Lost ppl student
 

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!

There are two kinds of pilots: Those who got lost and those who will. Don't feel so bad, !!!! happens man! Keep on flyin'!

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

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.

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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 ;)

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.

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

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

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

Good job! A well recovered situation.

And you will be a better pilot because of it.

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 .......

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.

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!

lost
 

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.

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

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!

Keep going, you learned a lot
 

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

Spotting the fire engines returning to base as you taxi off the runway is sometimes a clue that someone has been on the phone.

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

I have never found any correlation between GPS and the enjoyment of flying!

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....

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.

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

Time to give up flying is when you get lost going to the shops. Now where did I leave the car?:O

D.O.

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.

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......

@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.

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....

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.

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.