I am two solo flights ahead of where I was when I wrote my last article, one of which went well and the other…not so well :S
The former was a 0.9 hour flight to the practice area; really a very routine flight, practicing stalls, descents, and slow flight.
When it comes to the second one, though, let’s just say it was slightly embarrassing for two reasons. The first was a simple lack of terminology on my part (“stop-and-go”) resulting in a bit of confusion, although nothing got unsafe at any time. If it hadn’t been for the second problem, it is likely nobody at the flying club would have heard about it.
Another plane in the circuit requested permission from the tower to perform a simulated forced landing (PFL), which takes a while and disrupts the normal circuit traffic. The controller decided to allow it, but needed to get me out of the way for a few minutes. He directed me to set up for a left circuit, which in this case meant I would be circling the runway in a non-standard direction. I asked him to “confirm you want WZN to do a left 90 degree turn now”, to which he responded, “no, WZN please make a right turn” (obviously this is just from my memory). Naturally I turned to the right and shortly after, the controller simply gave me a vector (heading) generally away from the runway.
After I landed, the club safety officer said the tower had called to notify him of the problem. I didn’t really “get in trouble”; he just stepped through the event with me. Anyhow, that flight ruined my day until I went to the gym that night. End of story.
My instructor is back from a trip tomorrow, so I am flying with him on Monday the 4th, which is supposed to be sunny and 17 degrees.