U
Unregistered
Guest
I am a student pilot that is in my unsupervised solo phase.
This morning I went out to get some practice in after a few missed days due to weather. During the taxi from the parking area to the runway there was some activity that caused me to pay more attention to the ground than I normally would. There was an aircraft that was parking, another coming off the runway heading to the hangars and there was one pilot pushing his plane to the parking area from the fuel pump. This is at a smaller uncontrolled airport and this was more than usual ground movement.
After making my way past the traffic jam around the fuel pump intersection I proceeded to taxi to the runway and stopped short of the hold short line and performed my runup checks. All during this time there were no radio calls in the pattern and after finalizing my runup I performed a scan for aircraft. I did not see any aircraft in the pattern and began to taxi out to the runway when I noticed a NORDO aircraft approaching the threshold low on final for a grass landing next to the runway. At that point I stopped short of the run way but past the hold short line and the other aircraft performed a go-around.
The best I can tell I missed the traffic for 2 reasons. 1) the sunshade was drawn about 3/4 of the way due to the low sun and 2) I was looking for traffic in expected positions on base and final. Due to the angle and the offset approach I did not see or register in my mind the traffic. There was likely also some confirmation bias in my visual scan as well as I performed the scan not expecting to find any traffic as there were no call from aircraft in the pattern.
I am still kicking myself for letting it happen, but I am glad that I still had some luck in my bucket to draw upon while I fill my experience bucket. I learned a few things about scanning for traffic for sure. I think the biggest thing is that you cant assume that traffic will be where you expect it to be (and open the canopy sunshade).
This morning I went out to get some practice in after a few missed days due to weather. During the taxi from the parking area to the runway there was some activity that caused me to pay more attention to the ground than I normally would. There was an aircraft that was parking, another coming off the runway heading to the hangars and there was one pilot pushing his plane to the parking area from the fuel pump. This is at a smaller uncontrolled airport and this was more than usual ground movement.
After making my way past the traffic jam around the fuel pump intersection I proceeded to taxi to the runway and stopped short of the hold short line and performed my runup checks. All during this time there were no radio calls in the pattern and after finalizing my runup I performed a scan for aircraft. I did not see any aircraft in the pattern and began to taxi out to the runway when I noticed a NORDO aircraft approaching the threshold low on final for a grass landing next to the runway. At that point I stopped short of the run way but past the hold short line and the other aircraft performed a go-around.
The best I can tell I missed the traffic for 2 reasons. 1) the sunshade was drawn about 3/4 of the way due to the low sun and 2) I was looking for traffic in expected positions on base and final. Due to the angle and the offset approach I did not see or register in my mind the traffic. There was likely also some confirmation bias in my visual scan as well as I performed the scan not expecting to find any traffic as there were no call from aircraft in the pattern.
I am still kicking myself for letting it happen, but I am glad that I still had some luck in my bucket to draw upon while I fill my experience bucket. I learned a few things about scanning for traffic for sure. I think the biggest thing is that you cant assume that traffic will be where you expect it to be (and open the canopy sunshade).