It had to be a Cirrus....

[Skip Miller]

I was waiting to take off from Lancaster, PA this afternoon and I heard a disturbing conversation on the air. Yes, the pattern was busy (four or five up) including one plane with a hard to understand accent and a plane name that could have been an experimental. But the problem was a Cirrus with a very inexperienced pilot. He was trying to land and the tower was doing a fine job guiding a newby through a full pattern.

Was he a student on one of his solo x/cs? That is my assumption. He was so frightened that you could hear him hyperventilating over the radio. He held down the PTT button too long so you could hear him panting, close to a full blown panic attack. This definitely got Tower's attention.

Tower kept working with him, asking him to follow various planes he happened to spot. Twice he announced he was withdrawing and going home. Then spotted a plane and Tower asked him if he still wanted to land. Yes, OK follow him. Then the panic starts again and he again withdrew. After going through this drill twice he in fact withdrew.

He was obviously not prepared for an approach to land at a busy class D. I can't really blame his CFI without more information but boy this student (and I hope he was a student) was not ready.

No metal bent. Will this student make it? I dunno. I hope so. But KUDOs to the LNS tower for working so hard to get this kid on the ground.

Sorry to see anyone have such a bad experience while on their way to a Pilot Certificate, but this sounded very dangerous to me.

And yes, he was flying a Cirrus....

-Skip

 

[Jim Logajan]

No evidence this was a young'un but understand your story and sentiment. It's just as likely this was an old'un.

Young or old - reminds me of this bit from Susan Oliver's book "Odyssey - A Daring Transatlantic Journey":"I am pleased and honored when Max Conrad, the famous "Flying Grandfather," invites me to fly back to L.A. with him in his twin-engine Aztec, for I hope to pick up some over-ocean pointers from him. Yet he's an odd and gentle sort of man who seems to be very tentative in his flying style. He so much prefers to be alone that he does something I've never seen anyone do on a long flight; he flies us in between the airways, taking fixes off omni stations instead of flying to and from them.

"That way nobody ever knows where I am," he tells me shyly.

We get to LAX by one A.M. and he has me call approach control and the tower, explaining, "I don't feel very sure of myself talking with big airports."

Interesting for a man who's set records all over the world, though I can understand."