Getting confused with ATC order...Violation?

"RW" == RubberWatch writes:

RW Hello- I am a student pilot. I was out flying solo today and
RW was instructed by ATC to fly a heading of 210. I thought he
RW said 110 and I flew on that heading. He then told me it looks
RW like your going the wrong direction i need you to fly 210. I
RW got a bit locked up and said 210. I ended up on 210 but I
RW really kinda got "mike fright".

RW Anyway, I just wanted to know if this would constitute a
RW violation

No, don't worry about it.

RW and if I might receive something in the mail, etc?
No.
RW He later told me to "resume own navigaion" and I did not know
RW what that meant...I asked him if I could do my airwork and he
RW said resume on navigation meant I can do anything I want.

Have your instructor explain some of the common phrases used by ATC.
This is very common and is usually used when you are flying towards a
destination that you've told ATC about; they vector you a bit to avoid
traffic; then tell you "resume own navigation" which means return to
flying towards your destination.

RW He did not ask me to call a land line or anything like that,
RW though when I requested to change to my CTAF as I had the
RW airport in site, he said frequency change approved and squalk
RW VFR when I am on the ground.

I am pretty sure he said and meant "frequency change approved, squawk
VFR" when means change to whatever frequency you want (destination
airport CTAF, AWOS or ATIS) and change your squawk code from what you
were assigned to 1200. Don't wait 'till your on the ground to do this.
--
If you define cowardice as running away at the first sign of
danger, screaming and tripping and begging for mercy, then yes,
Mister Brave Man, I guess I am a coward.
- Jack Handey

RubberWatch wrote:

Any thoughts?
SD

Move on in a positive direction.

You know what you did wrong and can learn from it. The controller
probably had a clue you were a student. I know that my local app/dep
folks know most of the local school tail numbers.

RubberWatch wrote:
Hello-

I am a student pilot. I was out flying solo today and was instructed
by ATC to fly a heading of 210. I thought he said 110 and I flew on
that heading. He then told me it looks like your going the wrong
direction i need you to fly 210. I got a bit locked up and said 210.
I ended up on 210 but I really kinda got "mike fright".

Anyway, I just wanted to know if this would constitute a violation and
if I might receive something in the mail, etc? He later told me to
"resume own navigaion" and I did not know what that meant...I asked
him if I could do my airwork and he said resume on navigation meant I
can do anything I want.

He did not ask me to call a land line or anything like that, though
when I requested to change to my CTAF as I had the airport in site, he
said frequency change approved and squalk VFR when I am on the ground.

Any thoughts?

Yes, forget about it and keep on flying. Oh, talk with your instructor
and fine out what "resume own navigation" means! :-)

I suppose it is technically a violation, but if every pilot was written
up for every mistake of this magnitude and every controller fired for
such mistakes ... the skies would be empty.

It pretty much means what it says. It means you are no longer receiving
navigation assistance (vectors) from the controller so you can fly
whatever heading suits your fancy and change it as often as you choose.

Matt

On Apr 3, 8:01 pm, RubberWatch wrote:
Hello-

I am a student pilot. I was out flying solo today and was instructed
by ATC to fly a heading of 210. I thought he said 110 and I flew on
that heading. He then told me it looks like your going the wrong
direction i need you to fly 210. I got a bit locked up and said 210.
I ended up on 210 but I really kinda got "mike fright".

Anyway, I just wanted to know if this would constitute a violation and
if I might receive something in the mail, etc? He later told me to
"resume own navigaion" and I did not know what that meant...I asked
him if I could do my airwork and he said resume on navigation meant I
can do anything I want.

He did not ask me to call a land line or anything like that, though
when I requested to change to my CTAF as I had the airport in site, he
said frequency change approved and squalk VFR when I am on the ground.

Any thoughts?
SD

After reading many of the posts below I see some very good advice.

I trained in Canada from a busy towered city airport and I found the
location helped with my ability to assess what was going on (and what
was directed at me and exactly what ATC wanted of me in particular),
and added to my radio IQ and confidence. It sounds like your
instructor has dropped the ball a bit. If you are flying to your
practice area solo you should have made this flight several times by
this point in your training, and you should have been doing all of the
radio work from the third trip to your practice area (with your
instructor helping you less and less from the second trip out to the
practice area). It seems that your radio and ATC knowledge needs some
work, and that perhaps your instructor has not delegated this
responsibility to you early and completely enough, and with enough
accuracy and confidence. Discuss this with your instructor. It is
dangerous for a student to be flying miles away from the home
aerodrome without good radio knowledge and confidence w.r.t. ATC. If
you are flying solo to your practice area then you should have by now
flown solo at your own aerodrome several times doing circuits, and
have passed some sort of written test about radio work I would
think. This is a requirement in Canada.

It does remind me of an incident in my training when the ex-military
ATC tower controller (we called him "Sarge"; he knew this and answered
to this name; he spoke quickly and had a sense of humour which could
confuse some students, but was patient with students and would spell
out complex instructions if you asked ... great guy), told me to
"maintain spacing from Dash-8 on straight-in final; report traffic in
sight and fly a right 270 to enter base and await further
instructions" ... this confused me and I asked "say again for
FFXX" ... he just repeated the same instructions. This started to
flumux me as I kept flying along on downwind toward the point where I
would usually turn base. I repeated myself getting nervous now
"...say again instructions for FFXX". I probably should have admitted
I didnt get it and say " XX Tower, please clarify instructions for
FFXX" but he figured it out for himself and explained "... FFXX; to
avoid extending your downwind past the noise sensitive area at your 10
o'clock just immediately turn your aircraft 270 degree to the right
which will put you on your base leg; report landing Dash-8 traffic and
Hercules now on long straight-in final in sight and report when
established on base." WOW! but at least I understood what he
wanted. Normally we would extend downwind 2 miles to allow spacing
for large landing aircraft (and avoid a small noise sensitive area
close to the airport), but this 3/4 of a circle turn kept me close to
the airport and would expedite my landing between the Dash-8 and the
Hercules (which he obviously knew about when he first made the call,
but I did not) rather than having to fly a 4 mile downwind extension
(!!!) and come in behind the Hercules. Point is ... ATC can confuse
at times ... ask for clarification if you are unsure of an
instruction.

Discuss what's going on with your instructor, especially your concerns
about your incident in detail. Never be afraid to use the words "say
again" and "please clarify instructions for ...", alert ATC to your
student status; get in the habit of reading back instructions and
clearances to ATC so any inconsistencies can be corrected before you
take (what might be the wrong) action, and make sure you debrief with
your instructor after every solo flight, especially if anything was
confusing during the flight or made you feel at all nervous.

Good luck.

In article ,
RubberWatch wrote:
Hello-

I am a student pilot. I was out flying solo today and was instructed
by ATC to fly a heading of 210. I thought he said 110 and I flew on
that heading. He then told me it looks like your going the wrong
direction i need you to fly 210. I got a bit locked up and said 210.
I ended up on 210 but I really kinda got "mike fright".

Hell son, I did that on my instrument checkride.

--
-Ed Falk,
http://thespamdiaries.blogspot.com/

Clark writes:
It's pretty clear that most of the controllers are really doing their best
to make the airspace safe while helping folks get where they want to be. An
airport with lots of training activity might give you the best "earful" of
comms. Saturdays are also a real opportunity. :-)

If you are looking for a bunch of traffic and ATC instructions, ask
your instructor if you can fly down to KPAO or one of the other
bay-area airports on a weekend afternoon (since it sounds like you are
not too far from there). That should give you lots of experience with
busy airspace...

Chris