Commercial Checkride Prep Checklist
Interactive commercial checkride prep checklist — paperwork, oral and flight readiness sections with progress saved in your browser.
Commercial applicants fail on two predictable things: manoeuvre tolerances flown rusty, and the privileges oral — what a commercial certificate does NOT let you do is the exam's favourite question.
Paperwork
Oral readiness
Flight readiness
⚠️ Not for operational decisions. This is a record-keeping and planning aid only — not certified avionics, not a source of regulatory truth. Always verify against official sources (FAA) and your operator's approved documents before flying.
Free interactive commercial checkride prep checklist: the paperwork, oral and flight items that actually decide commercial pilot practical test outcomes — tick-off progress saved locally.
About Commercial Checkride Prep Checklist
Checkride preparation has a known failure distribution, and this list is built on it: for the commercial pilot practical test, commercial applicants fail on two predictable things: manoeuvre tolerances flown rusty, and the privileges oral — what a commercial certificate does not let you do is the exam's favourite question. Work the sections in order with your instructor, treat unticked items as the syllabus for remaining lessons, and walk into the ride with the document review already passed in your head.
How to use Commercial Checkride Prep Checklist
- 1Start the checklist two weeks out, with your instructor.
- 2Clear the paperwork section first — it's the discontinuance killer.
- 3Use unticked oral/flight items as your remaining lesson plan.
Why use Commercial Checkride Prep Checklist?
- ✓Organised by how rides are actually lost: paperwork → oral → flight
- ✓Built from documented discontinuance and disapproval patterns
- ✓Tick-off progress saved locally between study sessions
- ✓Doubles as the final-two-weeks training plan
- ✓Free, private, no account
Frequently asked questions
What can't a new commercial pilot legally do — the oral's favourite trap?+
Hold out to the public: a commercial certificate lets you be PAID to fly, but flying persons or property for compensation as a service generally requires an operating certificate (Part 119/135) behind it. The legal exceptions (banner towing, ag, photography, ferry, instruction with a CFI) and the doctrines — holding out, common carriage — are exactly what the oral probes. Applicants who answer 'I can charge for flying now' without the 119 framework are having a long afternoon.
How should I use this checklist with my instructor?+
As the shared readiness contract: review it together two weeks out, assign every unticked item to a lesson or a study task, and re-review three days before the ride. Instructors sign recommendations on judgement; a jointly-worked checklist makes that judgement evidence-based — and it surfaces the awkward administrative items (test dates, IACRA details) that neither party naturally owns until they're a problem.
Is this tool private — who can see my entries?+
Only you. Entries live in your browser's local storage and never leave your device, so there is no account, no cloud sync and no one else with access. Because the data is device-local, export a CSV backup before clearing browser data or switching computers.
Can I get my data out if I switch systems later?+
Always — the CSV export is a complete, lossless dump of your prep record, generated locally in one click. Import it into commercial software, archive it with your files, or post-process it in a spreadsheet. No lock-in is deliberate: data you can't take with you isn't really yours.
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