What went wrong during your cross countries?
Posted by uncei@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 199 comments
I'm starting the second half of private, so I'm beginning all the solo xc prep now. I want to prepare as much as possible and ask all the right questions now so I don't have any surprises when I start going solo.
What went wrong or suprised you during a cross country? What kinds of things happened that you didn't know to prepare for, and how did you respond?
culpies@reddit
I had to pee in a bottle in a 172 I never was able to get perfectly trimmed. At 6'6" that was....fun
avgeek358@reddit
On my long solo private XC, my EIS on my MFD (G1000 C172SP) my EIS failed on me. I knew to stay calm since the ignition system relied on magnetos and not the battery, but it was still scary for a pre-private pilot.
NYPuppers@reddit
Huge flock of geese crossed the runway at 30 feet on a collision course during my takeoff roll just as I became airborne. Pulled power as ducked under them, had the bumpiest landing of my life with all the excess airspeed and slight veer left to avoid, and barely came to a stop on the runway. Controller saw it and asked if I wanted to pull over to recoup… said no because my block was coming to an end and I needed to get the plane back (dumb).
Anyways I guess the takeaways are: - birds in the vicinity can actually mean that and it isn’t just boilerplate that they say at every coastal airport - don’t book 2 or 3 hour blocks for your long xc
fly_that_66@reddit
A whole two days after my private check ride barely 17 i decided to go on a fun little time building trip out to san angelo and on the way back i had an alternator failure and little private pilot me didnt notice and lost full electricity and on top of that was charging my ipad from the airplane and it died. So i found a road i knew went towards my home airport and followed a heading and that road (thankfully my dad thought me old school i knew how to dead reckon) made it back safely and made a no flap landing and scared myself quite a bit haha
mclinny@reddit
on one of my solo xcs i lost compressions on all four cylinders at the same time on takeoff at 450’. stranded at the airport, but blessed to land the plane back on the runway. i did an owner assisted top overhaul at that airport.
on my first attempt at a solo xc it was a very hot day), my phone and gps overheated, then both my radios overheated while on with FF. i was able to divert and land at another airport and the cops came for me. (FF lost me at 1300’ and assumed crash.)
i waited around for like four hours until it cooled down and then made ny way back home before night. i don’t fly solo anymore.
gyajwe@reddit
First airport on a 3-leg XC trip on my first XC flight. 02/20 runways and winds were favoring 02 slightly. Might have been a 2-5 kt wind, no crosswind. Coming in I'm going everything a student pilot should by calling my position on the CTAF well in advance and multiple times (probably annoying everyone else), stating I'm a student pilot.
Get a couple miles out and someone comes on and says, "Inbound runway 20." I restated my location and intentions--obviously for runway 02. He comes back in very authoritative and stern voice, "(tail number) inbound runway 20." I had done a couple landings with a slight tailwind and knew I had plenty of runway at the airport, so I adjusted for a traffic pattern into 20, following the inbound aircraft.
Didn't like how the landing looked so I went around. Thankfully a friend was on the ground about ready to take off from 02 and tactfully let me know the winds were favoring 02, and do whatever I needed. Did a 180 while climbing out from 20 (dumb!) and came back in for a straight in touch-and-go 02.
In retrospect I should have been more firm with the "inbound" aircraft that 02 was the runway in use (other aircraft on the ground were lining up). And should have done a mid-field crossing to enter the downwind for 02. At the end of the day, probably could not have changed the guy who was determined to land with a tailwind, but should have done what I needed to set up for a safe entry to 02.
Plane-Impression-296@reddit
Alternator failure which made me decide to land at an airport in Bumfart, Louisiana. I didn’t really know what to do so I just decided to safely put the plane down. Got to meet a super friendly stunt pilot though, so that was cool.
metalgtr84@reddit
Alternator failed on my dual cross country and eventually lost battery power as well. You forget how loud the cabin is when you can’t use the radios.
Plane-Impression-296@reddit
Yeah, I definitely invested in a portable radio after the ordeal.
cloverclamp@reddit
Best money you can spend!
Plane-Impression-296@reddit
Amen to that!
fridapilot@reddit
Another alternator failure on XC here! Used my phone to call the tower and let them know I was coming in. Got through to a very surprised passenger information desk worker, who passed the message on to the tower.
Gbdub87@reddit
I this failure mode is why I sprung for the Bluetooth version of my headset
Plane-Impression-296@reddit
At the time, I still had a flip phone so I don’t think they would’ve been able to hear me over the noise of the plane. That was great thinking on your part though.
MrFulla93@reddit
I’ve been to that airport
jckwlzn@reddit
Bumfart haha
Gbdub87@reddit
Couple of minor issues:
1) Sky rage - land at my first airport uneventfully. Head back on the taxiway. One aircraft is in the runup bay, stopped, head down, presumably screwing with his iPad or whatever. He’s made no radio calls, and I slow up to make sure he’s not moving, whatever. It’s a busy uncontrolled field and there is a rare big gap in the pattern, so I take the runway and take off. Dude starts berating me for “cutting him off” on the (busy!) CTAF until I’m like 3 miles off the runway (I think I delayed this guy by all of 30 seconds since he took off right behind me).
2) The rudder trim on the 172 I’m in is a bit off, which isn’t really noticeable in the practice area, but requires a fair bit of left rudder at cruising speed. After 2 hours of pressing on it, my left leg is starting to cramp up and shake. I finally just give up and fly uncoordinated for the last 15 minutes or so because I’m worried my leg won’t work right when I’m trying to land.
jennifer-le@reddit
me w my first solo xc tmrw reading these 😂
cloverclamp@reddit
Hopefully nothing goes wrong but remember your CFI signed off on you for a reason. You're ready and just need to execute what were taught and make good decisions!
jennifer-le@reddit
Thank you! I made it back just fine:) hit low level wind shear at my destination airport which was pretty scary. I went around & got back in the pattern and was able to land it but I definitely grew up today lol!
uncei@reddit (OP)
These responses are great, I'm going to reread them all before mine. Good luck tomorrow!
jennifer-le@reddit
they definitely are! thank you :)
Ambitious_Weekend101@reddit
C150 instrument panel started to shake/vibrate and pieces of royalite trim fell off.
PutOptions@reddit
Here is a helpful prep tip for solo XC. Print out a google map image of your destination airport(s). (You can even choose the altitude you are viewing from.) Now, with a colored marker, draw how you are going to enter the pattern to land for each runway in a different color marker. You know the direction you will be approaching from so just draw all four.
red_0ctober@reddit
Autopilot (GFC700) tried to kill me on initial climbout around 1500 feet. Turned it off and hand flew the whole thing there and back.
Substantial-Sir-7880@reddit
I peed in fuel strainer, tried to dump it out the window and covered myself and the airplane in urine, then threw it out the window.
SFDukie@reddit
None. Everyhing went well
But potential isses- My long XC was from chapel hill to first flight, then s along the outer banks.
Had never thought about, nor had even a word about, ditching an airplane in an emergency Hadn’t thought about how to contact controlling agency for a moa or restriced military area to see if it’s “hot”
Cherrydude7889@reddit
My first solo XC as a student pilot was a route flown the previous day with my instructor. He told me exactly where and how to taxi to the FBO and get fuel. Unfortunately I never looked into/ was taught marshaling signals. Now that I have my first student about to go on their solo XC I’m going to be sure to teach them to avoid the awkward situation I got into.
Altec5499@reddit
Same shit happened to me 😂 but it got better…. After confused me opened the window and yelled what the fuck are you telling me to do, I stopped the plane by the fbo and went inside to pay for fuel. Immediately after going in, the front desk looked at me and said “no fee”… at the moment this registered to me that there was no fuel fee. Boy was I confused.. I questioned it and they busted out laughing at me… all 4 of them. They said hell no.. there’s no fee to land. I felt extremely dumb in the moment and then proceeded with the rest of my XC. Nothing serious but I felt very dumb for a solid 10 minutes.
cloverclamp@reddit
Lucky one of my CFIs scheduled a "real flying" adventure late in my training. We did a $100 hamburger run that included calling the FBO to get intel on where to park, self serve fueling away from home, and getting marshalled. So many students never get those lessons and go out into the world with their certificate scared shitless of going any place new.
Altec5499@reddit
It’s probably because most CFIs received the same experience… essentially they had to figure a lot out on their own.
AshamedMarket7291@reddit
Similar story here. I’ll be teaching my students the same!
uncei@reddit (OP)
I'm not even sure that's part of our curriculum here. I'll ask about it!
cloverclamp@reddit
Hit some turbulence with a sudden substantial drop in altitude. Whacked my head on the roof and took a sec to get my bearings.
Sacred the crap out of me but I slowed down and took stock. Still flying, nothing obvious in the sky to avoid. Was on FF so i keyed up and asked about turbulence in the area.
Controller was at the C airport I just left and she knew I was on my long XC. Told me she'd put in a pirep but nothing else reported. Talked for a sec and felt reassured. She asked me if I wanted assistance finding a place to land or if I wanted to continue and I opted to keep going.
CFI was happy I was wearing my seat belt and that I availed myself of ATC. He said to remember I was never alone up there and was proud I debriefed it. Nothing worse than hiding something you think might have been a mistake.
reve-dore@reddit
I got lost. 16 years old in a 152 with just a compass and a sectional. No GPS and just 1 radio. My CFI never introduced flight following to me. Didn’t hit my first 3 checkpoints, no landmarks correlated to the sectional. My directional awareness degraded to zero, no idea which way I came from or had to go. Saw a town and descended to read the water tower: nothing. I knew I couldn’t keep flying aimlessly and had almost made up my mind to land in a field and knock on someone’s door to ask where I was and then a spotted a random municipal airport. Didn’t know frequencies or anything, just landed and walked into the FBO and asked where I was. Thankfully a CFI was there and helped me make a new flight plan home.
uncei@reddit (OP)
Getting lost is my biggest concern. I'm glad you landed safe and found a CFI to help out, thanks for sharing this!
the1stAviator@reddit
As long as you are taught Lost Procedure and action to take in order to find yourself again, you'll be ok. Very disconcerting getting lost but not irrepairable.
chuckop@reddit
In the GPS/Children of the Magenta Line era, getting lost is difficult.
morane-saulnier@reddit
An ATC guy told me once that since the advent of GPS everybody knows where they’re going but nobody knows where they’re at.
radioref@reddit
“Where am I?”
“Lo siento, no hablo inglés señor.”
fhfm@reddit
Kudos to you for keeping it together. I’m not sure 16 year old me would have been able to do that in the air! Shoulda been born later so iPads existed! Thanks mom… haha
mittsh@reddit
This is wild! Curious, how long ago was it? No ForeFlight or Google maps on your phone?
reve-dore@reddit
kevinw1526@reddit
CFI didn’t teach you to triangulate position with VORs?
reve-dore@reddit
He did, but when you triangulate your position about 35 miles and 100° off where you’re supposed to be I got the “that can’t be right” thought in my head and figured I was using the VOR wrong
SomeCessnaDriver@reddit
Wind at one of my destinations exceeded my solo endorsement, so I had to go home instead.
tommarca@reddit
I'm curious how wind endorsements work... is it just for PPL students flying solo?
the1stAviator@reddit
These are normally decided by the school. Although an aircraft may have a x/w limit of 15kts the school may put a limit of 10 kts for students and even a max surface wind. Sometimes these limits are demanded by insurance companies.
Helpful_Corn-@reddit
It is standard for instructors to give private pilot students additional limitations beyond basic VFR weather minima and student pilot restrictions so that the student knows not to fly outside of his limitations. These limitations can be anything, but they usually include maximum total wind and crosswind component and minimum cloud ceilings.
Once you have earned at least a private pilot's license, there are no more restrictions other than the the law and personal minimums.
SomeCessnaDriver@reddit
In my experience it's pretty common to put a condition on a student solo endorsement that limits the winds they can fly in. It's to help keep the student from getting in over their head, and also a cover-your-ass for the CFI.
Queasy_Platypus6333@reddit
Winds picked up pretty good at my home airport while on the way back, exceeded my solo endorsements. I couldn’t go home lol
MondayNightRawr@reddit
You still up in the air?
Queasy_Platypus6333@reddit
Giving the Hacienda record a shot at this point!
I_Follow_Roads@reddit
Same thing happened to me, but I diverted to another airport and finished.
Fauzyb125@reddit
On one of my dua crows countriesl, we were on the last leg back to our home airport, we had seen weather building on our second last leg but hopeful we could still make it back. Watching the sky and the radar we saw we weren't going to make it back before hitting weather so we diverted. Landed and sat at another airport for about 3-4 hours waiting for the weather to clear, it eventually did then flew back. Couldn't log the last bit since it was night time . Went back as a check out before doing my solo a few weeks later and finished the last half leg.
EntroperZero@reddit
On my way back from my second XC, the layer of few clouds below cruising altitude became scattered from 1000 below through 1000 above cruising. I had to figure out how to pick my way around it without entering the bravo to my left. I ended up climbing above one of the lower clouds and getting tossed around by the rising air. Safe, but spicier than I was used to at the time. My confidence increased a lot after that flight because I had to make some real-time decisions and I knew what I would have done if they didn't pan out.
Glad-Length-2468@reddit
Power loss on takeoff at my first destination. Didn’t end up finishing my long xc that day.
Puzzled_Fan_3109@reddit
Make sure you know how to calculate ur headings lol I flew my entire solo 150NM XC by pilotage
uncei@reddit (OP)
Your situational awareness must be fantastic though
Puzzled_Fan_3109@reddit
I was proud that i was able to do it lol i was definitely nervous though
Classic_Ad_9985@reddit
Def didn’t scud run it on the way back at 1,000agl and didn’t get ff. I didn’t do that. Just wanted to clarify
DueSatisfaction8123@reddit
It snowed the day before my long cross country solo. All the landmarks I had picked as way points were now a uniform white and almost invisible.
superaveragepro@reddit
This wasn’t during solo cross country, but during my first dual XC the passenger door popped open mid flight lol. Instructor couldnt get it shut, so had to quickly divert. During my solo XC, had a turtle right on the numbers and tower told me to go around one time
Zealousideal-Key6817@reddit
On my night solo xc, the mixture knob worked it's way out causing the engine to run super lean and started sputtering. Took me a few minutes to figure it out on a dimly lit cessna 150. After figuring it out and with a huge relief i started my way back home. Get back to my home airport and the runway lights stopped working all together (not just timed out). My instructor called me on my phone and talked me down. I couldn't see the runway till I was about 20 feet above it! Turned out to be one of my better landings lol!
japanese-frog@reddit
My first destination airfield (UK) was one with a more unusual 1,100ft circuit level. I did all the calls correctly to ATC and joined downwind in my little Robin, obviously always starting my calls with “student pilot” etc.
One plonker behind me, who had heard me and knew I was ahead of him on downwind (as per his comments with ATC), who was in a slightly faster airplane and clearly hadn’t read any briefing, flew underneath me at 1,000ft to “overtake” me in the downwind.
night_flight3131@reddit
This is so simple and stupid but... approach control didn't respond to my call for flight following on the return flight. That had never happened before, and the idea hadn't even occurred to me that I could just... not get it and fly back with my own eyes, so I probably called about 10 ten times with increasing levels of panic. Controller did eventually respond and give it to me but it's something that still gives me a hard time when I'm falling asleep xP
R4RaceD4Doom@reddit
I elected to enjoy my Solo XC in peace and quiet and not use flight following. Had my ADSB IN on my iPad and enjoyed some coffee enroute. Really was a great flight minus some turbulence crossing over the Shenandoah Mtns.
kevinw1526@reddit
Usually get flight following, but sometimes those quiet xcs are needed. Usually the first nice day of the spring I’ll go up by myself with no flight following and with all the training, it reminds me why I love this stuff
R4RaceD4Doom@reddit
I completely agree, it's so easy to get burned out during training and forget to take time to enjoy it.
MondayNightRawr@reddit
Dumb Q: When not on FF, are you on 121.5 just chillin? It wouldn’t have dawned on me to not stay on center/approach.
night_flight3131@reddit
That's still the only time I haven't gotten flight following, but VFR I'd be on 122.75 personally. I'd monitor guard because I have no reason not to, but if I can't get eyes on traffic radar and IFR traffic, I'd at least rather hear what I can from VFR traffic
jckwlzn@reddit
Don't lie to us you were on the wrong frequency /s
night_flight3131@reddit
I mean... it was approach for a military airport... if I'd been on a frequency in the 300's I might have been responded to quicker.....
jckwlzn@reddit
I was joking sorry
No-Sheepherder-2522@reddit
I live in Alaska. Flew from home airport out west and lost cell signal about halfway. Didn’t think much of it until looming thoughts started circulating. Always carry an InReach with me whenever I go now.
Helpful_Corn-@reddit
As I was departing the first airport on my long cross country the clouds were lower than expected and ATC tried to cancel flight following on me because their radar was struggling to keep me in view. Luckily I was able to climb a bit and ident and they kept me.
clyde112@reddit
I followed the wrong road. They really should label those things.
Devil718@reddit
I've posted this story before, and I'm late to the party, but enjoy my mistakes:
I got a phone number on my student solo XC.
Flying to a sleepy class D, low-ish ceilings, putting along in a clapped out 172 (you know, like usual).
I was on flight following with center, listening for the past 10 minutes as the controller was trying to get a Navy jet to tell him his preferred routing. (Navy kept misunderstanding and just repeated his destination over and over and over).
So while I'm chuckling at the squid being obtuse, I realize I'm getting close to Sleepy D airspace and center hasn't switched me yet. I start hovering over the PTT switch waiting for 3 seconds to edge in, but no such luck. (I now realize that there was a shit load of things I SHOULD have done, but student pilot gonna student and I continued on course)
Five minutes late Navy Squid has unfucked himself and center very hurriedly says "squawk VFR”. Great. Finally. EXCEPT, I'm already in Sleepy D airspace and they don't have a radar, as I was about to learn. I switch to tower and as I look and see my distance, I panic and fuck it all up soooo much worse.
I gave my position report as 3 mi east when I was actually west. Tower reacts quickly to this invisible stealth Cessna about to fuck up his pattern and has current traffic make a 360 before I can correct it and unfuck myself.
I land (very smoothly for someone about to have a heart attack) and the instant I touch the taxiway: "I have a number for you to copy when able". Great. I'm dead. And my instructor is dead too. He gives me the number, and says call when you land at home. Perfect, can't wait for this flight.
I have to stop at another airport on the way home so I figure I'll call then. Except the numbers wrong. So I pop back up and run e back to tower and ask for the number over the air, again.
After I finally shutdown at home I call tower, he asks if I know what I did wrong. I tell him i do, and that I'm very very sorry. He says that he called Center and Center forgot about me. He chewed me out a bit about position reports and I learned they don't have radar and I'm very lucky. But no harm, no foul. No follow up other than telling my instructor.
Intelligent_Limit462@reddit
I forgot to reset my gyro compass after fuel stop. Headed in wrong direction until I realized my landmarks weren't ocurring properly. Felt very dumb.
N5tp4nts@reddit
Thankfully nothing. Everyone says your first solo is the biggest deal. For me the long XC was the best 3.5 hours of my life. Great weather, got to go to a Bravo (CVG) Plan ahead. Have diagrams. Don’t get lost taxiing at Lunken. Bring water.
The big thing for me was a sheet I printed that had all of the frequencies Is get handed off to and from. So when I got them I could just fill them in quickly.
Replubic@reddit
I just did one with my instructor and somehow I used a wrong point or I swapped one point on my vfr log. I got a talking to lol sometimes common sense isn’t so common. I had a heading north than west then back north then west. And he got me. He asked me if I even knew what I was writing down did I go over it in my head. But it was a good lesson now I chair fly my entire flight as best as I can.
rick_rolled_you@reddit
I was looking for the airport and was looking too far ahead, ended up really high, so had to do some maneuvering to get down since I didn’t start my descent early enough. Wasn’t a big deal but kinda embarrassing cause there was another student on the same cross country right behind me
JBalloonist@reddit
On my long XC, I planned to pick up the flight following to get practice, and I was going to cross through my local Class C. I call up approach two times, never heard anything back, but the second time I hear "you're on guard." Turns out, whoever had flown before me had made only Comm2 active.
For whatever reason I had never touched the audio panel, just the radios themselves, so didn't even know how to switch on at first. I figured it out and all was good. But I had a moment of panic for a minute, especially when I realized all my radio calls departing the airport were going to guard.
On top of the radios, I was about to enter Class C and had never talked to approach so I had to make a turn to stay out of it.
RavenholdIV@reddit
Me when my CFI is letting me take the reigns to fly to a nearby airport but I have had almost zero training on the GPS and radio functionality.
JBalloonist@reddit
Just ask him where the “direct to” button is and how to put it in airport identifier.
RavenholdIV@reddit
That time we used the nearby airport function. Still, it's a part of the plane that I have no idea how to use properly. I feel like a part of the admech reciting the holy rituals to get this piece of tech working.
mkosmo@reddit
I dropped a fuel dip gauge in a tank at one of my destinations... on a Sunday.
In good news, one mechanic was on field and had a flexi-grabber doo-dad tool he lent me to retrieve it.
StarvingPilot9@reddit
Bad carb ice on my first solo XC. Flying at 5k feet on a beautiful, clear, 60-70 something degree day. Never noticed signs of ice like a small rpm drop. It was just flying along At cruise, to immediate drop in RPM to about 1200 and running rough as hell.
My first thought was, “of course I’d lose my engine on a solo xc”. But then I remembered my training and began my ABC checklist. Best glide airspeed, best field, checklist. To my surprise, I was DIRECTLY overtop another airport, so I just entered a defending spiral overtop, made a few radio calls to the few airplanes in the pattern, so they knew I was going to take priority.
Then started troubleshooting since I had time to spare. Tried carb heat first because I suspected carb ice, but that took my choking 1200rpm down to a suffocating 900rpm, which I REALLY didn’t like so I slammed it back in to keep extra power. Mixture full rich also made the engine mad at me.
After trying those 2, I just said fuck it, I’m committing to land anyway, i don’t care what’s wrong with the engine. so I went full rich, carb heat on, and continued to spiral down, entered a tight pattern, and completed a power off landing to a full stop. By the time I was back on the ground, my engine had fully recovered and was able to taxi in to the ramp no issues.
Called my CFI, explained the situation, he said it sounded like carb ice and to sit there and let it melt for a while, then go do an extensive run up to see if it’s better or not. If it’s better, I can decide if I want to continue the flight or just have him come up and get me.
Went out to the plane, did a thorough run up which included full power, and performed as advertised. Decided to continue on with my XC and had no issues.
Later found out that the XC didn’t count because of my landing at an alternate because it wasn’t far enough away…so had to redo the flight later that week SMH
Ichabod89@reddit
NAV was in OBS mode. Heading was significantly different from the planned heading. Knew something was wrong. Followed my gut.
localflighteast@reddit
at my first airport someone took their time exiting the runway so i had to 360 on final for spacing to allowing them to exit . Althought it worked out i probably should have gone around. i was super careful about my airspeed and not slipping or skidding.
I was used to having to do funky thinks for spacing because i learnt at a very busy towered airport where ATC loved to get you out of the way of the commercial traffic!
At my second airport i couldn't actually find it , so i orbited over the nearby town until I got my bearings and found it
On my second cross country i couldn't see my first airport ( spotting a pattern here?) so when i got instructions for a left base pattern i fessed up to ATC and told them i didn't have a visual. They gave me good instructions on how to find it.
Then i got a weird departure from said airport because someon busted their airspace and they needed to keep me out the way. I was flying over landscape that all looked the same to me , so I got flight following and asked for a vector to my next airport...again they were happy to help , giving me not only directions but calling off distances as well
at the next airport , there was an impromtu airshow going on by the local Harvards.. so the politely asked me to orbit outside the zone until there was a gap. I did ( i knew i had PLENTY of fuel..like another 4 hours worth) eventually i was invited to land , of course only to realize that there was an audience for my landing!!!!
Anyway two very cute Harvrad pilots helped me push my plane into a parking spot so that was cool
My biggest takeaway...ATC is your friend and would rather you talk to them than get yourself into trouble.
zman12804@reddit
I straight up missed one of my stops on my solo xc. Literally flew right by it. I remember looking at the distinct mountain which was right next to it and thinking, “it should be RIGHT here!” It was so close it was literally under my wing.
Eventually I just flew around the area where the airport should have been, and in the end I spotted it. It was a fun use of my navigation skills, for sure
PILOT9000@reddit
Engine in my 172 died…
MRmayer41@reddit
Had a stuck valve, ended up declaring an emergency because I was so freaked out by the roughness of the engine. I thought it was going to die on me any second. Looking back declaring an emergency might have been overkill but I had never experienced that before and I thought I was losing my engine. Tower was super helpful and my instructor said I handled it nicely when I landed. I bought myself a well deserved beer after that one.
__joel_t@reddit
That was absolutely an emergency situation. You don't know what else might start breaking next, you don't know how this issue might cascade into other failures. Just because it happened to end fine this time doesn't mean it would have if you hadn't gotten down when you did. Your instructor was right -- declaring an emergency was the right thing to do.
Carlito_2112@reddit
I would rather overreact and get back down safely, than risk underreacting to what could be a dangerous situation.
thrfscowaway8610@reddit
Oh, it definitely wasn't. A failing engine when you only have one of them is an emergency by definition.
flyingforfun3@reddit
I was short .3 for solo cross country. Went and did a minimum 51mile one.
ComputerizedCash_@reddit
On my first solo XC the plane starting shaking badly after I took off from my destination airport to return home so I ran the engine rough checklist and then returned to land and did another run up, everything normal. During cruise it started again. Downed it for maintenance when I got back, they later found dirt on the spark plugs or cylinder heads or something of that nature. Rented the same plane 2 weeks later and it happened again!
Littleferrhis2@reddit
Almost hit a bonanza then cut my engine leaning the mixture after landing.
The mixture is self explanatory, but the Bonanza took a wider pattern than I did and cut me off while I was still on downwind. I made all the proper radio calls he was just faster than my 152 and on a wider pattern.
JerryWagz@reddit
Didn’t read NOTAMS. Airport was closed
NoPossibility9534@reddit
ATC kept calling me the wrong call sign and I didn’t clue in until they called me on guard.
PotatoHunter_III@reddit
My first solo was to an airport near us. We flew the route came back and my instructor got off. So, I did the same exact route.
Except this time, the winds somewhat started to pick up. Not too bad. As I was on final, I saw this WW2 aircraft (can't remember now what it was) on hold short. It somewhat distracted me and I bounced a good 3x in front of that aircraft.
Second solo, first long cross country, we went to an airport we flew to a couple of days before. So again, I flew the exact route we did. This time though, flight following told me to watch out for sky jumper activity and transferred me to CTAF (it was an untowered airport.)
Man, that was hair raising as I could hear the skydive plane announcing and talking to someone. Good thing there was a plane ahead of me and I sequenced behind him.
I just remember making that landing while looking at skydivers landing to my left, just beyond the taxiway.
sassinator13@reddit
I learned to fly just as the 430 was becoming popular. Did my cross countries in the club plane without one. Hadn’t picked great visual references for navigating, missed the one before my third airport, which caused me to miss the airport. Overflew it by about 10 miles when I noticed things from the chart I should not have been seeing. Turned around and found my way back.
OrganVoiceMusicMan@reddit
On my first solo xc flying into KCMA I mistakenly lined up with KOXR instead which has a similar sized, parallel runway only 5nm further ahead and not even 1nm offset to the left. I couldn’t see KCMA (under the cowling) and neither tower or I realised the mistake until I was at 1000ft over the KCM threshold. “Errrrm Skyhawk1234 are you familiar with the KOXR airport….?”
Familiarise yourself with potential points if error. That one should have been part of my preflight brief. Happy flying!
minfremi@reddit
Did my 300nm XC to Chester County PA, near PHL.
In a Tomahawk with an old GPS that I barely knew how to use, with a 20 year old database.
I was using paper charts at the time.
I had a bit of trouble finding the field. Because it wasn’t in the GPS, but I had paper chart that I did my whole planning with to reference. I did not dare tell ATC I was lost.
I finally found the railroad tracks near the airport and I found the airport.
TobyADev@reddit
Got uncomfortably close to minimum fuel so that was fun… Better pre flight planning could’ve sorted that but my instructor just zoomed through the form without discussing it with me…
…now safe to say I’m super duper cautious with fuel even nothing came of it. I discussed it with my main instructor and took some learning points from it
My next solo land away was far far better
juusohd@reddit
Couldn't find to my destination so had to turn around LOL.
nascent_aviator@reddit
I had the airport map upside down and started tracking towards the wrong runway. Be sure to do sanity checks- figure out the orientation of the runways based on your heading indicator and make sure your traffic pattern lines up with what it should be (i.e. if they tell you to make left traffic for runway 9 make sure you're actually making left traffic).
Had to turn around on a long XC because of low clouds at one of the airports. Don't push your limits!
PositiveRateOfClimb@reddit
This is funny. On my go home leg in my last solo XC for private, I literally see a wall of clouds some miles ahead of me. The previous 2 legs were uneventful, just some occasional going around cells. I look down at my iPad and refresh foreflight, and it's covered in RED. I think well fuck, I'm right inside a convective sigmet that just popped up. Exercising some quick ADM, I contacted the ATC and requested immediate radar vectors back to the airport I came from (that was outside the convective sigmet). I landed and shut down the airplane. I called my flight school and told them what happened, and they told me just to wait until the convective sigmet lifted. 8 hours later, I'm still lounging in the FBO, absolutely exhausted. Night time comes and I'm not allowed to solo anymore. They ended up sending 2 CFI's to come rescue me. Worse thing is they made me redo the entire XC because I didn't satisfy the requirements lol.
uncei@reddit (OP)
Ouch. I'm glad round 2 went better. And that you were saved from the FBO!
PositiveRateOfClimb@reddit
Yeah haha. The FBO gave me their crew car and a $20 bill (because they felt bad for me) to go buy some lunch, so I was chilling. The waiting killed me though.
Carlito_2112@reddit
As the late great Tom Petty said, "the waiting is the hardest part..."
Devlopz@reddit
Didn’t read my altimeter correctly so I entered traffic pattern way low at towered airport. They allowed me to land, told me I landed too hard and my entry was dangerous so I wasn’t permitted to stay in the pattern. Basically GTFO 😪 got all flustered when I was at the hold short and ending up radioing a neighboring airport ATC for take off clearance 😭 that was the end of the cross country so I proceeded to go home disappointed in myself. The rest of the flight was perfect, except on initial take off from my home airport my door popped open so that startled me but handled it fine then took off.
Best believe I learned my lesson!
ScathedRuins@reddit
I'll add in an uncommon one -- On one of the stops on my long cross country, the tower refused to speak English over the radio. Since I am not certified for anything other than English, I had to overfly it.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
I'm starting the second half of private, so I'm beginning all the solo xc prep now. I want to prepare as much as possible and ask all the right questions now so I don't have any surprises when I start going solo.
What went wrong or suprised you during a cross country? What kinds of things happened that you didn't know to prepare for, and how did you respond?
Please downvote this comment until it collapses.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. If you have any questions, please contact the mods of this subreddit.
Final_Winter7524@reddit
First XC solo: confused two highways that I had planned to use as navigation aid and set off in the wrong direction. Quite the surprise when the landmark lake showed up on my right rather than my left. Had to re-establish my position and plot a new course in flight.
On my final multi-stop XC, I approached my first destination and called them on the radio. They said I could still make it in, but then they would close for an hour for aerobatic practice. No NOTAM. Didn’t want to get stuck there, as I didn’t want to run out of daylight at the end of my flight. So I rerouted to the second destination, and came back to the first one afterwards. Took some explaining when I showed my instructor the arrival signatures, and they were in reverse order!
brink84@reddit
Almost got into a mid air collision 5 miles from my base airport. Light jet on my altitude and heading coming right for me thank God for foreflight and live traffic.
Told milwaukee approach what happened they give me a phone number and said EHH. The FSDO may call you and they may not but good spatial awareness.
SkippytheBanana@reddit
I asked the tower controller if he was losing his job during the 2013 sequestration. First and only time I got told to remain outside Class D airspace. 15 minutes later he asked my intentions, which were to do the commercial 10 landings at a controlled facility. He informed me that I’d have to do each one as a full stop and taxi back, as required by my schools FOM, and would inform my chief once I was completed with all 10 landings.
automated_rat@reddit
So I guess that's a yes
PostAtomicHorror@reddit
Electrical failure on my long XC. Thankfully I had already made my first two stops. Used my handheld the rest of the way.
veryrare_v3@reddit
Well I got into freezing rain. Thought I would be good since the freezing levels were 4000ft above my route, I was wrong. All heating on, lowered altitude and notified ATC of my situation. Landed, cleaned off the plane. Took a route around on the way back.
Clunk500CM@reddit
Solo XC: No GPS and got...slightly...lost.
Found out that you really do get a tingly feeling when you start hyperventilating. :)
Although stressful, it was a good exercise in keeping your wits about you; taking stock of the situation and thinking of a plan before acting really helped.
uncei@reddit (OP)
What did you end up doing?
It probably shouldn't be, but getting lost on a solo xc might be my worst fear
Clunk500CM@reddit
First I assessed the situation: You have plenty of fuel, oil pressure and temperature are good, the weather is VFR...
Once I reassured myself the airplane was alright, I gave myself time to figure out *roughly* where I was and come up with a plan to find the airport.
And by the time I did all of the above I recognized where I was and resumed the flight.
The point is: Take a deep breath and keep calm. Remember "Impulsivity" is a hazard...so unless you are on fire, take your time. ATC is there if you need them.
You're going to do great OP.
SumpedDry@reddit
I don’t know your route but mine involved 2 class Charlie w/ several handoffs. My advice to you is write all frequencies down on a post it (grounds, towers, clearance, approach, departure, and any other handoffs) my route had alternate frequencies so I never knew which one I’d get until I was handed off and sometime ATC would just say “switch to SoCal” assuming I knew the frequency. Also practice the shit out of your calls. I learned the hard way (time and money) that “who you’re talking to, who you are, and what you want” can get tricky with different airspace. My biggest problem is confusing myself and saying way too much. Good luck.
the_doctor_808@reddit
Center got my tail number wrong and was trying to call me but was saying something similar but not my actual tail number so i wasnt replying to their calls because i thought they were calling someone else. After a while tho and hearing them saying they werent getting a response i got suspicious and asked if they were trying to contact me and then we got it cleared up from there. Only happened over the span of a few minutes maybe but nothing really happened. Just remember its always ok to ask for clarification if you are unsure. ATC is there to help you and ensure your safety. Do your best to minimize any misunderstandings or miscommunications.
WakeMeForSourPatch@reddit
I was surprised at how easy and peaceful it was. Turns out shorter flights are harder. You have to do all the same things, you either have lots of time to do it or a short time. Enjoy it.
franziskanerdunkel@reddit
First solo long cross country got into some heavy down drafts in a valley, mountain waves.
fliesupsidedown@reddit
My home airport went instrument approach before I got back due to massive amounts of smoke. It was clear when I left, and weather report said it would remain that way.
I learned to always prepare an alternate even if I didn't have to. That helped later when a destination closed because of an accident.
CarmenMartin666@reddit
Had to abort my solo xc after takeoff because my airspeed indicator stopped working. I was sweating like I ran a marathon.
Dogmanscott63@reddit
1) lost focus and almost landed short, hit a light with the mains. 2) 2nd xcountry didn't properly account for wind properly, got worried about not being at my destination...oh, wait what airport is that...oh, the airport is want is 10 minutes away. Went there landed, got going again. Oh should have mentioned this was in 1981
TheGacAttack@reddit
My mechanical pencil exploded into pieces, with the main body at the passenger-side feet. At my first checkpoint.
Thankfully, since I'm probably of at least moderate intelligence, I started a climbing left turn to roll the important pencil parts back towards my side of the plane.
deersindal@reddit
I had a partial engine failure on my first solo XC. Glad that my instructor drilled that emergency procedure into me!
Flat-Row7968@reddit
Solo XC got flight following to my destination then missed the radio call to switch frequencies, called approach and told them I’d like to punch out and they said they gave me a frequency change 20 minutes ago
Got back to my destination no further issues but winds were gusting 16kts with a direct crosswind because of a runway closure due to a possum on the other runway, had to go around but than landed safely
Flat-Row7968@reddit
Honorable mention on my first solo I had a hornet crawling and flying around me the entire flight that refused to fly out the window, got that fun one on go pro footage
uncei@reddit (OP)
Nightmare fuel
Octoclops8@reddit
Just a fellow aviator
brucebrowde@reddit
🐝 ☉_☉
N546RV@reddit
First attempt at a solo XC - I was roughly halfway to my destination when I first was able to hear the weather. I could have sworn I heard something like "broken 1500" or some similar below-my-solo-minimums ceiling. I listened to it a couple more times before concluding that it was necessary to abort, so I turned around and went home.
Once I got back I checked the weather at said airport - no low ceiling, conditions were exactly as expected from the forecast. To this day I have no idea whether I completely misheard something on the radio, or I happened to get the weather right as the only cloud in Georgia was directly overhead, or what.
In the end it was a good object lesson in ADM. Obviously it's OK to be conservative and aborting a flight when it might have been OK...but also, at the time I heard that weather report, I was still flying along in perfectly fine conditions. There was nothing outside the airplane that corroborated what I'd heard on the radio, and I could have kept going while being hyper aware of the potential for deteriorating conditions.
Of course, this is also fifteen-years-later me doing some Monday morning quarterbacking. The comfort level I have today with "eh, it's looking iffy out here" is way different from when I was a 25-hour student, and that's the way it should be.
LadyBrutal92@reddit
Don’t snack. I hit a pocket of air and nearly choked on a potato chip. I got it cleared but if I had actually choked then….. well you get the idea. ALSO. If you wear contacts maybe go with the regular glasses while you’re solo. I got dust or something in my eye right after taking off at about 700 agl. Tried to rub my eye to get it out and ended up shredding my contact in my eye. It was a lot of fun trying to fly with one eye while trying to dig out the broken contact from the other eye. 🙃
Possible-Magazine23@reddit
I couldn't spot the airfield even though I know I was very close to it. So i pulled out my cellphone and used Google Map to help my find it.
Yellowtelephone1@reddit
I was inadvertently scud running in a valley with mountain obscuration. I had been thinking about turning around for a while and finally did provoked when approach gave me a new frequency.
CorporalCrash@reddit
It may sound obvious, but knowing when it's safer to turn around and when it's safer to continue. Diversions can be time sensitive, don't let yourself start to freeze up with the "maybe I can make it" if things start to go south. Always have a plan B
Bitter_Ad_1419@reddit
Showed up to my first stop at a non towered airfield to see everyone landing with a tailwind…crossed midfield and circled till there was a gap. Then anounced clearly which runway I was going for and that I was a student pilot.
sporahdi@reddit
Didn’t check my engine gauges enough. Didn’t cause any issues luckily, but something Injust didn’t even think about.
ReadyplayerParzival1@reddit
Heading indicator started spinning at like 5000 rpm. Just caged it and used the compass
ShieldPilot@reddit
Disabled aircraft on the runway of airport number 2. Field closed and I had to come up with a diversion airport that still met the requirements on the fly (no pun intended.)
DuelingPushkin@reddit
Not the same situation but on mine the second destination was socked in with an unforcasted fog layer so I also had to divert and find another airport that met the reg.
ShieldPilot@reddit
Was supposed to be DVO-LVK-AUN-DVO, wound up being DVO-LVK-MCC-DVO.
key_lime_vulture@reddit
(Pun totally intended)
ShieldPilot@reddit
Guilty
Frosty-Brain-2199@reddit
Guy went on to the runway as I was on short final. Had to go around and guy got a phone number. I was sweating so much.
Anonymousflyboy@reddit
Just about shat my pants on my way to my second point during my long cross country. I’ve never shut down and chocked a plane faster. I now carry wipes on me regularly during flights.
uncei@reddit (OP)
HAHA this ones good. For sure going to bring wipes now on my XCs
Vivid-Razzmatazz9034@reddit
Had 2.4 hours logged on my first solo xc. My long xc was gonna be 2.8 according to my nav log, but I went a little too quick and got back in 2.4, meaning I had to do a whole nother to get to the 5 hour requirement.
Economy-Acadia3987@reddit
Weather started to move in and had to navigate around it in a 150
acfoltzer@reddit
My first solo XC, I planned my descent pretty poorly. My CFI always encouraged me to descend at just below the yellow arc because I might as well get my money's worth for the Hobbs time. Wanting to be precise, I timed the start of my descent to hit pattern altitude right at the airport. Seeing me bombing into the downwind at 130kias, the kind tower controller offered to extend my downwind so I could slow down to a reasonable speed.
Not a huge thing to go wrong, and taught me the good habit of planning descents with a bit of room to spare. Hopefully you'll enjoy similar minor-but-instructive wrongs on yours.
AerobaticDiamond@reddit
Clouds developed below me on an otherwise clear night. There was also a wall of clouds in front of me. I turned around, descended, and skirted the edge of the bay where they developed. Unfortunately on the other side, I then got caught between hills and the cloud bank. 2000’ at night with clouds 500’ above me. Then it started to snow. Within 15 mins, the clouds completely cleared and I climbed back to my planned altitude. As I come back to my airport, I landed right after another plane who was experiencing an emergency of the throttle stuck at full power.
Perhaps not the best flight to take your mom on for the first time.
Severe_Elderberry769@reddit
Unexpected bad weather, icing, and flaps failed all at once
uncei@reddit (OP)
This one's pretty brutal. What did you end up doing?
Severe_Elderberry769@reddit
I was in imc and ice was building up, I saw a little bit of light cut through the cloud and hit my wind shield and turned towards. Let atc know I was deviating off course to get out of the cloud, popped out and the ice started melting immediately, asked for an approach to a nearby airport. When I came down to land I noticed I wasn’t slowing down, I was like “what the fuck”. Cancelled ifr and went around, again too fast to land, looked out the window and saw my flaps weren’t down, treated the third landing as a no flap and landed safely.
I had the best bagel and coffee I have ever had in my life jut outta SBA.
PositiveRateOfClimb@reddit
That's the day you really became a pilot. Glad you're still with us today.
Severe_Elderberry769@reddit
Yup adm, stress management, and technical skills all in one flight. Definitely one of the what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger kind of flights
Consistent-Trick2987@reddit
Not all on the same flight, but some of my past mistakes:
- Forgot to latch passenger side door
- Forgot to latch my window
- Making calls on wrong frequency during flight following wondering why no one was responding
- Forgot to set my GPS for the reverse route before taking off, so when I went to engage the AP it started turning me back to the airport I just departed
- Made a wrong turn departing a controlled airport because I was looking at the wrong flight plan. ATC came on like "N1234 you okay...?" I realized my mistake and explained and they were nice about it
- Got my runways mixed up when approaching an unfamiliar non-towered field. Started setting up for a downwind and then noticed a plane about to take off from the the opposite end.
fremdo@reddit
Bubble canopy became unlatched shortly after takeoff from the distant airport and I had to fly all the way back with it 1 inch open at 75 kts (per the POH) and ended up way late, cutting into the next renter’s reservation, but at least I didn’t panic and end up losing control of the aircraft over the pacific coast
CorrectPhotograph488@reddit
Headset died on base to final. Not a big deal but the sudden change in noise scared the shit out of me as I thought I was about to have a engine failure at 500 feet AGL.
Alivejac@reddit
Both me and my CFI practiced some piss-poor ADM, and I decided to go on my long solo XC with a cold front approaching, with squall lines on radar.
As I touched down at my furthest airport, I could see the line of storms, within a (figuratively) stones toss away. I took off, and again I hauled ass outta there, (again, poor ADM) and made it back with a lot of lessons learned about what NOT to do.
More experience just means they’ve had the chance to make more mistakes, and hopefully learn from them.
ManyWordsFewThoughts@reddit
When I queued up the #2 radio to listen to the AWOS in bumpy weather I fat fingered the transmit button on the audio panel. ATC called with a traffic warning and I couldn't get the AWOS to shut up. The sun was shining on the audio panel so I couldn't see the TX button lit up for #2. That day I learned you can't mute the radio you are transmitting on.
Beech_driver@reddit
Snowstorm caused me to turn around half way through my first long distance XC. It was winter and Wx forecast was good enough at the time. Half way through my XC though it started getting cloudier and closing in. Some was behind me once I turned around too so diverted to a nearby airport, hung out in their pilot lounge for an hour or two while it snowed a bit. Finally came out brushed the half inch of snow that accumulated off the plane, took off and went home. Repeated the long XC a week or so later to a different location in the opposite direction.
dylan_hawley@reddit
Nothing Lol
uncei@reddit (OP)
I'm hoping this will be my answer too
hoffmm@reddit
I was flying in my piper arrow, I locked the main door but forgot to lock the top latch as I was flying in the winter and was racing the sun . After I took off I realized my mistake. Got to level flight then followed my checklist slowed down and locked the door.
Lesson learned don’t get in a hurry.
thrfscowaway8610@reddit
They picked the destination up, and put it somewhere else.
thenewredditguy99@reddit
“We should take insert destination here, and push it somewhere else!”
uncei@reddit (OP)
Exactly what I was thinking of
defaultusername333@reddit
Had not studied nearly enough. Was going through the motions. Basically plugged in gps. Followed the line. Got there and back. Was probably a pretty rough ride looking back at it. But I’m alive.
fridleychilito@reddit
Was tracking a VOR without actually aligning the nav. Just watched the DME distance tick down and flying an estimated heading from my nav log until it got to about 5 nm out then started counting back up. Looked out the window and realized I had flown past it, several miles off course. Lesson learned!
uncei@reddit (OP)
Haha, will definitely double check the CDI every time now
astromj2175@reddit
I got up to altitude and the headwind was more than double what i had in my plan. When I landed at stop 1, I was already supposed to be halfway back from stop 2. I called my instructor and told him I was way off on time but I'm fine and continued on. Luckily I had topped off so had plenty of gas to complete without stopping for fuel too.
777f-pilot@reddit
I lost a magneto and landed half way back on my return leg. At a towered field (KERI), I learned at a 2600’ uncontrolled field 9G0.
Professional_Read413@reddit
How rough does the engine run at cruise speed on one mag? How much power did you lose?
777f-pilot@reddit
Well that was 1990. So the memory is fuzzy. I remember a drop of maybe 200 RPM. No roughness. If I recall it was the left magneto. That’s the one with the impulse coupler. Without the left magneto the engine will run but won’t start.
Here’s a whole write up on impulse couplers if you’re not familiar.
Professional_Read413@reddit
Interesting, thanks
strategic_leaf@reddit
pilot's side mic jack stopped working on the ground to the annoyance of the tower, took me 5 minutes of troubleshooting to realize I could use the copilot's jacks and reach over and hit it's ptt whenever needed. Proceeded to have the most consistently constant bumps the whole miserable 2 hours.
a6c6@reddit
Plane exploded and killed all on board
uncei@reddit (OP)
Rest in peace, friend
Frostyphotog131@reddit
Forgot to put the gas cap back on.
Independent-Way-1091@reddit
On my first solo cross country; I was navigating via VOR and dead reckoning. Got confused and tried to land at a Naval airbase that had a similar runway configuration to the civilian airfield I was supposed to land at. I'm sure I wasn't the first or last to make that mistake pre-GPS.
HateJobLoveManU@reddit
Put my waypoints too far apart and not enough of them were visual (river, stuff like that)
Professional_Read413@reddit
Took off, everything going great got up to my cruise altitude and it was very hazy. Made me realize I never want to fly in true 3SM visibility. This was probably 8 mile visibility and I did not like it.
All of a sudden a cloud bank appears in front of me. I start to descend but quickly realize I can't descend fast enough so I go full throttle and climb. I'm able to bank slightly to avoid a tall section of cloud and then spot a hole. I tell ATC I'm going to be descending for clouds. I spiraled down and all was clear for the rest of the flight. It scared the shit out of me. Everything I had learned was "clouds kill VFR pilots " apparently it was just a small patch of cumulus clouds right at my altitude, normally easily avoided but I couldn't see them coming in the haze.
My first landing was a greaser, second airport I came in too high and went around. Got it on the second lap. Got home and felt like a rockstar
eastbounddown9000@reddit
I ended up scud running back to my home airport and very narrowly avoided a summer thunder storm and the wind picked up like crazy as I overflew to join the downwind, still decided to land. That was the only time I’ve audibly asked God to save my ass. Five minutes after I tie down, the rain started absolutely dumping and thunder started booming. I should’ve diverted but I learned something about weather and flight planning that day
Kirro_47@reddit
My solo xc ended when I got cut off my a bonanza on final - zero comms from them but I was eyes outside and so them coming in. Did a 360 and landed no issues. Good times at 30 hours TT
drowninginidiots@reddit
On my helicopter solo cross country, we planned for two different routes depending on weather I encountered. First choice was home to airport A then B then back home. On the way to A, I was able to tell that the weather at B which was on the coast, was bad. So after A, I went to C which was inland. No big deal so far since we had planned for this possibility. Except I was in a different aircraft than when I had done the dual cross countries. After my touch and go at A, (in a busy airspace on a busy day), I start towards C. I put it in the GPS, which was an old crappy Garmin 250. ATC tells me to contact a tower. Hmmm, that seems odd, my route shouldn’t take me through their airspace. I look at the GPS and it says my destination is 900 miles away. Oops. Re-enter my destination. No change. Tell ATC I’ve had a gps failure and ask for vectors. Turned out the gps had a very out of date database and some airport designations had changed. Once I made it to C, all was fine.
Mental_Associate298@reddit
While en-route I listened in the CTAF and heard jumpers were about to disembark so I had to change course to the north. Also once I landed at the towered airport I departed left instead of right and the controller thankfully didn’t give me a possible pilot deviation.
jumpifnotequal@reddit
Tach cable came loose and i lost all rpm info
Plane-Impression-296@reddit
Alternator failure which made me decide to land at an airport in Bumfart, Louisiana. I didn’t really know what to do so I just decided to safely put the plane down. Got to meet a super friendly stunt pilot though, so that was cool.
JeepGibby@reddit
Had a guy enter base from the opposite direction and head on, after Tower told me to turn base. That was fun.
stop_yelling_please@reddit
I wasn’t expecting glider activity at an airport that was using a xwind runway because it’s convenient for them and on short final a glider had a rope break and had to immediately land.
That said, just be prepared for the unexpected. Have fun!
EliteEthos@reddit
I died on mine…
Pretty rough
/s