Clearly this student pilot wasn't ready to solo, kudos to the traffic controller.

https://interestingengineering.com/video/listen-to-this-air-traffic-controller-directing-a-perplexed-solo-student-pilot

 

15 minutes ago, MartinRex007 said:

Clearly this student pilot wasn't ready to solo, kudos to the traffic controller.

https://interestingengineering.com/video/listen-to-this-air-traffic-controller-directing-a-perplexed-solo-student-pilot

 

Kudos to the controller.Good thing the system didn't bite the dust. That student would have been in some deep trouble.!!!!!

Edited January 3, 20215 yr by Paul Deluca

Someone needs to talk to his flight instructor....yikes!

Wow, whoever sent that guy solo needs to be fired.

Wow indeed. Talk about clueless. And I agree Alan, fire the CFI. And jerk his/her certification. It's just too dangerous up there to have a yo-yo like that trying to teach folks how to fly.

Yes I saw that yesterday as well, my first thoughts was to the instructor that signed him off. The student is also a customer of the school so can easily just walk away after this, this is on the instructor to be honest

A few Monday morning quarterbacks here.

Certainly the instructor would probably have to have coffee and cookies with the Chief Instructor of the school as to why this flight went pear shaped, no doubt, as well as a very detailed debrief with the student.

As a fellow instructor, I find it hard to believe the student would have been sent solo if the CFI didn't think they were capable of it. We don't know if it was a first solo or a subsequent solo.

If it was a first solo, it is something not taken lightly by the CFI - lots of other factors are taken into account besides their ability to fly the aircraft.

It is not uncommon for a student to get the "yips" occasionally - that looked like a fairly busy environment.

So, before you hang the Instructor, the full story would be useful.

1 hour ago, DavidP said:

A few Monday morning quarterbacks here.

Certainly the instructor would probably have to have coffee and cookies with the Chief Instructor of the school as to why this flight went pear shaped, no doubt, as well as a very detailed debrief with the student.

As a fellow instructor, I find it hard to believe the student would have been sent solo if the CFI didn't think they were capable of it. We don't know if it was a first solo or a subsequent solo.

If it was a first solo, it is something not taken lightly by the CFI - lots of other factors are taken into account besides their ability to fly the aircraft.

It is not uncommon for a student to get the "yips" occasionally - that looked like a fairly busy environment.

So, before you hang the Instructor, the full story would be useful.

All of what you've said here, is exactly why a competent instructor should come to the conclusion not to send this student solo there at this point.

The fact that the instructor apparently did not come to a sensible appraisal of the student's capabilities, is precisely why I'm saying the instructor is evidently not up to the job. Making decisions of this nature is part of the job of an instructor, and if they get it wrong, it is potentially fatal and not just to the student, but possibly to anyone they are flying overhead of.

It's tough if the person loses their job, because I agree, it isn't easy to make these decisions sometimes, but that's better than some people losing their lives, and this is the standard which an instructor is held to, and that's all there is to it.

I can remember once an occasion where a fellow teacher complained to me about how unfair they thought it was that on our post-course appraisal forms, which were monitored to ensure we were up to the job, we were expected to get at least an 80 percent mark on a regular basis, or we would be canned. I had little sympathy for his view, because we should have been striving for 100 percent every time. That was the job and doing it properly to a professional standard was what we were being paid for. 

Edited January 3, 20215 yr by Chock

When I was in my first Flight School our 'CFI' used to scrutinize everything. I would be sitting and having a coffee and she would be pleasant asking what I was planning today, one day I was doing cross country solo and she went through all my records and grilled me on everything before letting me go. This is a good oversight especially as her intentions was to see everyone return back without incident.

In Canada we have Class 4, Class 3, Class 2, Class 1 Instructors and the Class 4 is under the supervision of the Class 2 or 1 so this is how I remember it. My instructor was a class 4 and we had various Class 2 or 1 at our school at any given time that would quiz you before handing you a key to anything. 

Every country and every school may be a little different, I went to another school later on that was not as strict and far more laid back. I now live in New Zealand which officially has a CFI position, it is also small and everyone is well aware of everyone else here, so that is a good oversight as well. Canada and USA are larger and bigger schools so easier to fall through the cracks sometimes

Despite being an armchair pilot, I am puzzled as to why the student didn't comply with the heading instructions given by ATC? Yes the student was very nervous yet they obviously kept the plane in the air and ultimately landed, so why were they unable to turn on to a heading?

4 minutes ago, HighBypass said:

Despite being an armchair pilot, I am puzzled as to why the student didn't comply with the heading instructions given by ATC? Yes the student was very nervous yet they obviously kept the plane in the air and ultimately landed, so why were they unable to turn on to a heading?

He's probably completely task saturated. He's concentrating on keeping the plane in the air and flying straight plus also looking out for the field all while being completely disoriented with hes surroundings. Reading back the atc instructions and not following them would be easy to do in a situation like that.