In my defense, from reading this newsgoup I have found comfort in the
fact that many student pilots have difficulty finding the airport on
their first solo X-C.

An old friend of mine got lost on his first solo cross-country. He tried to
land at an airport that he found. Made is final approach with the wind at
his tail just as another plane was taking off...right at him. Suddenly my
friend broke left as he realized they were going to collide but, the other
guy realizing that they were going to collide broke right at exactly the
same time.

All my friend could say was, thank god the other pilot was much better than
me! The other pilot saw what my friend did and immediately banked hard
right...and they missed by less than what anybody would consider "mess your
shorts close."

My friend continued to land. Got out of the aircraft and stumbled shaking
very badly over to two old guys with his chart. A chart which nobody could
read because it too was shaking so badly. Then he asked....."Where am I?"

The guy eventually got his PPL and then did a continued flight into IMC. He
survived that too after tieing up the very busy airspace for more than 30
minutes. I believe he quit after that flight and hasn't flown in about
18-20 years.

Carl