Say again

Training at a reasonably busy regional airport with two runways and airline traffic, I was pretty adept at communicating with the control tower while working in the pattern. Or at least I thought I was.

Coming off my successful first solo, I was feeling supremely confident in my ability to do an hour of touch and goes in the pattern. It was to be an opportunity to practice skills, but more importantly, to gain confidence flying alone in the airplane. At that point in training “supervised solo” meant a thorough briefing before the flight with the instructor, including going over the weather, a training plan, what to do in an emergency, and more. I knew the instructor was carefully monitoring my progress and supporting me from the ground.

The pattern wasn’t busy that day, and airline traffic wasn’t a factor because general aviation traffic was operating off a dedicated runway. Preflight, runup, and takeoff were all normal, and nothing indicated this flight would be any different. On my first lap around, the controller gave me a landing clearance, and I dutifully turned left base in the right position and properly configured. That’s when the controller started yelling at me. I had turned base directly into the path of an airplane on final. I must have been given instructions to turn behind the traffic on final and had ignored them. No doubt I was so focused on flying the airplane that I didn’t fully process what he said. My confirmation bias had me hearing what I wanted to, which was “cleared for the option.” Thankfully there wasn’t a collision hazard and the airplane now behind me on final was able to go around and avoid a potentially dangerous situation.

Rattled and embarrassed, I continued around for another pattern, and did the exact same thing again! I had cut off two airplanes on final on two subsequent patterns. It’s as if I was trying to be an idiot. My instructor got on his handheld radio and told the tower controller to make this landing a full stop. I landed, hat in hand, and expected a thorough chewing out.

Thankfully the instructor was kind, and in hindsight, probably more confused than anything. It’s not like I had a bad habit of ignoring ATC instructions. Having had students who have made similar, uncharacteristic mistakes, I know it can be surprising when new pilots find creative ways to keep you on your toes. Everyone makes mistakes. Some pilots make the same mistake repeatedly and some keep it interesting and make unexpected mistakes.

I wish I could say that my second solo was the last time I completely flubbed an ATC instruction, but it’s not. I’ve continued to make many mistakes, both on the radio and off. But I can say that I learned from the experience and grew as a pilot.

Pilots have to be honest with themselves. Honest about their abilities, honest about their intentions, and honest about their understanding of information. Gathering information like weather, communications, and more, it can be easy to read what you want, hear what you want, and assume you’ve heard something. If there’s a small hint of doubt, challenge your understanding. Ask for clarification. Dig deeper, and when you inevitably make a mistake, learn from it and move on.

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