NTSB data base - for fun and entertainment.

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

Yes, many of them make you wonder what pilots were thinking but are not funny at all. But every once in a while you run into a gem or two...

How would you like to be this guy's instructor?
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20020917X02947&key=1

ON HIS FIRST SOLO FLIGHT THE STUDENT PILOT STATED HE PANICKED AT ABOUT 400 FEET AGL AND DECIDED TO LAND IN A PLOWED FIELD. DURING THE LANDED SEQUENCE THE AIRCRAFT NOSED OVER.

Also, somewhere in there, there is a report on a student pilot that ran out of gas while on final, turned away from the airport and parachuted out of the airplane. I don't have a link to that one handy.

 

[zaitcev]

Weird. I don't recall my own solo being that much of a big deal, except that something happened to intercom when my instructor disconnected his headset to climb out of the plane. I only noticed that when I was ready to taxi, and I had to troubleshoot it before I could talk to ground control. My instructor selected a morning with calm winds for my solo on purpose, so I did not have much crosswind, let alone gusts. There was really no opportunity to panic (except an engine failure).

 

[rottydaddy]

I know the feeling, I think... not on my first solo, but my first after my hiatus. Immediately after the first takeoff, I suddenly felt very unqualified to be doing what I was doing. I was actually scared... only time I've ever been scared at the controls; usually I'm just briefly alarmed.

But I had a perfectly good airplane under me and a runway behind me, so instead of putting it down in a field, I just flew a circuit and landed, then thought about it again.
Decided to take off again, and haven't ever had that feeling since.

But to be kind to this panicky student: the instructor can at least take heart that his student chose a precautionary off-airport landing, and executed it reasonably well, instead of freezing at the controls and winding up in the obituaries.