Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 13 minutes ago
I was shaken up by the first time I truly felt scared while flying my own airplane. It took me a while to be able to talk to others about it, even though no one was hurt and everything turned out okay. Feeling out of control and like a passenger in your own airplane is maybe the worst feeling as a pilot, and I got a dose of that a little over a year ago in the mountains.
I know reflecting on this flight has made me a much safer pilot, and so I wanted to put it together in this video to hopefully help other pilots finding themselves in similar scenarios. The mistakes I made in this flight can happen anywhere, not just in the mountains.
I hope it helps, and I hope we are all a little safer learning from the mistakes I made. Blue skies!
0:00 Intro
0:58 Set Up / Context
2:38 Approaching the Airport
3:35 Pattern Gets Crowded
4:38 Things Get Fast and Tight
5:57 Base and Final Get Worse
7:44 Landing I’m Not Proud Of
9:10 Four Critical Errors
9:25 Critical Error #1
10:18 Critical Error #2
11:03 Critical Error #3
11:38 Critical Error #4
12:46 My Biggest Takeaway for Any Flight
As always, read meaty aviation tips, tricks, and FAQs at airplaneacademy.com
If you want to know more about me (Charlie), here's my bio and aviation bucket list: airplaneacademy.com/charlie-gasmire
I was shaken up by the first time I truly felt scared while flying my own airplane. It took me a while to be able to talk to others about it, even though no one was hurt and everything turned out okay. Feeling out of control and like a passenger in your own airplane is maybe the worst feeling as a pilot, and I got a dose of that a little over a year ago in the mountains.
I know reflecting on this flight has made me a much safer pilot, and so I wanted to put it together in this video to hopefully help other pilots finding themselves in similar scenarios. The mistakes I made in this flight can happen anywhere, not just in the mountains.
I hope it helps, and I hope we are all a little safer learning from the mistakes I made. Blue skies!
0:00 Intro
0:58 Set Up / Context
2:38 Approaching the Airport
3:35 Pattern Gets Crowded
4:38 Things Get Fast and Tight
5:57 Base and Final Get Worse
7:44 Landing I’m Not Proud Of
9:10 Four Critical Errors
9:25 Critical Error #1
10:18 Critical Error #2
11:03 Critical Error #3
11:38 Critical Error #4
12:46 My Biggest Takeaway for Any Flight
As always, read meaty aviation tips, tricks, and FAQs at airplaneacademy.com
If you want to know more about me (Charlie), here's my bio and aviation bucket list: airplaneacademy.com/charlie-gasmire
