Did you make it to the flight? What is your guess as to what went wrong? It was either the written tests or the flight. Either way, because you never worked there, I see no reason to list it on your resume. The airlines need not know about it. If they ask or you decide to talk about it, like all interview questions, turn it into a positive and it'll be fine.
Example: I was disappointed in myself for not making it through but it was an extremely valuable learning experience for me. I realized how much hard work and dedication it takes to succeed in aviation and have since excelled as a CFI, maintaining a 90 percent pass rate, putting in long hours with the FAR/AIM, blah, blah, blah. You get the point. Interviewers know that everybody has had bad experiences and want to know what you've done to make yourself a valuable asset to them right now.
The 'disadvantage' he was talking about is in case you take legal action. Whatever happened is well documented and secret so that you can't take it to a lawyer. Sucks but I guess we can blame our litigious society for it.
If it was the flight, my condolences. I'd love to hear who popped you and why. Send me a PM. However, if it was the written tests, you might need to look at your study habits a little bit and figure out how to get through a fast paced program like that. The 'standz' class is supposed to be representative of an airline ground school and if you can't make it through one, you gotta fix the problem before you attempt the other.
DCA has always run the class the same way. Below 80 percent on the writtens, you're gone, 90 percent on the limitations and memory items. Pretty much the same deal at an airline.
The flight is pass/fail, one shot at it, not the same as the airline at all, at least the one I work for. Anyone can have a bad day under that kind of stress or draw a bad examiner.
They don't tell you which it was...but I think you probably know. It is a terrible system, in my opinion. How many of us would be where we are today if our checkrides were one shot deals, sometimes administered by not so fair people? How can you learn from your mistakes if they don't tell you what they were? How can you demonstrate your ability to learn if you don't get a second chance? How do they know fair checkrides are being administered? Because I, and everybody else there, know that luck of the draw is most of the battle.
That flight ought to consist of getting the freakin airplane up and down safely, PERIOD. The applicants have already proven their abilities to numerous CFI's, check airmen, the FAA, and an interview panel. Most of the people who do the standz rides realize this. Some don't because they're on a major power trip. The sad part is that the academy gives them the power to ruin peoples' chance at a job, taint their career, steal their dream.
My standz flight was nearly flawless until the last approach. I made a mistake, not dangerous, but enough to tank the flight. The check airman asked me what I would do to fix the problem and passed me. (Thanks Kep!) I have NEVER made the same mistake again. Learning occurred that day. I went on to be a quality CFI for the academy and am now a first officer for the airline, all of which could easily have been snatched away by a snap decision that day. Luckily he wasn't a power tripper like some others.
If it makes you feel any better, I had a couple of incredibly hard-working, talented students go down on their standz flights. I taught them in the CFII course just prior to standz and they were top notch CFI's, excited about the job. Well, they're now top notch talent for somebody else. I will do everything in my power to help them in the future and already wrote them letters of rec for instructor positions. One of them failed his flight with the Asst Chief of Standz, who had a total of about 400 hrs in his logbook at the time, maybe 50 hrs of which was actually teaching students. A really qualified judge of talent... I think not.
My point is, the standz flight is a 1.5 hr look at your abilities by a sometimes unqualified or inexperienced judge, on the most stressful day of your life. Don't feel too bad about it.
Overall, I have always endorsed the place wholeheartedly. Some of you have read my posts on the subject in the past. That standz process and the people running it still give me heartburn though as you can tell from my endless ranting...
PM me if you have any questions or wanna vent.