It has been a bit more than two months since I started at American Eagle and today, I have completed my training and officially carry in my wallet the coveted crj700 SIC type rating. To be precised, it is called a CL65 type. While I am very satisfied to have achieved this goal, I have to admit that it was not easy toward the end. During the entire course, I have put a tremendous amount of hard work by studying systems, profiles, call outs and so much more, day in and day out and felt very comfortable with my level of knowledge and my ability to fly the simulator. To be honest, I always put my best effort regardless of the task or challenge I am embarking on. In this industry, where a pilot's performance is monitored through an official record made available by the FAA, it is important to demonstrate up to standard skills on a daily basis. Since I started my pilot career, 5 years ago, I have been able to maintain a spotless record. Unfortunately like people say in this business, there are two groups of pilots : " the ones who have failed a checkride, and the ones who will ". I am guessing you know where I am going with this. While I did not experience any difficulties passing my oral or my written, I found my self stumped during my checkride concerning the preflight section. I left frustrated and dissapointed in my self but determined to not dwell on it. I hit the books even harder and spent a few more hours in my room looking at a poster of the cockpit display practicing my flows and callouts. The wait to be rescheduled is what stressed me the most because the more time went by, the more I started questioning my abilities as a pilot. This is not the best mental condition to do a checkride, because if you doubt yourself, you will become your worse critic and lose what is left of your confidence. I decided to view it differently and thought that since I have to come back, I will come back strong. After a few more days of sitting around, I was rescheduled for a 2 am show, passed my preflight inspection without any problems and went in the full motion box as optimistic as i could be, ready to demonstrate my stick and rudder skills. It was very straight forward and beside one or two hiccups during this couple hours process, I found myself being handed my type rating as the sun was rising upon this wonderful sunday morning.