have failed at some point. What made them great was what they did next.

How to Stay Focused and Avoid a Repeat Failure

Passing your checkride is as much mental as it is technical. After a FAA checkride failure, many students feel pressure to rush back in and “redeem” themselves. That’s the wrong move.

You need to reset—not just your flight skills, but your mindset.

Start by letting go of the failure. It happened. It’s over. Obsessing about it doesn’t make you sharper—it makes you distracted. The best pilots treat failure as feedback, not identity.

On your second attempt, don’t aim to impress. Aim to fly with confidence and consistency. Stick to your training, follow your checklists, and fly like you’ve practiced—not like you’re trying to prove something.

Use visualization, review your mock checkride notes, and build a calm routine before test day. The calmer your brain, the sharper your decisions.

A FAA checkride failure only becomes a long-term problem if you carry it into your retest. Shake it off, focus on what you control, and fly your plan.

Real Stories – Pilots Who Failed, Then Passed

Failure isn’t the exception—it’s part of the journey. Here are a few real examples of pilots who faced a FAA checkride failure, regrouped, and came back stronger.

Story 1: Matt – Private Pilot Applicant
Matt failed the flight portion of his private pilot checkride after botching a short-field landing. He let nerves get the best of him and flared too high. After two weeks of focused landings with his CFI and two mock rides, he passed on the second attempt. Today, he’s working on his instrument rating.

Story 2: Priya – Instrument Rating Checkride
Priya nailed her oral exam but struggled with holding patterns during her flight test. Her examiner issued a Notice of Disapproval. Instead of panicking, she reviewed holding procedures daily, flew simulator sessions, and retested three weeks later—successfully. That FAA checkride failure became the moment she started flying with true confidence.

Story 3: James – Commercial Pilot Applicant
James was caught off guard during the oral when asked about complex aircraft systems. He blanked. It was a hard hit, but he owned it. He worked through FAA handbooks, got quizzed by his CFI daily, and retested in a month. He passed—and now flies as a corporate first officer.

The lesson? A FAA checkride failure isn’t the end of your flight path. For many, it’s where the real learning starts.

Conclusion – You’re Still in the Game

A FAA checkride failure might feel like a crash in progress, but it’s not. It’s a speed bump—one that nearly every serious pilot hits at some point. What separates the good from the grounded isn’t a perfect record. It’s how you recover, adapt, and come back stronger.

You’ve already done the hard part: committing to flight training. One failed checkride doesn’t erase your hours, your knowledge, or your progress. With the right mindset, focused retraining, and honest feedback, your next attempt can be your best one yet.

Use failure as your feedback. Refocus. Rebuild. Then retake that checkride with calm, control, and confidence. Because every pilot who has passed has one thing in common: they kept going.

FAQ: FAA Checkride Failure

Question	Answer
What happens after a FAA checkride failure?	You’ll receive a Notice of Disapproval. It lists what you passed and what you need to retake. You’ll need additional training and a new instructor endorsement before your next attempt.
Does a FAA checkride failure go on my permanent record?	Yes, the FAA keeps a record, but it’s not public. It doesn’t prevent you from becoming a pilot or being hired—especially if you pass the retest and perform well going forward.
Can I retake the checkride immediately?	There’s no mandatory wait period, but you must receive retraining and a new endorsement from your instructor before scheduling the retest.
Will I have to redo the entire checkride if I fail?	Not always. If you passed either the oral or flight, you only need to retake the part you failed—as long as you retest within 60 days. After that, all sections must be repeated.
How many times can I fail a FAA checkride?	There’s no set limit, but multiple failures can raise red flags. What matters most is how you improve, retrain, and correct mistakes before retesting.