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Think back to your first solo to a controlled tower airport. I'm sure you were nervous. I'm sure you were like, uh, what do I do now? Oh, man, there are multiple taxiways? What taxiway did he say to take? Huh? Was he talking to me?
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Confession time...
My first solo x-country. Went something like this. First, I got lost and ended up over the old Blythville Air Force base...unannounced! Not good! Getting lost was actually very hard to do considering there was a major highway from my dept airport to my destination and all I had to do was follow it. Duh!
Second, I finally landed at my destination with a Learjet hot on my tail and was told to expedite off the runway. I came to a stop on the runway approximately midway between two taxiways. Scared and unsure of what to do, I then proceeded to do a 180 and taxi back to the first taxiway I had passed up. This was a complete and unexpected surprise to the tower controller as well as the Lear pilot. As I watched the Lear go-around and cleared the active, I was then, and not so politely, told to taxi to the base of the tower, park and shutdown that @#%^& aircraft and come upstairs for a "chat" with the guys. Great, at least up there someone could sign off my logbook. Fortunately, the controller had calmed down by the time I got there and seeing I was a young "snot nosed kid" student pilot, he took pity on me. He explained the "rules of the road" at "his" airport and eventually signed my logbook and wished me well on my return trip.
Funny thing is, one day flying into Ellington Field in Houston Tx, I had to go around in a B767-300 because of the same type of problem with a kid on one of his first solo trips around the pattern. The tower asked if we wanted to "talk" to the student and his instructor when we got on the ground? We use to park right next to the FBO where they parked. I had time to kill so I said, "yea, what the heck". The kid was literally shaking, yet very apologetic, when I approached and I had flashbacks of my first solo x-c. I held out my hand to shake his and said something somewhat humorous to try and break the ice. I told him about my first x-c, how vivid that memory still is and that he'll probably always remember what he did and it'll make him a better pilot..basically, not to worry about it. I eventually walked him over to look at the inside of the B767 (pre-9/11) and we had a good conversation.
Bottom line...We have all made mistakes while flying. No harm, no foul. If you haven't made a mistake, you haven't been flying long enough. The trick is to not make any mistakes that'll scratch the airplane or kill you.
