Unsupervised for the first time
It was my first day flying solo in the pattern, unsupervised. My instructor had soloed me three lessons ago, each time allowing me a few supervised solo flights in the pattern at Fitchburg Municipal Airport in Massachusetts, the nontowered airport where I train. But now he was on vacation, and he had left me with some limitations for solo flight, including a restriction to stay in the pattern and not to fly on weekends because of the higher traffic volume.
After the second full-stop landing I taxied to the hold-short line for Runway 32, the preferred runway when winds were variable at fewer than five knots. It was then I heard an inbound pilot announce intentions to land on Runway 14. No one was waiting to depart behind me, so I decided to wait for his arrival rather than inform the pilot that Runway 32 was the active. As I watched the airplane on short final it occurred to me that I should have made the call (as my instructor would have done), and it was an equally stupid decision to sit and wait at the hold short for 32-the landing aircraft might require the full runway and the taxiway I was occupying.
Luckily, the arriving airplane was able to exit early, and I departed from Runway 32, announcing my position at every leg and adding my student pilot status for good measure. On the turn from base to final, another airplane taxied onto the active. This unnerved me. I made a plan to continue my descent, but if on short final he hadn't cleared the runway, I would execute a go-around. It turned out that it was unnecessary to do the go-around, though, and I made a safe but unremarkable full-stop landing.
It was getting late and I decided to do one more round in the pattern. I was frustrated at not having improved my landings at all, and getting annoyed by the traffic. During the taxi phase I heard a pilot's voice announce a spiral landing for Runway 32. Huh? This was new to me, and since I was unfamiliar with the technique, I decided to sit at the hold-short line and wait for the landing to be completed so as not to get in the way. I thought it unusual for this pilot to contact me and ask why I was holding short. Of course, I replied "Student pilot, holding short for spiral approach landing aircraft!"
When the pilot advised me that I had plenty of time to depart, I deferred to his judgment, announced my intention to stay in the pattern, and taxied onto the active. It was only at this point that I realized I had not completed the appropriate checklist! The airplane was still configured for taxi, and I berated myself in my instructor's stead for becoming so distracted.
After double-checking everything I performed the takeoff roll and began climbing at VY on the departure leg. At this point I heard a new voice on the CTAF announce intentions to perform a right-hand pattern landing for Runway 32. I paused, but did not hear the pilot doing the performance spiral landing respond. Becoming concerned, but not having listened closely enough to capture the tail number, I made a general announcement that the standard traffic pattern at Fitchburg was left hand, and then announced my position again.
The other pilot responded, acknowledged that he knew the pattern at Fitchburg was left, but wanted to perform a simulated emergency approach for Runway 32 with right-hand pattern, I did not know how to respond to this. I tried to think, what would my instructor do? He would definitely have had words. But I was still climbing to pattern altitude and running out of options. I discontinued further discussion then announced that I was turning a left crosswind for Runway 32, constantly scanning for traffic as usual. I spotted the other airplane before turning crosswind, and altered my course to fly a tight downwind, closer to the airport to avoid the airplane ahead. The aircraft was nearly on a collision course! I tracked the airplane as it passed across my nose in front of me, then I heard the other pilot ask where I was, because he didn't have me in sight.
Recovering my composure and maintaining control of the airplane, I informed the pilot I had him in sight. Thinking about it later, it appeared that he was attempting a midfield crosswind entry for his right-hand pattern landing. At the time I didn't have words to reply. My priority was the airplane. My instructor had drilled "Aviate, navigate, communicate" over and over.
I looked for the spiral approach landing aircraft, and spotted him on the runway. He then informed everyone that he was clear of the active. Phew, one less to worry about, I thought as I heard another pilot announce a one-mile entry on a left 45 for Runway 32. I was at the midfield downwind and decided to announce such as a precaution. The arriving pilot informed me he had me in sight and would follow me in. It was only later when a ground observer informed me that the traffic behind me was very close-too close.
I was having trouble keeping ahead of both the airplane and the traffic. I began a descent abeam the numbers, trying to focus on the procedures I'd been taught. I've had a tendency to approach high and I still hadn't conquered that problem, so my base leg was too high. The pilot behind me announced an extended downwind, so I tried hard to focus on performing a good landing. I tried to burn altitude with a power reduction on short final while nosing up to slow down, and managed a safe landing. It occurred to me that I'd lost track of the pilot performing right-hand traffic (he had either made no further radio calls or I was too distracted to hear them).
I exited the runway and made a beeline for the ramp after performing my checklist duties. To my relief, the owner of the flight school appeared to help me park the airplane and give me some much-needed reassurance. He was well aware that this was my first unsupervised solo, and he had been watching the skies and listening to the circus of traffic.
The lesson was that flying on the weekdays is no guarantee that there won't be crazy traffic with which to contend, and that there's no substitute for keeping your eyes and ears open and listening to your instructor's disembodied voice in your head reminding you to fly the airplane and watch for traffic.
"Learning Experiences" is presented to enhance safety by providing a forum for students and pilots to learn from the experiences of others. It is intended to provoke thought and discussion, acknowledging that actions taken by the authors were not necessarily the best choices under the circumstances. We encourage you to discuss any questions you have about a particular scenario with your flight instructor.
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