Stupid mistake on my second flight
Posted by More_Woodpecker7721@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 32 comments
Doing a aviation degree in uni and there's a course that gives five hours of flight experience, walk up to the plane with the instructor today and the canopy was covered with dew, so the instructor told me to go back to the hanger and grab a bucket with a piece of cloth in it to clean it off, after wiping off the water, was on my way back to the hanger and when I was crossing the taxiway there was a plane taxing back to the apron, I thought I still got quite enough distance and decided to apply the rules on normal road and cross the taxiway (which sounds extremely fucking stupid now and I have no fking idea why I did that), turns out I was a bit slow and the plane was a bit fast and they need to brake for me to cross, after putting the bucket back a student on the side told me to meed the instructor on that plane, went over and the instructor on that plane came out with a face like he just saw the most retarded person on the world, just a small 20sec chat to know wtf am I doing and tell me the distance is way to close to cross the taxiway, anyway I left and walked back to our plane, could hear the student on that plane was laughing from a bit distant (which is totally reasonable since that's pretty stupid and dangerous).
Back to our plane and checked with my instructor that I'm not fucked and he's not fucked, (I think he's still gonna get mocked by his colleagues or something), my instructor is pretty chill about this just ask me to be extra cautious, but yea it still messed me up a bit, failed to do any radio call that I practiced before, was prepared to make mistakes when doing radio calls like missing a couple information or something, but yea definitely not something like this.
still felt pretty bad even though I double checked with my instructor that I'm not in big trouble.
Impossible-Bad-2291@reddit
On the bright side, at least this didn't all occur while you were being sent on a mission by your instructor to get him some prop wash...
Disastrous-Trash1025@reddit
Are you not allowed to walk across a taxiway?
craciant@reddit
I'm gonna assume this is an actual sincere question... No. You are generally not allowed to walk across a taxiway. Op was most likely referring to a taxiLANE... on the ramp/apron/non movement area. Aircraft always have the right of way over vehicles and pedestrians on all surfaces.
Disastrous-Trash1025@reddit
Yes, it is a sincere question.
I don’t have a PPL but sometimes hangout by the local grass strip airport.
I may or may not have walked on taxiways (no need to incur the ire of the Reddit police) and nobody screamed at me from the tower or any pilots or instructors.
argueOnTheInterweb@reddit
Wait until you fly into any popular grass-roots pancake breakfast (or similar) fly-in at an untowered grass runway airport where planes park on both edges of the runway. You'll see people walking in between landing/taking-off aircraft, not just taxiways/lanes, and thanks to your recent experience you'll be better prepared to do this as well in a relatively safe(r) manner.
Denim-Luckies-n-Wry@reddit
Things like this are not normal and in aviation it is unwise to assume learning comes from mistakes.
You attend an aviation university and it appears you were never given a flight line safety briefing. This is less your fault and more a major failure of the Dukes of Hazard University.
On the plus side, propellers only hurt until your head comes off.
NoGuidance8609@reddit
The lesson here isn’t to give planes more space as a pedestrian. Actually the big lesson here is don’t let small mistakes distract you flying so much you make further errors. You WILL make mistakes. Letting them get in your head so you miss critical issues (radio calls or worse later) will cause failed checkrides and more. Comoarmentalize and move on.
TravisJungroth@reddit
It’s both. Don’t compartmentalize so hard you don’t learn from your mistakes.
NoGuidance8609@reddit
Compartmentalize doesn’t mean ignore.
TravisJungroth@reddit
Of course. Didn’t say it did.
AWACS_Bandog@reddit
You'll fuck up more.
We all do.
Especially since you don't know anything yet, you're expected to mess up
craciant@reddit
@op just wait til you get to fuck up in the plane
RealP4@reddit
Yea don’t ever do that again obviously. But hey don’t beat yourself up about it or get this anxiety that you are gonna be in trouble. If your instructor said it’s fine it’s probably fine. Don’t create stories in your head that aren’t gonna happen. Good luck with your program.
AtmosphereMiddle1682@reddit
At least you're not the student who asked "what???" When I called out "clear prop!" and then proceeded to run towards my propeller to hear me better.
imblegen@reddit
This is exactly why I teach my students that their eyes should be outside when they start cranking the starter
SeaSDOptimist@reddit
At least they were not running with the intention to clean (up) your prop!
More_Woodpecker7721@reddit (OP)
Shit that does sounds really terrifying
TempusFugit2020@reddit
Firstly, it's your second flight and you're not yet schooled on how stuff at an airport works. No kidding you made a mistake. It's only the first of a bunch, I promise you. Like everything new, you learn from your mistake and file that away as gaining experience.
Secondly, I have to say that I see the "hazing" thing a lot, and I really hate it. It rarely comes from those that have a lot of experience and have been through the wringer a couple of times but from those who have just enough experience to feel superior. I hope that wasn't the case with the instructor that spoke to you. I hope it was more of an informative chat that should be given to someone new and that your description of the moment is more clouded with your embarrassment and your interpertation.
Don't sweat it....go have fun and keep this moment in mind when you have some experience behind you and a new student accidentally makes a mistake. I'm sure you're doing great.
Good Luck!
More_Woodpecker7721@reddit (OP)
Oh, no there's definitely no hazing, just a small conversation about what's going on.
TempusFugit2020@reddit
Excellent...I'm glad to read that! Then it's just an embarrassing shot to your ego. Strap in...there will be more. I've been at this professionally for 35 years, and occasionally it still happens to me. 😉
Pleasant_Guidance_59@reddit
Yeah you’re never doing that again. Best way to learn.
Whisky-354@reddit
It's your second flight and you don't know what you don't know. Things like this are normal and part of learning. You didn't get mincemeated so that's a plus too.
Students are expected to do dumb shit, and instructors who don't think they will are dumb themselves. The school I taught at a student was told to put oil in the aircraft and they just opened the inspection hatch and poured oil all over the engine (ie not in the oil filler neck). It happens.
More_Woodpecker7721@reddit (OP)
Wha...
jjkbill@reddit
Here's something I've prepared for you OP, that all of us have had to use:
STUDENT PILOT CHECKLIST:
☑ Do something retarded ☑ CHECK: Nobody hurt ☐ Learn and move on from it
methodeum@reddit
YPPF FTA?
More_Woodpecker7721@reddit (OP)
Shit wasn't expected to be find out so fast
Bergasms@reddit
At least you're not the student who pancaked that Cessna a couple months back, can't believe he walked out of that unscathed
methodeum@reddit
No mate not at all lol, that’s where I trained and just sounded like a typical day at Parafield on a cold morning lol, if you are doing the flight experience elective just enjoy the time in the air and move on from this, no one will care tomorrow
More_Woodpecker7721@reddit (OP)
Is the story flying around already? : (
TobyADev@reddit
it’s your second flight. we all make mistakes. chill
fly-guy@reddit
Experience is nothing more than fuckups which didn't kill you.
You made a mistake and if you learn from it, it'll make you a better pilot. You will make more mistakes and if you keep learning from them, you'll be an even better pilot..
(I bet both those instructors can tell you stories of how they fucked up many, many times...)
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Doing a aviation degree in uni and there's a course that gives five hours of flight experience, walk up to the plane with the instructor today and the canopy was covered with dew, so the instructor told me to go back to the hanger and grab a bucket with a piece of cloth in it to clean it off, after wiping off the water, was on my way back to the hanger and when I was crossing the taxiway there was a plane taxing back to the apron, I thought I still got quite enough distance and decided to apply the rules on normal road and cross the taxiway (which sounds extremely fucking stupid now and I have no fking idea why I did that), turns out I was a bit slow and the plane was a bit fast and they need to brake for me to cross, after putting the bucket back a student on the side told me to meed the instructor on that plane, went over and the instructor on that plane came out with a face like he just saw the most retarded person on the world, just a small 20sec chat to know wtf am I doing and tell me the distance is way to close to cross the taxiway, anyway I left and walked back to our plane, could hear the student on that plane was laughing from a bit distant (which is totally reasonable since that's pretty stupid and dangerous).
Back to our plane and checked with my instructor that I'm not fucked and he's not fucked, (I think he's still gonna get mocked by his colleagues or something), my instructor is pretty chill about this just ask me to be extra cautious, but yea it still messed me up a bit, failed to do any radio call that I practiced before, was prepared to make mistakes when doing radio calls like missing a couple information or something, but yea definitely not something like this.
still felt pretty bad even though I double checked with my instructor that I'm not in big trouble.
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