File this one under “things you hope don’t happen on your checkride”…

A sport pilot had to execute an emergency landing during his checkride after one of the propeller blades on his airplane decided to end things early. According to this article in the Longmont, Colo., Times Call, Brian Garrett was taking a checkride to become a private pilot when one of the blades of the three-bladed Sting Sport TL-2000 separated. By the time he and his designated pilot examiner had made an emergency landing in a field, a second blade had broken off as well.

Cheers to Garrett and his DPE, Drew Chitiea, for handling the situation–and extra cheers to Chitiea, who took the time to point out to a reporter that pilots train for emergency situations just like this—well, maybe not just like this, but close enough—all the time. According to the article, Garrett passed the checkride.—Jill W. Tallman