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clinique_happy
25th Apr 2013, 16:03
First navigation solo today, route previously flown several times with instructor. Got there ok, lost on way back having to get big airport to direct me back! Confidence knocked, embarrassed, mad at myself! The question is to myself should I give up? Being lost was one of the worse feelings in my life ever, will never forget that feeling! Happened to anyone else? Did you quit? Recommendations? Fully briefed after but still gutted! I have 33 hours under my belt thought I was doing so well :-( help!

marianoberna
25th Apr 2013, 16:09
There are two kinds of pilots: Those who got lost and those who will. Don't feel so bad, **** happens man! Keep on flyin'!

p1andy
25th Apr 2013, 16:09
No need to quit. You did exactly the right thing to do in that situation...ask for help. Easier to have ATC helping you out than to plod on getting even more lost. ATC are there to help so let them know if you require their assistance.

Perhaps try to work out where you went wrong with your navigation so you can learn from your mistake on future flights

bylgw
25th Apr 2013, 16:09
Dont give up.

It happens to everyone (even us instructors sometimes). On the plus side you kept your head and the training you've been given paid off because you asked for help and got home safely.

mad_jock
25th Apr 2013, 16:12
you learned more of that trip than you would have if you hadn't got lost.

Well done.

It will have made you a better pilot

Whirlybird
25th Apr 2013, 16:13
You ARE doing well! You got lost, as everyone does once in a while, and contacted the right people to put you back on track. Better than I did at a later stage than you, in fact soon after getting my PPL. On my first longish trip I got lost, didn't want to tell anyone, floundered around wondering what to do, and it wasn't until I saw a motorway that really shouldn't have been there that I contacted D & D. They told me I was three miles from Birmingham Airport! How embarrassing do you think that was? But I survived, and learned.....oh, and I bought a GPS, which you can do as soon as you qualify.

Recommendations... Learn from it, then put it behind you and keep going. Don't feel bad; basic navigation is hard, and I don't think I know a pilot who hasn't been lost - and I know a lot of pilots! And above all, don't give up!

Heston
25th Apr 2013, 16:31
Yeah I agree with the other posters- no need to feel embarrassed or demotivated in the slightest.

Ask yourself these questions:
- are you injured?
- is the aircraft damaged?
- is anyone else's aircraft damaged?
- did you bust controlled airspace?
- did you seriously annoy anybody?
- has anybody laughed at you or mocked you?

Betcha the answers are all "no". Lots of folk get to do some or all of the above and are still happily flying.

GGR
25th Apr 2013, 16:33
What does your instructor advise?

Either way, as others before have suggested, you must carry on. I had a very unpleasant experience with some inadvertant IMC in my early flying days. Had it not been for the very competent ATC in Leeds Bradford I would not be typing this.

Seems you did the right thing and should benefit from the experience. BTW my foray into IMC was 36 years ago and I still learn from it today. Happy landings and many of them.

GGR

John R81
25th Apr 2013, 16:48
Yup! Been there and done that as a student PPL(H). I did a longer debrief with my instructor to isolate where I started to go wrong, then flew the same trip the following week.

Johnm
25th Apr 2013, 16:58
Wot Heston said, you didn't get into serious trouble and used the facilities available to you sensibly, job done.

My first trip to take my wife to Alderney after I got my PPL went beautifully right up to me being on the approach to join base, at which point they closed the airport due fuel spillage. So I am now adrift in Class A airspace with no idea what to do next.


ATC: G-XX what are your intentions?
Me: Standby
ATC: G-XX would you like to divert to Guernsey?
Me: Affirm
ATC: G-XX have you been to Guernsey before?
Me: Negative
ATC: Would you like vectors?
Me: Affirm
ATC: G-XX turn right heading xxx
Me: Right heading xxx.

Job done ;)

jollyrog
25th Apr 2013, 17:05
Your message says "Got lost, got help, got home".

It doesn't say "Got lost, infringed airspace at big airport, got snotty message from TC via Instructor upon landing, getting prosecuted"

Seems OK to me, perhaps not a good day, but plenty of learning experiences there and it all worked out fine.

DarrenM488
25th Apr 2013, 18:03
Still P/UT myself but sounds like you did the right thing and made use of the resources available.
Result : Home safe and sound
Well Done in my opinion, you encountered a problem and dealt with it

chrisN
25th Apr 2013, 18:11
Agree with all the above.

One extra suggestion, which you have probably already done; review what happened to see where it went wrong and if possible what could you have done to avoid it.

(E.g. there was a report of an infringement by somebody who confused two similar roads, towns, etc. due to a relatively small heading error. It is easily done.)

Chris N

Romeo Tango
25th Apr 2013, 18:24
The point is (as I understand it) you recovered the situation. Hopefully without nearly bumping into anyone else.

I have done some deeply stupid and embarrassing things over the years ... mostly involving women ... but sometimes aeroplanes. Move on and don't do it again.

Bill

clunk1001
25th Apr 2013, 18:51
Good job! A well recovered situation.

And you will be a better pilot because of it.

newaviator
25th Apr 2013, 18:51
PPL student myself , currently doing the X Country Training bit , well done to you I say ....... you learn from your mistakes , how many people wouldn't own up to getting a little lost now and again ..... you did the right thing , got home , safe and sound , and you were in control , probably make an excellent pilot at the end of your training :D One to tell the grand kids in the future .......

JonDyer
25th Apr 2013, 19:03
Navigating as a UK PPL student under VFR is some of the hardest navigating that a typical pilot will have to engage with and it's all done at a stage when 33hrs seems like a lot!

Your location indicates that you are still floating around somewhere but if you were anywhere near the midlands to the south of England then you can factor substantial quantities of airspace into the mix - which to your credit you seem to have avoided.

The reluctance of the UK authorities to embrace GPS (a restriction they only apply to private pilots incidentally - commercially we make use of every tool in the box) just adds to the general stress levels and reduces pilots to taking VOR crosscuts and drawing a line in felt-tip whilst wobbling over a landmark in a non-autopilot light aircraft.

This stuff is tough. VFR flying is tough. The equipment is manually operated and it can be tricky to do it all.

ATC do seem a bit god-like when you're not actually paying for them, but one of the great eye-openers for a commercial pilot is that ATC truly are there to help you - and are almost always willing to oblige. They really don't want you wandering all over their controlled airspace and delaying their inbounds and outbounds.

Asking for help is the smartest thing to do and by doing so you avoid making the sort of mistake that you wake-up in the night thinking about. Asking for help is not making a mistake it's avoiding making a mistake.

One final thing: Michael Jordan - “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

I always think of this when I am berating myself or listening to some 'Ace' beat themselves up for making a mistake.

Aviation is full of trite aphorisms I know - but the only bad mistake is one you don't learn from.

Don't under any circumstance let this stop you.

riverrock83
25th Apr 2013, 19:26
As my instructor used to say - you don't know the meaning of lost until you're lost at Mach 2.5...

You talked to somebody and you got home without bumping into anyone / anything. You've now used D&D for what they're good at (my practice pans / "unsure of positions" were only to an instructor) which is a good learning experience anyway.
You managed to pull yourself together to handle the situation so you did an awful lot better than someone who was prosecuted recently for getting lost, not talking to anyone then infringing the airspace of two major airports (his licence had expired too...).

Take it as a learning experience and get rid of that embarrassment. You should try to take positives from it - that you got back in one piece on your own without D&D needing to get someone up after you to escort you home (which happened in Glasgow not that long ago too).

As others have said here - Well Done and Keep Flying!

DrJones
25th Apr 2013, 20:47
I got lost on my first flight since gaining my PPL.

It was the best thing that could have happened to me.

Getting lost and working out how to get back on track gave me confidence to plan longer cross country's.

I'm sure if I hadn't got lost a majority of my hour building would have been in the circuit at my home field.

Cockpit Meercat
25th Apr 2013, 20:54
I have thought i was lost plenty of times and later realised that i was infact on track, But that was just my walk home from the pub!

Anyone who brags they havn't should be watched carefully because they are either about too, Liars or both

DavidWoodward
25th Apr 2013, 21:00
Do NOT give up. We all get lost and we will still get lost. I remember my first trip after getting my PPL where I took my friend up. We headed off, I thought I was on course and thought I was near the field we were looking for. My friend said, "Is that it?" It wasn't but what he had spotted about 3 miles on the nose was the threshold of Woodvale. Poo came out and I went into the lost procedure and managed to get my bearings. It knocked my confidence but I did learn a lot from it. Best thing to do is get back up again and keep flying!

Willy44
25th Apr 2013, 21:09
When I was doing my ppl at about 30 hours, on about my 3rd solo flight, I went into full IMC. Totally **** my self, remember thinking I am going to die. Was in IMC for probably 2-3 min (seemed a life time) I even did a 180 turn (every slowly) in IMC & descended a little & saw a some ground so then descended more. Finally got out of IMC & was totally lost & confused, luckily had the ADF & it was still tuned to home air field so just followed it straight back. After I could not relax for a few days really was about to pack in flying. After I calmed down I learnt from it & carried on. I now have over 250 hours Solo & my own plane. Keep going.

aluminium persuader
25th Apr 2013, 22:20
We would much, much rather have someone call for help early (and perhaps not need as much help as they thought) than struggle onwards, getting more lost and more stressed.
Think of ATC as an invisible co-pilot with huge resources close at hand. We can help with navigation, get weather, coordinate airspace transits, phone your club and more.... but only if we know you need it!

I had a lost student only the other day, and in fact he didn't know he was lost until I (with my magic eye!) pointed out that he was flying 80degrees off track, and he had flown less than 10 miles from his base airfield at the beginning of his cross-country. We tried realigning his DI, but that didn't help, so I ended up "suggesting" headings. On 2 legs of the huge triangle he was flying around me he required significant help. Unknown to him, I phoned the airfield he was landing away at and explained his predicament so that they would handle him gently, and I phoned his instructor and explained the situation, what we were doing, and that I would make sure we kept him safe.

My point is this - he knows I helped him with his navigation when he was in a fix. He knows I didn't get cross at him or shout at him or let him stray into CAS, or file any sort of report and he knows that if he gets stuck again all he needs to do is call, and we can help. No recriminations, no charges & no small-print. It's what we do.

(He doesn't know about the phone-calls because he doesn't need to, and he doesn't need his confidence bashed!)

Happy flying!!!:ok:

Another_CFI
25th Apr 2013, 23:27
I had a student who in the days when you could complete a PPL in 40 hours did just that. During her solo qualifying cross-country flight, landing at two other airfields, she called D&D on 121.5 to confirm her position (she was where she thought she was but due to the marginal weather she could not be certain).

My comment was well done!. I was totally happy that after she gained a licence she would have no hesitation in asking for help if the same situation were to arise. I let her depart in marginal conditions because I had confidence in her decision making.

YOU DID THE RIGHT THING.

Whopity
26th Apr 2013, 07:03
Man is never lost, merely temporarily unaware of his current position! Logic will always tell you where you are, the only thing that varies is the degree of accuracy.

bravobravo74
26th Apr 2013, 07:54
As a student pilot I got lost on a solo cross country flight from Conington to Humberside. I flew an incorrect heading and, without having the skill at that time to promptly detect the track error, narrowly missed RAF Coningsby's ATZ. I realised where I was when I saw their runway and, needless to say, felt rather stupid. I asked their very helpful radar controller for vectors to Wickenby, where I was subsequently able to establish a course to Humberside.

Navigating the UK's airspace by ded. reckoning ranges from being dodgy at best to extremely challenging, depending on where you are. When you factor in DI precession, arbitrary TAS planning and the chocolate fire-guard that is Metform 214 it's amazing that solo students don't get lost more often.

Gertrude the Wombat
26th Apr 2013, 08:34
He doesn't know about the phone-calls
Spotting the fire engines returning to base as you taxi off the runway is sometimes a clue that someone has been on the phone.

piperarcher
26th Apr 2013, 11:31
Navigating the UK's airspace by ded. reckoning ranges from being dodgy at best to extremely challenging, depending on where you are. When you factor in DI precession, arbitrary TAS planning and the chocolate fire-guard that is Metform 214 it's amazing that solo students don't get lost more often.

And then once you have your PPL, if you havent already, you buy a GPS and enjoy flying much more.

Whopity
26th Apr 2013, 11:50
you buy a GPS and enjoy flying much more. I have never found any correlation between GPS and the enjoyment of flying!

flybymike
26th Apr 2013, 12:04
I'm sure if I hadn't got lost a majority of my hour building would have been in the circuit at my home field.

That didn't do me much good. I got lost on my second solo circuit after having been told to orbit on the downwind leg.
Having made myself totally dizzy I simply headed off into the unknown....

Ebbie 2003
26th Apr 2013, 13:01
You got lost - so what? Don't beat yourself up about it.

You are training, you learn more when things go wrong than when they go right.

Sounds as if you did the right thing.

You got back - you used the available resources to get to your destination safely.

Pace
26th Apr 2013, 14:15
With modern GPS there is little excuse for getting lost! with a radio none! Call someone do not let pride delay that.
The emergency frequency or London Info will soon locate you and get you on the right track.

Pace

dont overfil
26th Apr 2013, 15:02
Time to give up flying is when you get lost going to the shops. Now where did I leave the car?:O

D.O.

mad_jock
26th Apr 2013, 15:12
That will be right the number of times I have lost the hire car in the car park.

If that was apart of the class one medical there really would be a shortage of pilots.

Steve6443
26th Apr 2013, 15:29
I recall my skills test, was asked to fly to an area I'd never been to before, prepared my route only to have to make a diversion at the request of the examiner. Once we did that, he wanted high bank turns left and right plus various stalls and other manoeuvres, so due to the fact I'd been concentrating on getting these right, I lost track of where I was.

I'm nowhere near where I expected to be, no TV towers or recognisable points around me, am starting to sweat and hoping the examiner doesn't ask me to identify my location. A colleague failed his skills test for getting lost and not being able to reconcile his position, I had visions of the same happening when all of a sudden, the dreaded question was asked:

"What town is that at 2 o clock?"

What do I say? The honest answer is "I've not got a clue" but add to it "I'll call ATC to ask for a confirmation of my position" - said this to the examiner and he said "Good, a plan of action - but tell you what, there are two VORs in range, work out your position from them......."

I started to dial in the first VOR, plotted the track on my map when the examiner said "Ok, I can see you know how to work it, I also see you had an alternative course of action to find your position - steer heading 080 and let's head back".

The most important point to consider is not the fact you got lost - we all do it - but the fact that you knew what to do in order to ensure you got home safe and well, you didn't bust any controlled airspaces so in total, I'd say:

WELL DONE

Don't give up, you'll only regret it......

darkroomsource
26th Apr 2013, 15:37
@Steve
You let the cat out of the bag...
I think every examiner pulls the exact same stunt - plan to somewhere new, divert, under-hood testing and then... what is that road? or town? or mountain? or river? or OK, set a course for home.
In my case though, he didn't mention the VORs, but just said something about if I was really lost, I wouldn't know what frequency to use, so the radio is out, come up with another idea.

Gertrude the Wombat
26th Apr 2013, 17:49
I think every examiner pulls the exact same stunt - plan to somewhere new, divert, under-hood testing and then... what is that road? or town? or mountain? or river? or OK, set a course for home.
I've only had sensible examiners, who say "I am responsible for navigation whilst we're playing silly buggers". And in response to "set a course for home" it's not too much of a challenge to follow the NDB needle (you did tune it in before taking off, didn't you) or press the Direct To button.

Steve6443
26th Apr 2013, 18:26
I've only had sensible examiners, who say "I am responsible for navigation whilst we're playing silly buggers". And in response to "set a course for home" it's not too much of a challenge to follow the NDB needle (you did tune it in before taking off, didn't you) or press the Direct To button.

i) Where I was flying, there was no NDB in range, the one at Dortmund Airport was switched off a couple of years back.

ii) This assumes the examiner allows you to use the GPS, mine didn't, he set the 430s to maximum range so you couldn't see burger all....

Gertrude the Wombat
26th Apr 2013, 18:55
This assumes the examiner allows you to use the GPS
If an examiner is going to tell me to find out where we are after the partial panel unusual attitude recovery stuff I'm bl**dy well going to use all the information available.

pudoc
27th Apr 2013, 22:18
clinique_happy,

It is so easy to get lost, really easy. I know people with thousands of hours instructing people like you and even they get lost in areas they've flown in for years.

This one time I was flying to a very new area, had my map folded in a way so I could just about see the airfield on the edge of the chart. Idiot! Took off, mis-identified a landmark and starting my headings on the wrong landmark. I was totally lost 100%. And to make matters worse I was lazy with my plog! Lessoned learnt! Don't be lazy with plogs, and make proper use of the map.

You've demonstrated great airmanship by asking for help. A lot of pilots will just continue on and hope for the best. A lot of them ended up in control zones causing massive safety issues.

mad_jock
28th Apr 2013, 07:32
I was told a story about 3 high level examiners ferrying an aircraft to then go and do some tests.

They landed at the wrong airport while talking to the correct one.

glencoeian
28th Apr 2013, 07:55
I've only done 13 hours, passed the law exam and see a massive mountain ahead to climb, where do I start on navigation and meteorology ! You're story of getting lost at 30 hours is a tad scary to me - in the Scottish Highlands I don't know how good ATC cover is going to be for me to ask help of but on the plus side there isn't a lot of controlled airspace for me to wander into - I'm going to need a lot of fuel though!
well done in any case!

mad_jock
28th Apr 2013, 08:35
It is actually quite hard to get lost up north especially if you know the local area.

There are tons of features and also they arn't crowded so there is no chance of confusing the roads and train tracks etc.

Pretty good cover over speyside.

Had one student who was a surveyor for the Scottish hydro. Utterly pointless giving him the normal nav-ex's. You could give him a phone box on the side of the road not even on the chart and the sod would fly straight to it.

glencoeian
28th Apr 2013, 10:49
I do know the area quite well and you're right the roads are few and far between, I'm in the Glencoe mountain rescue team although I did get lost in Glencoe one night although the team leader doesn't know about it !

cockney steve
28th Apr 2013, 15:03
the team leader doesn't know about it !


the team leader didn't know about it until now ! :}

There! fixed it for you1

OP. start worrying when the big stuff starts buzzing you and you CAN'T raise ATC !!! :\

mary meagher
28th Apr 2013, 20:12
I've probably told this story here before, but if its new to you, enjoy.

I used to go sailing on Chesapeake Bay, and so in the era before GPS had a pretty good picture in my mind how to find my way around, so planned a solo flight in a rented Cessna from Baltimore to First Flight. That's the little airfield on Kitty Hawk where the Wright Brothers began this whole show....

In the US of A, most major airports like to know where the little guys are, and often as not they will vector you directly overhead so they can keep an eye on you. Passing the Patuxent, then the Potomac Rivers, approaching the US Naval Airstation in Virginia, they were pleased to hear from me, and I got a birds eye view of the facilities, with military traffic landing and taking off hither and yon.

Next major hazard, Norfolk International Airport. I radioed to them to ask for a routing. They came back, said "Stand By!" I waited, then called again.
No anwer this time at all at all, so looked at my little sectional map and realised I would have to fly around their airspace, which like all major terminal areas around those parts, is shaped like an upside down wedding cake. And there, as a landmark, or sea-mark, if I flew around the point at which the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel road dived into the tunnel, I would avoid the terminal airspace. So I thought, until I rounded that mark, looked to my left, and there, appearing out of the murk, were three jumbo jets heading right at me...a big one quite close, then the next one and the last one still some way away. O dear. I did not delay, but dived down to just above the water, and scuttled around the end of the bridge.

Heard the Controller warn the jumbos to "Watch out for a Fish Spotter!"

And when I arrived safely at First Flight, turns out the air map was printed with a legend over the vital information. On the reverse, with the local area chart, it clearly indicated that the Chesapeak Bay Bridge Tunnel dived into the tunnel not once, but TWICE!

Moral of this story, even if you have been in contact with ATC, ALWAYS KEEP A GOOD LOOKOUT!!!

KNIEVEL77
30th Apr 2013, 17:38
Would I be right to think that if lost, finding one's way again would be easier in a Helicopter than a fixed wing?

Steve6443
30th Apr 2013, 18:05
If an examiner is going to tell me to find out where we are after the partial panel unusual attitude recovery stuff I'm bl**dy well going to use all the information available.

Unfortunately, using GPS as part of your skills test in Germany is - according to those examiners I've spoken with - an automatic fail, not all planes have GPS so a reliance on the magenta line is frowned upon....

John R81
30th Apr 2013, 18:12
To KNEIVIL: Nope!


In my humble opinion (if ever any of my opinions have been humble, that is):8

When you are high, it is the same in terms of what you can see and therefore use to discern your location, but in an unstabalised helicopter (most GA is in unstabalised helicopters) the pilot workload from "aviate" is much higher hence there is less thinking power spare to deal with the "lost" problem. When helicopters get lower than fixed wing - given a low-level clearance, such as "not above 800 ft" for example, you lose an awful lot of vision and hence if you have no idea where you are it gets more difficult to get yourself out of the mess.

Think about it, at height you can often work out where you are from mountain ranges, the distant coastline, etc. But a mere 700 ft above the ground then you are left trying to work with the shape of a forest, or a small section of bends in a river, etc and match that to your map.

Once you admit the problem and call for help, same as fixed wing.

KNIEVEL77
30th Apr 2013, 18:24
Hi John,
Good explanation.
So I suppose ATC is your best friend when lost in any type of aircraft!
K77.

HEATHROW DIRECTOR
30th Apr 2013, 18:32
K77 Affirmative sir.

tmmorris
30th Apr 2013, 19:24
I remember my instructor at Welshpool trying to get me lost and failing most times because I was brought up around there and it's all pretty distinctive.

After one particular bit of messing around with air work:

Instructor: 'OK, surely you are lost by now. Where are we?'
Me (looks down to my left): 'Well, that's Pitchford Hall down there, so...'
Instructor: 'Damn!'

(if you don't know it, Pitchford is a huge black and white pile which was the country escape plan for the royals in WW2)

Tim

John R81
1st May 2013, 11:46
My experience (post #9 above) came during a solo nav, pre cross-country. Heading back into Redhill from the East, I called Redhill from Bough Beech Resevor and was told to report at the Godstone Station VRP.

A little later, following the railway line, I came over a station and mistook it for Godstone; it was actually the one before. Then I was given a low-level approach to the Eastern airfield boundary, not above 800ft. Redhill was using 36 with Right hand circuits and helicopters are sometimes allowed to 'duck under'. I was too green to refuse, and go the long way round.

I decended to 750ft and followed the railway....... and followed the railway..... Just about the time I had concluded that the airfield should have appeared long ago, the tower called and asked where I was. Heart in mouth, I gave the truthful asnswer "I am unsure". I was too low to be able to make out anything useful, but I kne I had to leave the railway at some point and bear South a little to get to the field, so I started to turn towards the Gatwick zone. Furtunately, Redhill then asked asked my heading which was, at that time, 260.

Given the proximity of Gatwick, and the potential for me to conflict with circuit traffic, this did seem to make things happen rather smartly in the Tower. They very quickly established from Gatwick where I actually was, and calmly gave me a heading to bring me over South Godstone VRP.

Fantastic service by the chaps in the Tower, and served to reinforce in me an understanding that they are there to help you, they will help you, and they are actually rather good at helping you. Since then I have put behind me any fears about asking for assistance.

John R81
1st May 2013, 11:51
And (off topic) what low-level can look like.

Heliroutes; SpVFR, EC120 on H7 near Barnes at 800 ft. Photo taken by Mrs 81 on her phone of the Apache flying reciprical routing, visual separation, all under Radar control from Heathrow Special. Heathrow Airport can be seen just under the horizon on the right edge of the photo.

Thanks chaps!

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy133/Nuthurst1/8695815885_3b28a2c99b_b.jpg

AV83R
1st May 2013, 13:34
You didn' get lost, you just went for a bit of sight seeing.

You used ATS to find you way home perfectly safely without (from what I have assumed) any infringements or problems. What you have show is the correct aptitude for a future pilot... You went wrong, realised this and then used the aids available to you in a timely and professional manner to rectify the problem.

Be proud of what you did, there are many students out there that will try and bluff it, end up on bingo fuel in class A airspace with a Typhoon on QRA saying hello (extreme example but it could happen all too easily).

Crack on and see you in the skies matey

KNIEVEL77
1st May 2013, 16:24
John,

Nice story, the motto being ATC are there to help, good to hear.

K77.

AV83R
1st May 2013, 18:40
How's this for low level

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc20/UKV1144/DB83A544-7DC0-4480-A501-EC88CEDF4D11-3103-000003274D762CAA.jpg

mad_jock
1st May 2013, 19:22
That ain't low level.

The tonkas fly lower than that up in Scotland and faster as well.

RVR800
2nd May 2013, 15:38
Do NOT give up

Your have learnt more on that trip than you realise

:D

clinique_happy
2nd May 2013, 16:50
Thanks for all your positive comment, plucked up the courage to have a lesson today. Instructor came with me, did same route and I now know exactly my mistakes, one should not just rely on the heading but utilise the map and landmarks! Feeling more confident now, I think I have learned more than I thought looking back and reflecting! The flying bug has returned! Will probably have a few more lessons dual before another solo nav!

Adam Balme
17th Jan 2016, 00:35
I became unaware of my position on the first of my two QXCs. I made the mistake of concentrating too much on trying to correlate landmarks with what was on the chart and not watching my heading. Ended up drifting off track and becoming disorientated. Such a horrible feeling. Kept my cool and back tracked to my last waypoint. Then continued and eventually got to my destination somewhat later than planned. I learned from my mistakes and did the second QXC the next day with no problems and then passed my GST two weeks later. Happy days! I learned a lot from that experience.

WhiskeyPapa
17th Jan 2016, 20:28
sounds like a great lesson to me… the whole reason you do x-countries in training (and good to know you had no access to gps!)

Pace
17th Jan 2016, 22:35
We have all been lost at one time or other so don't worry about it

Infact in someways its good to get lost on purpose so you can get the old brain working in the right way to rectify the situation.

Remember even the best get lost or mistake one runway, one airport for another!
A RyanAir landed on a disused runway at the wrong airport mistaking it for LondonDerry

The airport was a disused military airfield next to Londonderry
All the PAX were taken off and bussed across to the right airport leaving a very Red faced Captain to sort the mess.

So its quite normal and expected to be uncertain of ones position

Pace

Small Rodent Driver
18th Jan 2016, 07:16
The single most embarrassing "Lost" situation I had was many years ago whilst undergoing a Navigational Flight Test to revalidate my PPL.

I was under examination by the Club CFI and whilst the first part of the examination route went reasonably well, I suffered significant brain fade after the first waypoint and became severely disorientated somewhere over Cheshire. I put in place the lost procedure and picked a ground feature about which to orbit whilst I got a fix. At the time I was working in the water industry and by chance had picked the water treatment works at which I had been working that very morning. Did it do me any good? Nah!

Examiner said "Right then, where are we?"

"Hurleston" I replied, "site telephone number 01270 blah blah blah, guy in charge of the site is John Lightfoot blah blah"

"Show me on the map" says examiner. "Cant. Let's go home" says I.

Examiner / CFI set us on track back to Barton where I landed with a huge red face and contemplated my future in aviation. That was around twenty years back and I still receive the occasional ribbing by test from our former CFI.;)

fcornell
18th Jan 2016, 15:22
Don"t worry--I know someone who got lost in the circuit.

flybymike
18th Jan 2016, 15:31
I am indeed that man......