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Nasa: ASRS

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otto_pilot:
OK so i had a little deal at and airport i went to for lunch. Short version of the story i was vfr  being vectored for left base on runway 31. it was night; i had the airport beacon but not the runway. i called it insight after i was asked by tower the second time. i turned final on runway 36. did the landing checklist.......and realized my mistake. i dropped the ball, after talking to tower (who caught my mistake before i did) i was given the option to land 36, with the winds 300 at 10. i did land uneventfully on 36. I was not asked to call the tower or anything like that; but over the radio there was a short conversation about what went down. The tower did not make a deal out of it or anything but after talking to my old cfi about it i decided to file a NASA form..... is there a benefit to my by doing this? or is this just something you do? the way it was explained to me it didn't make sense. If this is a dumb question I'm only a 50 hr pilot.......

dave:
You will do yourself a big favor by filling out and sending in that ASRS form.  Should any enforcement action come along it could be the thing that saves you from suspension.

Take the time and go read this:
http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/overview/confidentiality.html

Then go fill out that form and mail it.  Today.

I hope this was a good lesson for you - I (and other pilots here) can't impress upon you enough how much of a responsibility flying is.  Total situational awareness (especially at night) will help keep you and your passengers alive as well as those of us flying around you.

Welcome to LiveATC and congrats on your pilot certificate.

-Dave

otto_pilot:
thanks a lot, that's the way it was explained to me but that link helped a lot. I filled the report out the night it happened.....i did it over the computer tho. I Will say tho that i know I'm young and new but if i were to tell you the whole story it would show it was not all my fault. the approach control and tower had a bit to do with it. I'm not making excuses I'm in full understanding that i messed up. thanks again i guess if i could go over the whole story if  you would give your thoughts on where my biggest mistake occurred and why.

KSYR-pjr:
Agree fully with Dave's comments.   If nothing else, filling out the ASRS form now will get you in the habit of doing it when you really want one there in your corner should some type of enforcement action ever result. 

A more important benefit in filling out this form is that the process will get you to think about the mistake in a low-stress, low-workload environment of your home/apartment.  This act will help you to better understand how the mistake happened and what you could do in the future to prevent a re-occurrence.   

Mistakes are made by all pilots; it is how you deconstruct and understand the incident post-flight that will help you become a better pilot.  The ASRS form is the tool to facilitate this.

KSYR-pjr:

--- Quote from: anthonychibnikC172 on November 16, 2008, 08:01:32 AM --- I Will say tho that i know I'm young and new but if i were to tell you the whole story it would show it was not all my fault. the approach control and tower had a bit to do with it.
--- End quote ---

Just fully read this comment after posting so I opted to post a separate response.

I would first ask, why do you believe that two fully qualified, separately located controllers contributed to the mistake that you, a 50 hours pilot, made?    I certainly can see how a pilot with low time could mistakenly align with a runway that is only 50 degrees apart from the one to which you were being vectored.  Did it myself  during my first solo cross country and I have witnessed it being second in line with an aircraft that aligned with the incorrect runway at Teterboro, NJ. 

Especially VFR, the controllers can only take you so close (when vectoring for sequence or to aid your in spotting the runway), at which point you become fully responsible for aligning with the correct runway visually so I am curious what the controllers did to contribute to this correctable and therefore minor incident?

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