The report made for some very sad reading. It did remind me of my early solo flights and how taxing it can be at that stage.
My very first solo flight that I made. I had a change of runway presented to me whilst on the downwind leg.. I coped with that fairly well.
My second solo almost ended in disaster. It went wrong from the word go. I realised after take off that I hadn't set the flaps for take off configuration.. A very small thing, but it did upset me.. The landing was one of those that just floated on and on... I lost my nerve and applied full throttle, forgeting to make sure that the nose didn't pitch up!!!
... So from just that one experience. I can understand what may have been going on with the poor student in this case. It can just take one small thing to throw out a whole flight.
It took another four hours of instruction before I went solo again. We went through all sorts of situations that could happen on the landing approach and practiced like crazy. All I can say is that from that time onwards I could deal with anything that was thrown at me... It was worth spending the time and money on this, and I am grateful to this day of what my instructor did for me on this aspect. I wish that a lot more work was done on the landing phase and situations that are likely to develop.
My instructor drummed it into me that I was in charge of the aircraft and it was my responsibility to do whatever I felt happy with in whatever situation. If that meant letting ATC know that I'm unable to do something, or feel that it is outside my experience. Then I should say so. That includes changing runways (that applied to my early solo time) That still applies with my standard PPL in certain situations.
What would I have done if I was this chap with low hours... I would have probably done what they had asked. As soon as I had confirmed that. I would have increased the throttle to full power gained speed, cleaned the aircraft up, and returned to circuit height. Although I must say that I wouldn't be happy about it. My concern would be what they were going to do with me next... Hindsight would have told me to say to them that I was going to go round. By far the safest situation and it allows me time to settle down into a procedure I know well. I suspect that my instructor would have approved of that.
Astral