Hey guys I’m preparing for my first solo. I’ve had wind delays and havent been able to fly recently. Today was perfect weather I go to do a warm up before being released for my first solo and absolutely blow it. It was as if i forgot everything. (Flying traffic pattern, landing, approach etc.) Any advice going forward and has anyone had similar issues and how did you get over them?
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Alexandro,
EVERY pilot has had a bad flight (or 100). This is your first solo we’re talking about and this is still all relatively new. What is important is you need to shake it off and move forward. I’m a huge fan of chair flying and you need to be sitting alone in a quiet room and talking your way through the entire flight until it becomes rote. You’ll be fine. Move on…
Adam
Alexandro,
That’s a difficult question to answer given that we are not your instructor. There’s no way for us to know what it is that you need to work on specifically.
The question that I have for you is how were you spending your time on your non-flying days? Were you reviewing your lessons? Were you chair flying? Practicing your radio calls?
These are all things that you should be doing to stay current. I know that delays are outside of your control, but this is something that pilots have to overcome so that when the time comes to perform we are performing at the best of our ability for that given day.
I would focus on the advice that you received from your instructor and go from there. You could even debrief yourself. I would bet that you know exactly what you need to work on.
It happens. That’s what the eval is for.
Tory
I would definitely do a debrief for your own sake. Write down everything that happened. How you reacted. How you failed. How you could have succeeded. This is a great thing to learn from and it may even help you be successful in the future cause you never forget such and such again. Or you may be interviewing for a cadet program or regional and they ask you a question about a time you failed and what you did to over come it. Can’t remember if that was a suggestion I saw on the forum here or something I heard in a YouTube video but it made a lot of sense to journal some of you triumphs and failures so you can be prepared for those situations in the future or so you have some great answers for any future interviews. Best of luck at your next flight!
Alexandro,
Every pilot has a bad day from time to time, myself included. I know it is easy to say and hard to do, but please try not to let it get to you. This is still all relatively new for you and flying an airplane by yourself is a big deal. Use it as a learning experience.
I have not flown an airplane by myself in seventeen years, it would feel very odd to me to go do so now, and I am a professional pilot.
Chris