My last post concerned a trainee pilot who packed his bags and flew back to the UK after getting lost on a solo cross country. Panic had taken hold of him. A few days later I was flying a solo cross country when I experienced something similar. I’d had a bit of a shock earlier in the flight when two F16’s flashed past me, uncomfortably close.
There was a training video I’d watched by John and Martha King, in which John said that he’d never been lost in an aeroplane. He always knew where he was, but sometimes he didn’t know where the airfield was. Well I knew I was in the aeroplane, but I didn’t know where we were, or where Fort Pierce was. I felt a wave of panic rising from my stomach and squeezing my heart. I had to breathe slowly and deeply and mentally push the wave of panic down. Then I reasoned that I was definitely south of Fort Pierce and if I flew due east I’d find the coast. And if I flew north up the coast, I’d find the power plant. Then I’d be able to see Fort Pierce. And that’s exactly what happened.
On a later flight I was doing my long solo cross country landing at Naples and Lakeland before returning to Fort Pierce. The Lakeland to Fort Pierce leg became much longer than planned. There was an enormous cumulonimbus thunder cloud west of me, and heading my way. You really don’t want to get caught in a thundercloud in a light aeroplane, or indeed any kind of aeroplane. Strangely I didn’t feel any kind of panic. I’d just fly around the thundercloud. My flight path became rather banana shaped as I steered around it. I was very glad to have topped up with fuel at Lakeland.