matspart3, vcr etl al,
I can understand both sides of your discussion, and I probably sympathise more with going around rather than the ATC response reported although I do acknowledge I have not heard the tapes.
As someone who is wanting to start to undertake their PPL (an experience flight with a fellow ppruner this weekend weather permitting will help me see if its right for me) I have many concerns and reservations about entering into the world of GA.
Whilst I would not say once I commit to it that I would be under confident, but I would most definately say that I will always be over cautious until at least the point that I am confident in my own abilities, the abilities of the plane and the confidence in dealing with the dynamic situations - even then my reading teaches me confidence is a killer.
I know if/when I commit to the PPL that if I ever get to a point where I am not 99.9% confident in a situation I will err on the side of caution and react accordingly - now I can understand that will peeve some if not all the more experienced but I would like to believe that the processes and procedures in place can cope with my inexperience.
I am not trying to rifle either sides feathers in this instance but to be honest the day if ever it comes if I am not happy with something and in my considerations are that I cannot quantify the dangers to my satisfaction I will abort and go around - it may be with hindsight and experience a non event but without that hindsight and experience you cannot make that call in an appropriate manner.
I am all for the person involved actually coming to visit you and not only discuss the event but get a perspective of what is involved with the ATC side of things - the bigger the picture you have the better judgements you can make (I just hope I get that opportunity one day).
I guess if I was to summarise it would be to say that the situation that occured has been viewed from two accutely different angles, one with experience and one gaining experience - I think there are valuable lessons to be learnt for both parties here, from an atc perspective it is probably to not apply your experience of being the pilot in the field when your not in the aircraft and from the pilots perspective to accept constructive criticsim - dont take it personally and discuss it - safety is the goal from both angles.
I dont feel either party in this were fundamentaly wrong, things could have been better on both parts reading the above - but both could learn, communicate and come out the other side with a much better understanding of all the issues involved. There is no point in pointing the finger but there is a point discussing if you glean experience from it.
Hope my tuppence worth from a non-aviator (for now !) was worthwhile
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