Learning Experiences

A Lack of Control
I was inbound for landing in a Cessna 172 to my home field. I checked in with the tower about six miles out and was told to report back on a left midfield downwind. The runway in use normally used right traffic. The weather was clear and visibility was unrestricted.

While I continued toward the airport, the tower cleared several departures and apparently one of them was a left downwind departure, but I didnt hear that clearance.

The controller was fairly new at the airport, and she did not provide me or the airplanes departing with any traffic information. As I approached the crosswind/downwind intersection, another 172 suddenly appeared on a collision…

The new shop made the right call based on the information in front of them, but add in the information I had and it added up to something else.

Blessed Delays
We were planning to depart for a family trip from our home airport of Gaithersburg, Md., for Lexington, Ky. Because I was a low-time pilot and still had fewer than 50 hours in my new Bonanza, I elected to bring my 2,000-hour CFI along on the trip.

I felt like it would make both me and the family feel more comfortable. After all, it was our first family trip since I got my private ticket 12 months earlier.

While driving to the airport, it was clear that the weather was lower than advertised. The TAF indicated that the morning fog would give way to a 6,000-foot scattered layer, but we had a solid 500-foot layer that wasnt budging. There was no reason legal…

There was a crowd of spectators on the ramp and adjacent to the runway. I was still not fully aware of all the aircraft around the airport and their locations

We didnt have enough altitude to glide in and couldnt get more anyway due to a ceiling

Three fighters zoomed by on approach to the same runway. The tailpipes were glowing red and looked like they were 10 feet in diameter

My biggest concern was my dog. I knew if the door flew off, hed bolt for the open door.

When we reached St. Lucia according to the GPS, the island simply was not there.

The Cherokee pilot made no change in course or altitude, and apparently didnt even know I was there until he flew through my shadow.

I was flight planning from Monroe, N.C., to Augusta, Ga., on a morning that was 8,000 feet overcast with unlimited visibility and 20 knot winds out of the south at my cruising altitude of 3,000 feet.

I called for a standard weather briefing and was told that, while my destination of Daniel Field was reporting clear weather, Augusta Regional about six miles away was reporting freezing fog and a ceiling of 100 feet.The two airports are so close together it seemed impossible that there could be such a disparity. The briefer was also incredulous and checked some other nearby airports. They also reported clear conditions with visibilities greater than 10 miles.

He didnt know what to make…