Cant really improve on what Bluebeard has said. Having a standard lookout procedure that you are happy with is the name of the game, up to you which way you do it - As Bb said, fixing briefly on one area and then moving to the next and repeating across your field of view works for me. Ive had plenty of times when while with my instructor ive not seen something which with hindsight i feel i should have. But, there have been times that ive picked up traffic that may or may not have turned out to be a problem ahead of my instructor. I guess its all relative, while solo your responsibility level goes balistic and I found myself overworking. Ive now fly with my visual checks part of a natural action, rather than a procedure. Another major point is, if its busy in and around the airfield, to get used to getting a picture of the local traffic from listening to the r/t. Who is joining where, who is descending deadside and how many already in the circuit. Do you want to go for an overhead join, or is the current traffic layout more suitable for a straight in or downwind join?
Ive not said anything new, just really agreeing!! All this said, if you are doing solo x-country at 25 hours then I reckon you are probably above average anyway.
Good luck with the rest of it!
Regards,
Inbound somewhere
