First cross country solo...and a big mistake!

BrianNC said:
On my long solo XC for my private (back when it was 300NM total) I couldn't find the Albany GA airport flying from Panama City. FSS offered a 'DF steer (do they still do those?) but for whatever reason I turned him down and eventually found it. I was right on top of it and couldn't see it.
Click to expand...

And that's a big airport! At least ya didn't land at the military field, Navy or Air Force depending when you did this.
 
DFH65 said:
Since misery loves company...True confessions time since I am certain the statute of limitations has loooooooong since ended. :)

Back in the day when I was on my long cross country I was flying into a class D (they weren't called that back then). I was approaching from the North and my experience at controlled airports was VERY limited. The controller said join the downwind for the active runway(I don't remember them saying left or right) so I figured cross midfield join the downwind for a standard left hand traffic pattern. WRONG! I got close to the runway but had not crossed it yet and the controller instructed me to turn left immediately and started yelling at me about never crossing an active runway. A plane was taking off as I recall. It all worked out in the end. I was embarrassed of course. Not enough training on that specific aspect and lack of experience since I learned mostly at a non-controlled airport but I learned that day.

I have heard some people don't like it but when I was training I used the "I am a Student Pilot" card every single time I talked to a controller or a briefer. If nothing else they talk slower also lets them know you might have less experience and to pay attention.
Click to expand...

Did this exact same thing!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Sac Arrow said:
We were directly over a small, little used non-towered airport with a couple of intersecting runways when he failed the engine. Lesson learned. Look down as well as in front.
Click to expand...

DPE did that on my check ride and made sure it was directly under me and required a good bank to see it ... I knew where I was as soon as the foggles were lifted, and went straight after it.

To the OP: you're going to have other destinations that are hard to pick out. I've had two ... one was Fullerton and I had been there before a few times from Texas, but not coming from Mariposa (from the north) at end of day in haze with the sun at the horizon. The other was a runway that was being used as a dragstrip also, (no runways markings-worn off) and a guard rail on half of the taxiway for the drag races. Only spotted it due to the banner tow plane parked in an empty spot nearby.
 
Matthew said:
Landmarks on a sectional and Mark I Eyeballs. Make it a point during flights to practice comparing landmarks to the sectional, either paper or electronic, and try to spot airports every chance you get.

My CFI used to take me to unfamiliar airports as often as possible. I still remember the words, "And now the fun begins, finding the airport."
Click to expand...

My CFI used to say that, too!
 
First off, you learned something and that is good. I think a lot of the problem was the way people are teaching with electronics. As it's been said, you need to compare what you see to the chart in the iPad. To many instructors just do the follow the line method. What I like to do is get back to old school. Plot the course on the iPad and then turn the tracking off and use time, landmarks and comparing the chart to what you see. A couple of short flights like that will help tremendously.

Bob
 
Thanks for all the input everyone. All great advice. I do want to do more dead reckoning flights (only did one so far, my first x/c). I think my instructor is more concerned with getting me used to ATC comms so we've been going with flight following + gps for everything after the first one.

I've been watching my video footage and it was interesting how many details I had forgotten about that part of the flight.

In the video, just as the airport comes into view I'm actually not too far off course, but there's a flurry of activity on the radio. At this point, I had expected to be handed off to another approach frequency (Hulman approach, heading to Bloomington, IN) and since I was close to my destination and it hadn't happened, I knew I would be hearing from ATC momentarily. Sure enough, I heard my number (radar service terminated) and while I was responding and changing frequencies, I turned right about 10 degrees unintentionally. At this point the airport was probably already only visible through the curved part of the glass, and turning this much by accident didn't help. Then, having pressed the toggle button on the radio, I checked in with the tower. And the tower said the strangest thing: "this is Hulman approach, tower is on xyz-point-whatever". By the time I fixed that and checked in with the real tower, I was way off.

I still count not telling the tower that I didn't see the airport as the single biggest mistake. I made other mistakes that led me to get off course, but fixing that one would have fixed everything.
 
Thanks for being a good lesson for me, too, and probably a few others!

You could also try a Mochado-like technique:

“Tower, Cessna 123B, please confirm. Do you have a WalMart and a Burger King along your runway?”

“Negative, 123B, that would be highway 9. Turn south 45 degrees.”

:)
 
During training my instructor signed me off to fly to a towered airport located only 7 miles from my home airport. I had no gps, but thought I could see the airport after reaching about 1500 feet. I checked in with the tower and told him I had the airport in sight. He told me to report entering right downwind. Unfortunately what I was looking at and flying to was not the airport, but a cleared area 5 miles past the airport. I remember thinking that it seemed a lot further than I remembered, but kept chugging along. The controller kindly asked me where I was going after I passed the airport, and got me back on track. I learned a few things. first, flying at 1500 feet in the Georgia summer haze, it is hard to spot an airport, even when you know where it should be. The second thing I learned was not to say I had the airport in sight until I was absolutely positive I had it in sight.
 
Lachlan said:
My CFI used to say that, too!
Click to expand...
MY CFI really meant it one night. We were flying into MKC - the downtown KC airport from the east one night. It's a pretty confusing set of lights from the city, and the rwys aren't visually aligned from that direction so you don't see them very well. It's a case where I knew where it was because of the bend in the river, but I couldn't make it out from the lights and surrounding facilities. It's not like it's an island of light surrounded by dark or vice versa.

There's another airport near me, K81, Miami County, with the BBQ on the field. For whatever reason, I have a lot of trouble seeing it - it's right there, I know it's there, but the rwy just doesn't stand out enough for me. I dunno, after I "see" it I want to facepalm myself because I've been looking right at it.
 
SkyDog58 said:
Another thing that I do to practice picking out airports is to visually acquire everyone that I am within visual range of en route. This hones your skills in locating airports and it also helps to ensure that you know exactly where they are should you need one. This goes for small private grass strips as well as public paved one. Look for all of them.
Click to expand...

That’s a great tip/idea!
 
Last edited:
Some airports just seem to blend into the suburban sprawl around here. Add in a layer of haze and backlighting in the late afternoon, and that just compounds the problem. I've never not spotted one...yet. :)

If your nav system has an extended runway centerline feature, that can help a lot.
 
SoCal RV Flyer said:
Some airports just seem to blend into the suburban sprawl around here. Add in a layer of haze and backlighting in the late afternoon, and that just compounds the problem. I've never not spotted one...yet. :)

If your nav system has an extended runway centerline feature, that can help a lot.
Click to expand...

The extended centerline function is great.

--

Toss in some winds aloft and you could be looking in entirely the wrong place.

Twice I've had that happen. I have 2 airports near me, 7nm apart and both have N/S rwys.

Once I was heading north at night with a dead DG. I was wanting to land at the east airport. With the winds from the west, my crab angle was such that I was pointing at the west airport. My GPS kept telling me to correct right, but my vision was locked on the beacon to the left.

Another time I was day VFR, and had a similar experience. I was heading to the east airport but facing the west airport. The airport on the left has a rwy that is pretty much 2x longer and 2x wider than the airport on the right. I saw that rwy first and wondered how I had gotten so close, so quickly. A second or two later I realized the rwy I was looking at was the wrong one but its size made me think I was twice as close as I really was.
 
Sac Arrow said:
During one of my BFR's the sadistic head of the flight school vectored me all over the place under the hood, had me take it off then failed the engine. I set best glide speed, did a 180 in search of a good spot to land, picked one, then started working through the checklist, yada yada then started to set up to 'land' in a rice field. At that point he said "Why do you want to land there when you could have landed at a perfectly good airport?" "Huh?" "Look behind you."

We were directly over a small, little used non-towered airport with a couple of intersecting runways when he failed the engine. Lesson learned. Look down as well as in front.
Click to expand...


You should have known you were over an airport before he pulled the throttle. Be proactive. How high were you? Often planes hang out above the traffic pattern.
 
DanWilkins said:
You should have known you were over an airport before he pulled the throttle. Be proactive. How high were you? Often planes hang out above the traffic pattern.
Click to expand...

How? He pulled the throttle as the hood came off. We were up a couple thousand feet. He chose that field because it's rarely busy.
 
Sac Arrow said:
How? He pulled the throttle as the hood came off. We were up a couple thousand feet. He chose that field because it's rarely busy.
Click to expand...

You got me there unless you had a gps or some other gadget that shows airfields. Flying under the hood is the most dangerous situation for mid-airs. I learned that in an AOPA seminar a few weeks ago. I would hope your instructor had his head on a swivel while you were focused under the hood. Unfortunately, according to the mentioned AOPA outing, he may not have been on the lookout for other aircraft.
 
DanWilkins said:
You got me there unless you had a gps or some other gadget that shows airfields. Flying under the hood is the most dangerous situation for mid-airs. I learned that in an AOPA seminar a few weeks ago. I would hope your instructor had his head on a swivel while you were focused under the hood. Unfortunately, according to the mentioned AOPA outing, he may not have been on the lookout for other aircraft.
Click to expand...

One would hope he was. The aircraft was equipped with a GPS but it was turned off.
 
We have both made excellent points. Look underneath our plane. Keep our eyes out of the cockpit at least 80% of the time, or more when around any kind of airfield, and make sure our cockpit mate has his/her eyes outside the cockpit during instrument practice.
 
injb said:
Today I did my first cross country solo. It was to a class D airport that I've been to before with my instructor. Flight following handed me off to the tower a little later than I expected, but that was ok. I checked in with the controller and he asked my position (approaching from the north east). He told me to report right downwind for runway 35, which is roughly what I'd been expecting.

When I got to within a few miles I was a little concerned that I still hadn't spotted the airport. (mistake #1: it didn't occur to me to tell the controller that I didn't have the airport in sight yet). But the GPS assured me it was in front of me. Well, the graphics showed that I was pretty much on top of it, but the heading info suggested that I was still on track. I knew something was wrong and eventually spotted the airport over my left shoulder, a little behind me. I had passed it way off to the north. For a few seconds I thought about getting on the radio and telling the controller what happened, but then I thought, wait, it's a control tower - of course he knows where I am! (I know, I know...mistake #2).

So, being now on the wrong side of runway 35, I turned to the left and headed back towards the airport, trying to figure out what to do and/or say to get back on track. I heard him clear a plane for departure on 35 and I had them in sight. I was a little surprised that he hadn't said anything about my position at this point, so I decided to double check that right downwind was what I was told, and then cross the runway mid-field and join the right downwind. So I called the tower and asked to confirm right downwind for 35. His response (to my surprise) was to ask where I was. "You said you were approaching from north east, and I don't see you!". I didn't see any point in explaining what had happened at this stage, so I just told him where I was (and what I should have told him earlier: that I am a student pilot) and he cleared me to continue with a left downwind and land. When I cleared the runway he gave me a brief lecture about my bad behavior (but in very friendly terms, all things considered).

The good news is that this was the worst thing that happened and I got home safely. It was one of the bumpiest flights I've ever been on, both ways, so I didn't really enjoy it but it was a good learning experience all the same.

So what I learned from this is that most class D airports don't have radar and I really need to be a lot better about keeping them informed of my position. And, when you don't see the airport by the time you think you should, or you end up in a place you weren't expected to be, the controller wants to know that.
Click to expand...

Glad it worked out alright! Like you mentioned, you can still play the "Student Pilot" card so don't be afraid to! On one of my solo cross countries, I managed to get my self jacked up coming into a Class C airport, I used the magic words "student pilot" and the controller was awesome, had it straightened out in no time. Thanks for sharing and hopefully some other guys/gals in training get something from this!

P.S. When I did my solo cross countries for my PPL, I had nothing but an E6B and a paper sectional, no GPS. And no, this wasn't 20 years ago, it was 2015...
 
For Garmin Pilot, we have the 5nm/10nm range rings turned on and the 10 minute vector turned on. Probably something all the other EFB's have. Does make it easy for initial call at 10nm, turn away a 5nm if no contact and to estimate minutes to arrival. I usually zoom in a bit at a time as I get closer. Sometimes (in the GP VFR view) I am zoomed in enough that I see the taxiways, buildings, etc. Of course safe taxi will switch to that view anyway once on the ground.

Even with the EFB I always draw the runways on my kneeboard in advance and label the directions. As soon as I get ATIS and winds I draw the wind vector. The call in. When tower specifies the landing runway I then circle it, repeat it back and draw a trail from where I think I am thru the downwind/base/final to the runway. And set the heading bug of course.

A PD may have played a role in that second paragraph :)
 
wayneda40 said:
If you're using ForeFlight... a very useful graphic support for entering the pattern:
Map tab, Edit subtab... Procedure, Traffic Pattern... select runway... select entry (45 to downwind, cross midfield teardrop, etc).

I learned this (the hard way) trying to find an airstrip in the middle of hundreds of wheat fields in northwest Nebraska.

But a related tip: get the iPad out of your lap and "up"... either on a yoke mount or, better yet IMHO at eye level on a suction mount.
Click to expand...

Agreed, it made things much easier for me when I went from leg band to suction cup.
 
Good job getting through that and you learned a lesson that you will never forget. One thing about controlled airports is that they in reality are easier to fly into than non-towered. When I first got my PPL (37 years ago) I learned at what is now a "class D" airport. After I got my license, the thought of flying into an "uncontrolled" airport scared the daylights out of me. I liked the helpfulness and "control" at a towered airport. I know some pilots now that avoid flying into a controlled airport at all costs. I guess it depends on how you learned.

Just a month ago, I flew into Addison airport near Love Field in Dallas (obviously a Class Bravo airspace). The Addison tower cleared me to land following an aircraft "over the Racetrack". I started immediately scanning for a race track. Well, I had to ask where the "race track" was and he told me that it was a convenience store that is named "Race Track" and it is right in line with Runway 18 on short final. I am sure that everyone that flies out of Addison on a regular basis knew that "follow the aircraft on final over the Race Track" knew exactly where to look and it would have been an easy spot for them. I am still not sure that I would have used that phrase if I were the tower controller, but since I asked for clarification it worked out fine.
 
Well thanks for all the replies everyone, and since the thread is still alive I might as well follow up with some updates. You might imagine that I had learned my lesson, and I certainly thought so. But soon after that flight, I had my second cross country solo, and ended up with another embarrassing issue, again caused by a misunderstanding of the equipment.

This time it was the radio. When the time came to dial up the tower frequency, I discovered that I couldn't do it! The frequency was 134.725, but the radio would only go from .70 to .75! I remembered by instructor saying something about ignoring the last digit (they're always given as 3 digits, like .725, but the radios only display 2). Could it be that the second digit was insignificant too? So I tried 134.70, but after listening for a bit it was pretty clear that it wasn't the tower. I had to get back with approach and tell them that I couldn't get the tower frequency. They were confused, but were pretty nice about it, and ended up arranging for me to use the ground frequency to talk to the tower and land, so it worked out ok. But it was pretty frustrating.

On the ground, I started trying to figure it out. I discovered that Com #1 would dial in smaller increments and get me the freq I needed, but Com #2 would not. The plane had been switched to use Com #2 as the default radio due to an issue with #1. I couldn't remember what the issue was so I decided against switching. After all, I'd already managed to work around it once. Why risk making things worse by telling them I have it figured out, only to run into another problem? So I explained the problem to the ground controller and they agreed to let me stay on their frequency for departure.

On the way home, I realized that my home CTAF freq was also a .72 so I ended up having to switch radios anyway. When I announced my downwind leg, my instructor got on the radio to ask how it went. I told him about the radio problem and he said "Oh yeah you have to pull the knob out". Mystery solved!

Hey at least I found the airport this time though.

That was't the last of my adventures either! I did my long cross country soon after that, but that's another story.
 
There's always something to learn in aviation, and too often I find myself not only having to learn things the hard way, but learning the same lesson more than once! :redface:
 
At least you were at the right airport. I think my solo XC was planned through a land of single runway, all oriented N/S on purpose. I wasn't using GPS, that would have helped a little.
 
PaulS said:
Some airports like to hide behind hills, just saying. Also, the higher you are the easier they are to pick out at a distance.
Click to expand...

exactly, no need to descend until you see the airport. Don't descend and give up altitude just because the airport "should be there" if you don't have it.
 
Sinistar said:
Even with the EFB I always draw the runways on my kneeboard in advance and label the directions. As soon as I get ATIS and winds I draw the wind vector. The call in. When tower specifies the landing runway I then circle it, repeat it back and draw a trail from where I think I am thru the downwind/base/final to the runway. And set the heading bug of course.

A PD may have played a role in that second paragraph :)
Click to expand...

That’s a great tip. Thanks
 
Solo XCs are about learning. Something WILL go wrong...mostly minor...and you will figure it out and learn from it. Use you XC time to learn how to navigate by pilotage, not by GPS. When that stuff crumps, you want to be able to navigate by yourself. And as you discovered, the GPS won't find the airport for you. You have to use your eyes.

My first solo XC lesson was light signals. My instructor forgot to tell me that the crappy ARC radio did not work on the Ithaca tower frequency. I circled outside the pattern until I saw light signals, remembered enough of them to figure out what to do, and called the tower after landing. The tower was very helpful and understanding, and we reviewed light signals for departure, which was uneventful. I could have tried guard, or just returned home, but didn't think of it. Anyway, mission accomplished in getting there and back, and several lessons learned. Good thing ATC has patience with students. We have to learn sometime to be better pilots.
 
chemgeek said:
Solo XCs are about learning. Something WILL go wrong...mostly minor...and you will figure it out and learn from it.
Click to expand...

And we're always harder on ourselves than others are. No one is perfect and we just strive for better. This am I went over to find P19 (greater Breezewood) a gras strip - it's NOTAM'ed closed for three months but I figured a low pass to check it out. It snuck up on me behind a hill and I was right on top of it before I saw it.
 
I had something similar happen to me on my first solo xc. Used DR/Pilotage backed up by GPS/Garmin Pilot along with flight following to back it all up. Destination was CHO which is a class D towered airport. When I got to about 10 miles, approach told me to report when I had CHO ATIS and field in sight. I scanned where I thought the field was and... sure enough field in sight. hit COM2 and got the numbers then reported to approach field in sight and CHO ATIS. He then handed me off to CHO tower.

At that point, tower cleared me for a straight in for runway 21 and to report a three mile final. I turned to where I thought I needed to be and started down on a long final. About five miles out, I started to realize that I wasn't on final for anything... basically what I saw was a valley between hills that certainly wasn't CHO airport. What I did do was what my CFI taught me - use the radio. Don't be afraid to use normal language if you have to and don't get hung up on phraseology if it keeps you safe. So I called up tower and said.. Um.. I thought I had the field in sight, but I don't have the field in sight. The guys sort of chuckled (nicely) and gave me a vector for final which I followed. Landed no problem.

So I had a couple of learning moments from my solo xc - make sure you have the actual field in sight and realize that ATC is there to help you out.
 
It’s unusual for flight following to hand you off before you see the airport. If you don’t see it, make that clear.

Turn off the stupid gps for training. You will learn much faster without it. After you get good at navigating and finding fields then pull out the gps.
 
Deelee said:
..........What I did do was what my CFI taught me - use the radio. Don't be afraid to use normal language if you have to and don't get hung up on phraseology if it keeps you safe. So I called up tower and said.. Um.. I thought I had the field in sight, but I don't have the field in sight. The guys sort of chuckled (nicely) and gave me a vector for final which I followed. Landed no problem.......
Click to expand...

This covers about 90% of the 'whadda ya do threads' about dealing with ATC
 
At 8 1/2 hours solo, I embarked on my first solo cross country. 4 destinations, relatively short distances between them. Small paved, no FBO, small grass, no FBO, and medium, Leesburg, VA, nice long and wide runway, no tower. Leesburg was a tough one, very bumpy and varying cross wind, and I thought that I was going to do a go around, but finally got down, with nearly as much runway left as I would on a normal landing at home.

After parking, I went in to the pilots lounge,and fund an instructor there. I was concerned about two things, could I safely take off in these conditions? What would I do when I got home, if these conditions prevailed there?

The instructor had seen me land, and pointed out that I had continued just above the runway until conditions were OK, then landed. Taking off would be the same, pull out on the runway, and wait to see what the pattern of turbulence was, then start the takeoff run as it eased, with the intention of canceling at any time conditions became dangerous, holding on the runway until 10 K faster than normal, then pull up to normal climb angle and get clear of the ground 50 feet, before climbing to cruise.

On the problem of conditions at home, he pointed out that I was now very close to the Appalachian Mountains, with a west wind, and the turbulence was a local phenomena, and would not be at home. He was correct.

The lesson here is, when in doubt, talk to an instructor or another pilot who is local, get his advice on the wisdom of your plan, when the plan seems to be going bad. If he advises you to park the plane and go home on the ground, take the advice. On a trip AFTER I had my PPL, I left the plane at Leesburg for weather related reasons, hitching a ride to Washington with a plane owner who was there to check his plane, then public transportation the rest of the way.

I have become an old pilot, but missed the excitement of being bold.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 365 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.
Back
Top