x-country solo

since a lot of this thread is relating other "lost" stories....

coupla months ago i signed off a pilot to take his commercial
check-ride. he was concerned about the maneuvers (particularly
lazy-8's), but was doing a good job, so i signed him off. this
guy has ~2000 hours, ifr-rated, probably about 1500 of his 2000
are x/c, very experienced, and a good stick.

well, he busted his first checkride -- on _pilotage_. the d.e. had
him plan a x/c just like the private. well, between the time he
got his briefing & the time they actually departed, a front had
passed, with an attendant wind change (enough to swap ends
on the runway they were using.) he made a "guesstimate" of
the wind effect, and over-corrected. on his early checkpoint,
he confidently pointed out the town with the n/s highway on
the east side, the railroad track on the south side, and the
airport on the northeast side. the examiner said, "that's fine,
but that's not xxxx. sorry, you bust." (the pilot passed his
retest the following week.)

i include this to show that the phenomenon of identifying the
wrong airport is not unique to student pilots (although i guess
this guy was a commercial student). i should ammend that to
say "not unique to pre-private student pilots."

(i confess i had not checked his pilotage ability, because i have
known him for about a decade, and i know his abilities. who
would have thought he would screw up pilotage on a commercial
ride?)

hth --

g_a