Been a few stories involving check rides lately that I found entertaining; anymore more good tales out there?

I I thought my check ride was pretty cool so when I get to a computer I'll post that story.

Whee, how about a first solo story?

A friend of mine, now gone, was a WASP in WWII. She soloed in a 65 Hp, non-electric Taylorcraft, same as I did sixty years later. The instructor gave her the nod and stepped out of the plane. After making sure everything was in order for the momentous flight, she gave it full throttle and braced for her first solo takeoff, but nothing happened. The engine revved and the RPMs came all the way up, but the plane didn't budge. As she sat there confounded, giving it throttle and trying to figure our what was wrong, a considerably larger plane filled the top of her windscreen and preceded to land on the runway right in front of her. Her instructor had seen it on final in the nick of time, and was standing in front of the horizontal, using all his weight to stop her from soloing out in front of it! They had no radios and no headsets, so there was no way for her to know what was going on.

BTW, great idea for a thread. Hopefully there will be more good check ride stories.

-DP

My DPE, during my checkride on the day of a local Cessna 120-140 fly-in, told me that taildraggers "were stupid."

I have learned something from almost every check ride I have had but I think the most fun one went like this:

I had wanted to fly floats for a very long time and had in fact traded a second hand snowmachine for a set of 2425 edos that had been salvaged from a wreck. I rebuilt the floats and as my son and I had already installed the float kit on "Charlie" all I needed was the rating.

We were planning a family vacation in Lost wages (los Vegas) where we were to meet with our two grown daughters and their families. Since I am just too damn cheap to gamble much and can't afford the big shows I had a plan.

All the kids and grandkids were having a blast at Circus-Circus playing on the midway and I took myself off to Bullhead city to get a float rating.

This became a series of firsts, first time to fly a super cub, first time to fly (PIC) floats, first to fly in the desert.

All in all the training was great, it all came very easy to me because I spend so much time running boats of all kinds the water work was easy. The SC handled just fine and the instructor was great.

When the designated examiner got there my flight skill fell apart a little. The wind had come up a bit and the slight ripple on the water became chop, my step turns wanted to porpoise instead of hold rock steady and my "one float" take offs became a bit shaky.

I made one takeoff that seemed to be slow only to find that I had forgotten to use flaps!

Oh well, the instructor told me that he had been dumped off of the dock on numerous occasions so anything less than that didn't worry him much, I got the ticket and the whole thing ended up costing less than a losing night at the gambling table so we were all happy.

By the way did you know that there is a store in Vegas that has at least a hundred colors of M&Ms in it and that with five grandkids you can spend a hundred bucks of them really quickly.

My examiner snuck into the hangar before I got there and turned the fuel off on the 172 trainer. He also stowed his lunch and water bottle under the seat for later. I got there to check out the plane and thought some slob had left their stuff behind from previous a trip, so I chucked it, vacuumed the plane, washed the windows, and turned the fuel on when I noticed it while vacuuming. As we left the pattern, he reached under the seat fishing for his stash. When I fessed up, he said "i'm going to make a note of that." I'd endured lunch with him before and he ate like a sheepherder, so I was glad I didn't have to watch him hork down a sandwich during my checkride anyway.

Great stories!! Keep 'em coming!

Good stuff guys!

The day of my private pilot check ride I was flying a Cessna 170. We had finished the oral and ground portion so it was time to fly. He told me to get the plane ready and he would meet me on the flight line. I was already in the plane and ready to go. He jumps into the plane with a cup of coffe in his hand. He sets the cup on top of the panel then looks over at me and says, "don't spill a drop, ok let's go"

About this time I'm thinking oh S#%t! The check ride goes fine and I pass with flying colors. Come to find out later on that he does this to everyone. Hahahah talk about messing with your mind.

I finished my PPL at Interstate Aviation in Pullman, WA. The day of my check ride arrives and I'm really nervous. My instructor was awesome so I felt confident but I was still sweating bullets as the oral portion started. About 30min in the DPE (I'll call him Joe), also the chief pilot for Interstate, gets called up front. Lewiston is IMC and a load of cargo from UPS needs to be picked up and hauled to Grangeville, Joe was the only IFR current pilot so he had to take the flight. He comes back to the table I'm sitting at, I'm thinking "dang, going to have to start over tomorrow," and tells me to get my headset "We'll talk in the plane."

Out on the ramp we preflight the C207, jump in, taxi out, open our IFR flight plan and takeoff for Lewiston. I really don't remember much about the questions he was asking me on the 30 min flight to LSW but I assume they were the typical oral exam questions. The only thing I do remember is Joe had Com 1 tuned to LWS tower and Com 2 tuned to Seattle Center, both going at the same time. He seemed to understand everything they said, I didn't understand a word. The entire river valley where LWS sits was fogged so he shot the ILS to 26. It was a really weird feeling to not be able to see anything out the window and knowing we were below the canyon rim. We came out of the clouds somewhere around 800' agl, just high enough that tower let us cancel the approach and switch to landing on 30.

Joe parked the 207 next to the UPS plane, who already had the packages piled outside his plane. We get out and Joe asks me if I'll load the packages in the plane while he does some paperwork, "no problem." I have to weigh each one and he reminds me to put the heavy ones in the front and the light ones in the back. I get them all weighed and was stacking them in the plane when Joe came and helped me finish. After securing the load with a cargo net we get in the plane, open the IFR flight plan and takeoff. As soon as we break through the clouds Joe cancels the IFR plan. "Sqwak VFR" the tower tells us. Joe looks at me and says, "change us to VFR." I stare at the Xponder for a second, I've never touched one let alone operated one. "Umm, I don't have one of those in my plane so I've never used one before. I can't remember what the code for VFR is." "It's 1200" Joe tells me. I reach for the knobs to change the code while thinking to myself, "isn't there something about changing the code in a certain way? Crap, I'm so screwed." I change to 1200 like I know what I'm doing, Joe didn't say anything so I figured I did ok. He asks me a bunch of other questions when en route to GIC.

He lands at GIC, we unload into the UPS truck and depart for PUW. On climb out he takes to opportunity to teach me some about fuel flows and power settings, I was so overwhelmed I don't remember any of it. Once at cruise he turns the plane over to me. I kept thinking, "please don't ask me to touch those red, blue and black knobs...I don't have a clue what to do with them". He didn't. He has me do a few simple maneuvers then tells me to track some radial to the Pullman VOR. "I've never used a VOR." I tell him. I was feeling more confident at this time so I say, "but I learned about them in ground school (a year ago) so I'll give it a shot." I tune in 122.6 on the nav and whatever radial he wanted me to track, I intercept it and track it for several minutes. Then he asks me intercept a new radial so dial in that radial and intercept it. I was glad something was going well at that point.

We arrive back at PUW, Joe lands the plane and taxis up to the hangar. There was fog moving in but he said go get your plane ready. By the time we were ready to go there was a 300ft tall vertical fog bank that covered the west half of the runway, it looked just like a basalt cliff face. Joe walk up and says. "that fog hasn't moved for 10 minutes so if your good to go I'm good." I probly should have waited but I was young and stupid so off we went. We take off from midfield and head east toward Moscow mountain. Joe tells me he hasn't flown anything that was side by side with sticks since he flew helicopters in the military and asks if he can fly. "Sure" I respond. He does a bunch of maneuvers and seemed to be having a good time.

I didn't have any nav equipment in the Luscombe but Joe had told my CFI that he would be ok with a handheld gps as long as it had a CDI indicator. I didn't have a gps like that, all I had was a Garmin etrex, so the owner of Interstate loaned me his personal Lowrance for the check ride. After Joe was done flying the plane he turned it back over to me and said turn on the GPS. So I did. He said good job, you can turn it back off if you want. I looked at him puzzled. "You already showed me you can navigate when we were in the 207, I just needed you to use some nav equipment during the official check ride." About that time someone from Interstate gets on the radio, "hey Joe, that fog is moving down the runway." "We'd better head back," Joe tells me so I turn back towards PUW. It is mid December so everything is covered in snow, there are several ag strips around but they are under several inches of snow so our closest alternate was LWS. About 3 miles out Joe reaches over and pulls the power. "You're engine just quite. What are you going to do?" There were farm fields all around us but we were pretty high so I say "we can make the runway." "Oh yeah," Joe responds with doubt in his voice. "Show me." I pull on the carb heat to be safe and pitch for 70mph while Joe cleared the throttle every couple minutes. We wouldn't have made the runway without those small bursts of power from when Joe cleared the throttle but I wasn't about to say anything about it. We had close to half the runway available and I executed a firm but ok landing. I apologize for the landing but Joe said it was fine and that we were done.

I passed! I was thrilled and exhausted. 1.1 hours of dual logged in a C207 while doing the oral portion of the exam then a flight in the Luscombe with one landing while half the airport was covered in fog.

whee wrote:I finished my PPL at Interstate Aviation in Pullman, WA. The day of my check ride arrives and I'm really nervous. My instructor was awesome so I felt confident but I was still sweating bullets as the oral portion started. About 30min in the DPE (I'll call him Joe), also the chief pilot for Interstate, gets called up front. Lewiston is IMC and a load of cargo from UPS needs to be picked up and hauled to Grangeville, Joe was the only IFR current pilot so he had to take the flight. He comes back to the table I'm sitting at, I'm thinking "dang, going to have to start over tomorrow," and tells me to get my headset "We'll talk in the plane."

Out on the ramp we preflight the C207, jump in, taxi out, open our IFR flight plan and takeoff for Lewiston. I really don't remember much about the questions he was asking me on the 30 min flight to LSW but I assume they were the typical oral exam questions. The only thing I do remember is Joe had Com 1 tuned to LWS tower and Com 2 tuned to Seattle Center, both going at the same time. He seemed to understand everything they said, I didn't understand a word. The entire river valley where LWS sits was fogged so he shot the ILS to 26. It was a really weird feeling to not be able to see anything out the window and knowing we were below the canyon rim. We came out of the clouds somewhere around 800' agl, just high enough that tower let us cancel the approach and switch to landing on 30.

Joe parked the 207 next to the UPS plane, who already had the packages piled outside his plane. We get out and Joe asks me if I'll load the packages in the plane while he does some paperwork, "no problem." I have to weigh each one and he reminds me to put the heavy ones in the front and the light ones in the back. I get them all weighed and was stacking them in the plane when Joe came and helped me finish. After securing the load with a cargo net we get in the plane, open the IFR flight plan and takeoff. As soon as we break through the clouds Joe cancels the IFR plan. "Sqwak VFR" the tower tells us. Joe looks at me and says, "change us to VFR." I stare at the Xponder for a second, I've never touched one let alone operated one. "Umm, I don't have one of those in my plane so I've never used one before. I can't remember what the code for VFR is." "It's 1200" Joe tells me. I reach for the knobs to change the code while thinking to myself, "isn't there something about changing the code in a certain way? Crap, I'm so screwed." I change to 1200 like I know what I'm doing, Joe didn't say anything so I figured I did ok. He asks me a bunch of other questions when en route to GIC.

He lands at GIC, we unload into the UPS truck and depart for PUW. On climb out he takes to opportunity to teach me some about fuel flows and power settings, I was so overwhelmed I don't remember any of it. Once at cruise he turns the plane over to me. I kept thinking, "please don't ask me to touch those red, blue and black knobs...I don't have a clue what to do with them". He didn't. He has me do a few simple maneuvers then tells me to track some radial to the Pullman VOR. "I've never used a VOR." I tell him. I was feeling more confident at this time so I say, "but I learned about them in ground school (a year ago) so I'll give it a shot." I tune in 122.6 on the nav and whatever radial he wanted me to track, I intercept it and track it for several minutes. Then he asks me intercept a new radial so dial in that radial and intercept it. I was glad something was going well at that point.

We arrive back at PUW, Joe lands the plane and taxis up to the hangar. There was fog moving in but he said go get your plane ready. By the time we were ready to go there was a 300ft tall vertical fog bank that covered the west half of the runway, it looked just like a basalt cliff face. Joe walk up and says. "that fog hasn't moved for 10 minutes so if your good to go I'm good." I probly should have waited but I was young and stupid so off we went. We take off from midfield and head east toward Moscow mountain. Joe tells me he hasn't flown anything that was side by side with sticks since he flew helicopters in the military and asks if he can fly. "Sure" I respond. He does a bunch of maneuvers and seemed to be having a good time.

I didn't have any nav equipment in the Luscombe but Joe had told my CFI that he would be ok with a handheld gps as long as it had a CDI indicator. I didn't have a gps like that, all I had was a Garmin etrex, so the owner of Interstate loaned me his personal Lowrance for the check ride. After Joe was done flying the plane he turned it back over to me and said turn on the GPS. So I did. He said good job, you can turn it back off if you want. I looked at him puzzled. "You already showed me you can navigate when we were in the 207, I just needed you to use some nav equipment during the official check ride." About that time someone from Interstate gets on the radio, "hey Joe, that fog is moving down the runway." "We'd better head back," Joe tells me so I turn back towards PUW. It is mid December so everything is covered in snow, there are several ag strips around but they are under several inches of snow so our closest alternate was LWS. About 3 miles out Joe reaches over and pulls the power. "You're engine just quite. What are you going to do?" There were farm fields all around us but we were pretty high so I say "we can make the runway." "Oh yeah," Joe responds with doubt in his voice. "Show me." I pull on the carb heat to be safe and pitch for 70mph while Joe cleared the throttle every couple minutes. We wouldn't have made the runway without those small bursts of power from when Joe cleared the throttle but I wasn't about to say anything about it. We had close to half the runway available and I executed a firm but ok landing. I apologize for the landing but Joe said it was fine and that we were done.

I passed! I was thrilled and exhausted. 1.1 hours of dual logged in a C207 while doing the oral portion of the exam then a flight in the Luscombe with one landing while half the airport was covered in fog.

That is a wild checkride story but awesome!

During my private check ride (around 2000), I was using a rental 172 with a GPS. I figured for the navigation portion, the examiner would tell me to pretend it didn't work, since it is pretty much like cheating. Instead, he was really impressed by it, and a good portion of my check ride was showing him how it worked!

We did the emergency engine out thingy, he did it over the airport, I glided down, and set it up 100% perfect. Better than probably any normal landing I've done. Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuust about to touch down on the numbers and he says "Go Around." It killed me. If I had greased it, it would have been the one to remember. Oh well!

I remember my first solo very clearly because of my bonehead move. We did a few landings and my CFI and I both agreed I was ready to take a few laps around the pattern at KEUL by myself.

He got out, I fired up the engine, then taxied to the "runway" and poured on the coals. As I am barreling down the runway in a well-used 172, accelerating past 40MPH, I realize I am not on the runway, but on the taxiway. In all my nervousness I hadn't realized that I had let out my CFI on the taxiway closest to the hangar, and that when I took my first right turn it wasn't actually the runway, but the main taxiway Alpha.

At this point I figured it would be safer to just continue the takeoff, which I did. Thank God it was a quiet morning just after sunrise and the helicopters and other planes hadn't yet started their activities. Did my three laps around the pattern, and humbly picked up my instructor. I declined the "first solo t-shirt" that a lot of people do where they write/draw the runway/airport of your first solo on the shirt... didn't want mine to say KEUL, Taxiway Alpha.

First Post Ever! Figured this would be a good time.

Took my Check ride 5/1/13. My flight instructor worked for the flight school the the DPE owned. I showed up for a lesson a month or so before my check ride and he was running late doing some IFR Stuff with his boss - my future DPE. They asked me if I wanted to go along so I hopped in the back. During the flight future DPE says hey Pete once a year I have to do a check ride with the FAA guy along, do you care if he rides with us? Sure I said what the heck. For future reference if you are up for a check ride and are asked this, just say no. Got to the air port early and nervous as hell. Started the oral at 9:45AM. Got in the plane at 1:30PM, no lunch break by the way. I did fine, but holy crap I think we covered everything in the FAR AIM and some of War and Peace too. Did I mention this was the first warm day of the year? We are in Northern NY. We get up and realize that the vents were still covered from the winter. Within 5 minutes everyone is soaked with sweat, plus it's kind of bumpy. DPE is trying to open them from the inside with limited success. At one point I glance back and the FAA guy is bent over with his head between his knees - did I mention it was bumpy - and I'm thinking do I get another chance if he pukes. I'm also thinking if he pukes I am about 15 seconds behind him. Again no stone seems to be left unturned for the check ride sauna or not. We even do our turns around a point around a moving barge in the river below us. We finally get back to the airport and start doing landings and take offs. I am within 5 minutes of loosing what little breakfast I have left when we finish up. My flight instructor is waiting when we get there thinking something must have gone wrong because it took so long. The three of us get out of the plane soaking wet and looking like we just came in third in a hatchet fight - The FAA guy looked the worst - and wander into the FBO for the debrief. Long story short I passed, the debrief was short & sweet and nobody puked.

One of the best days ever!

Pete

I'll go for the first solo since the checkride, while nerve racking was pretty vanilla.

Camarillo, Ca has consistent weather, like REALLY CONSISTENT. So much so that in my mountain of hours before solo I had only ever landed RWY 26. Given this fact I pretty well had all my speeds, turns, flap settings throttle settings and so on programmed into my little brain with physical reference points on the ground. After my instructor and I go up for a few laps with some of my best landings ever, he directs me to taxi over to the fuel pits and after signing my logbook hops out with his handheld radio in hand and says "see you in a while". I smartly herd the old skyhawk to the runup area and go through the routine. Out to 26 I go and commence the takeoff roll. About halfway through the takeoff while I'm calling out "heels on the deck,engine instruments in the green, 55knots we're going flying" it occurs to me that there's nobody over there listening, that means there's nobody to catch it if I mess something up . I make my turns and power adjustments etc in the exact same spot as every time before but when it came time to touch down I just floated And floated and floated. Eventually I ran out of energy and came to earth just in time to make the LAST taxiway before the end. On my seemingly eternal taxi back I hear my instructor over the radio say "wind check". Ground calls me and says "hey uh 215 we've just had a wind shift you wanna do a 180 and taxi to RWY 8?" Ummm not really I thought "sure, sounds good" I taxied back and did my last 2 laps and at that moment started using runway cues rather than specific roads and buildings for references.
Weeks later on my first solo X-C I managed to do 5 go arounds before finally landing safely at IZA, but that's another story for another day.

SD

My first simulator check ride with the airlines was also the craziest.

After 5 weeks of intensive classes, study, and simulator training, I was ready (barely) to take my 727 Flight Engineer check ride. What made me nervous however was that I was to be checked by one of the toughest Check Airman with a reputation of failing more than a few new hires like myself.

To make matters worse, when I arrived in the briefing room on the day of my check ride I was informed that there would be two FAA Inspectors in the simulator as well to observe.

I pass the two hour oral and then we head to the 727 simulator across the hall. Already seated was the Captain and First Officer, and once I strap myself into the Flight Engineer seat I hear and feel the simulator come to life.

The first portion of the check ride went fine with various problems like Pack Overheats, Engine Failures, Loss of Generators, Fuel Dumping, etc, and I was starting to feel like I may actually pass. Towards the end as we were on final approach, the simulator starts to vibrate and I assume (wrongly) that we have an open cargo door or flight control malfunction and I inform the Captain and start looking for the appropriate checklists.

What started as a slight vibration soon turned into a wild oscillation of the simulator and I was very thankful that I had my shoulder harness on which kept me in my seat.

As this was my check ride, I was glued to my Flight Engineer panel and keeping the Captain informed (read yelling) of the aircrafts ever changing status. "Captain, the generator lights are all flashing, the fuel gauges are all on Zero, we lost oil in the number one engine and we have a Fire warning!"

At this point I am totally overwhelmed and can see my future at American Airlines go down the tubes, but I keep trying to fix this total mess and keep informing the crew as to the status.

As I was so completely fixated on trying to fix the malfunctioning systems, I was totally unaware that the Check Airman and the two FAA Inspectors were holding on for dear life in the darkened simulator. I was also unaware that this wild oscillation of the simulator was not part of my check ride but a complete malfunction of the simulator itself.

Lights finally illuminate the inside of the dark simulator and I see the Check Airman on the floor trying to raise the cover on the Emergency Shutoff Switch but it does no good. His next attempt to use the phone (located on the forward glare shield) to call the technicians in simulator support resulted in him banging his head on the overhead panel.

Finally the madness ends and the simulator is in a nosedive with a 60* right bank. The simulator technicians were able to bleed the hydraulic fluid from the lifting devices which lowered the simulator itself and we were able to jump out.

I was later told that this simulator (which was purchased from Air France) had a history of becoming possessed but this was the final straw and it was decommissioned.

And through the amazing grace of God, I actually passed and received my Flight Engineer Rating.

I was born in the same house in the Adirondacks of NY that my father was born in. He got his pilot’s certificate in the 40’s and flew Aeroncas and Taylorcrafts back in the day on both wheels and floats. He had a real passion for flying but got married, had kids and flying took a back seat. I remember him always looking up whenever a plane flew over, yearning to be in the air. Meeting family responsibilities took priority over flying though. When he was in his 70s Dad started flying again in ultralights and had great fun doing so. I was away doing a career in the submarine force at that time and had no interest in flying but remember his excitement of being back in the air. One day while on active duty I was visiting in-laws in Puyallup, WA, having a BBQ and a few refreshments at their house. While standing in their back yard I saw a hot air balloon float overhead and thought of Dad. Less than 20 minutes later I received a phone call that he had died unexpectedly. He had been flying his ultralight at a small grass strip in Argyle, NY, 1C3. He landed it and died in the seat of the ultralight on the runway due to heart failure.

After finishing a career in the Navy I moved back home to raise my family, still with no thoughts of flying. An uncle started flying a Quicksilver MX and it wasn’t long before I got a chance, first taxiing and eventually flying it. Just like the earliest days of flight, we learned to fly by flying. I eventually wanted to progress to airplanes and one of the two nearby flight schools was at 1C3 (still grass) where my dad had flown his last flight. I began lessons with Dick Bovey who owns the airport and flight school, and is a DPE. He has airplanes in his blood and his skill with tube and fabric airplane restorations still amazes me. I finished my training with one of Dick’s talented instructors, Dale Easter and was eventually ready for my check ride. I met Dick at 1C3 and took off for my check ride, flying over the exact square foot of Earth where Dad drew his last breath. I have to believe he was riding along with us because I passed the check ride and landed as a new pilot, again at the spot where Dad departed to go west. I will always be indebted to Dick and Dale for teaching me to fly, and especially to Dick who gave me the opportunity to take my check ride from a grass strip on a wet day in April from the same strip where my Dad made his last flight.

Frank Shaw

PS. Dick was the DPE for pburns above as well.

Great stories, I've really enjoyed all of them. Thanks for sharing everyone!

I wish I had one to add but mine are pretty lackluster.

I was my CFI's first student. Arising out of a flying club conversation and as an informal courtesy, one of the examiners offered to fly with me and my 20 some hours to give my CFI feedback on how his teaching and my training was progressing. Prior to that flight the examiner and I had a lengthy sort of oral review, much of which was about flight controls. Maybe I was sounding stupid, during climb out, at about five hundred feet, he told me to let go of the yoke and continue as planned to our destination. WHAT!!!? Okay... so, with trim, power and rudder input we navigated around the class C airspace issues, the 20 some miles to our destination airport and the traffic pattern all the way to short final. Scary and a wonderful experience.
Then, for my private check ride a few months later, same examiner. I was very prepared and ready. On every entry to the pattern for another landing I was ready for the engine out call that I knew was coming. Short field, soft field, no flaps and some attempts at a spot landing and still no engine out. So I was REALLY ready for the engine out call on about our fifth trip back into the pattern. I had a complete plan for the quick turn toward the runway, speed settings, flaps, slips. Every vertical and horizontal foot of that entry was visualized and would be executed precisely and smoothly. I was bery comfident as I reached to reduce power at the forty five to downwind turn.
"Don't touch the power. Your throttle cable has just failed. Land the aircraft."
What, wait do, WHAT? My... what?! The what has what? ....Okay.
I did an extended down wind, lined up for a long final and pulled the mixture. That, of course, ended with and engine out landing. Another scary and wonderful experience.

Back in the '90's I was a member of a glider club in Illinois. A good friend and I already had our airplane CFI's and wanted to add CFI-G so we could teach at the club. First step was getting our commercial glider rating (both of us had had our private glider ratings for many years).

We scheduled the ride, but it was only going to be the three of us - me, my buddy and the DPE. My buddy and I would be switching off duties between towing in the Pawnee and taking our check rides in the 2-33. That left nobody to run the wing on our grass strip.

The weather was overcast, but without any kind of weather reporting we had no idea how high it was. The DPE was an old Vietnam-era Marine F4 pilot, so not much worried him. After the oral, we dragged out the Pawnee and 2-33 and flipped a coin to see who would go first. I won.

My buddy fires up the Pawnee and does a quick lap around the pattern to make sure everything works, lands and swings around so I can grab the tow rope and hook it to the 2-33. The DPE, who was certainly not as fit as he was in his heyday, somehow squeezes into the back seat. My buddy carefully takes up the slack, I climb in the front seat, and off we go.

Aside from the usual swing caused by the tiny wingtip wheel dragging through the grass, the takeoff went well and there was good visibility under the overcast, but the light was very flat. As we turned from crosswind to downwind I wondered how I was going to figure out when we were 500' below the bases so I could release and still be legal. About 20 seconds later the Pawnee all but disappeared as we entered the cloud base. It was the most impossibly dense cloud I'd ever flown in, and the Pawnee had been reduced to a barely discernible silhouette. No airplanes existed that were less equipped for instrument flight than the two we were in, and we were tied together with rope, completely IMC.

I yanked the release, immediately saw the silhouette of the Pawnee dive left as we went right. Within a few agonizing seconds we popped back into the clear, I made a slight turn to re-establish the downwind leg, added a bunch of spoiler and landed, the entire time wondering how long my license was going to be suspended for. The DPE in back never made a sound the entire time.

Total flight time: 4 minutes.

As we came to a stop and the 2-33 rolled over onto it's right wing, the Pawnee landed and taxied back. I didn't know what to say as I started climbing out of the front seat, ever aware that we had just busted a bunch of fairly significant FARs, when the DPE finally starts talking.

"Well, we didn't really get as much done as I'da liked, but why don't you go switch with your buddy up there, we'll get him done and call it a day."

I was speechless. I had no idea if he was serious, if he was testing us, or what. I muttered some sort of response I can't remember and walked over to the still-idling Pawnee. My buddy was almost white - like me not knowing what to do given the events of the last 5 minutes. I told him what the examiner had said, and he just stared at me trying to process what I had just said. We discussed things for a few seconds, quickly deciding that the few Marines we knew were all straight -shooters, so through association he would be too.

He shuts down the Pawnee, we swap places, and repeat. Same exact thing occurs, IMC and all, only our roles reversed. Now I'm really regretting flying at all that day. I land after my buddy, taxi back, and to my complete relief the DPE is filling out our temporary certificates. To this day I still can't believe it.

Total time for my Commercial Glider Checkride: 0.1

And that was a stretch.

^^^^^^Winner so far. Strong contestant for a Darwin award too, but that's a good story.