exneophyte
Well-Known Member
Did my first solo flight today and survived to tell the tale. I surely won't ever forget this day!
On downwind, nearly turning to final for my first landing in left traffic for 28L(having been cleared to land), tower calls in a stressed & heightened urgency voice something like "Cessna 123AB make right traffic. I have inbound aircraft that I need to accommodate. You should be able to circle back for landing in a few minutes after I get him in."
I clear the area to my right visually and make a 90 degree turn to the right. Now, I'm effectively on a departure leg for 10R. Not sure exactly what was going on, I climb back up to TPA and continue that heading. About 90 seconds later, I hear "Cessna 123AB you must have misunderstood my instructions, state your intentions." I replied, "I would like to return for landing." Tower comes back with instructions but they didn't make sense to me because I am completely unsure of what they want me to do now and a little flustered. Having heard on this forum and from other pilots if you don't understand what ATC wants you to do, get clarification. I call "tower, what would you like me to do, sir", with as little agitation as possible. He comes back "turn back and you are cleared to land 28L." I make a 180 degree turn and am about 2 miles out and proceed to do my best landing of the day.
The winds picked up a little and my next two landings were less excellent, but I didn't bend metal so life is good. Thanks to all on Jetcareers for your guidance and expertise for making this dream a reality. I do plan to see if I can't get the recording on LiveATC to see if I would do anything different in the future, but even my instructor who was listening on the ground wasn't sure what tower wanted so I feel a little better about it.
On downwind, nearly turning to final for my first landing in left traffic for 28L(having been cleared to land), tower calls in a stressed & heightened urgency voice something like "Cessna 123AB make right traffic. I have inbound aircraft that I need to accommodate. You should be able to circle back for landing in a few minutes after I get him in."
I clear the area to my right visually and make a 90 degree turn to the right. Now, I'm effectively on a departure leg for 10R. Not sure exactly what was going on, I climb back up to TPA and continue that heading. About 90 seconds later, I hear "Cessna 123AB you must have misunderstood my instructions, state your intentions." I replied, "I would like to return for landing." Tower comes back with instructions but they didn't make sense to me because I am completely unsure of what they want me to do now and a little flustered. Having heard on this forum and from other pilots if you don't understand what ATC wants you to do, get clarification. I call "tower, what would you like me to do, sir", with as little agitation as possible. He comes back "turn back and you are cleared to land 28L." I make a 180 degree turn and am about 2 miles out and proceed to do my best landing of the day.
The winds picked up a little and my next two landings were less excellent, but I didn't bend metal so life is good. Thanks to all on Jetcareers for your guidance and expertise for making this dream a reality. I do plan to see if I can't get the recording on LiveATC to see if I would do anything different in the future, but even my instructor who was listening on the ground wasn't sure what tower wanted so I feel a little better about it.