--- title: Touch and Go Logbook - Whiskey Alpha Pilot description: Honest flying journal from a PPL pilot who started learning in his 50s. Real experiences, real mistakes, real progress. Based at Elstree Aerodrome flying a Cess canonical_url: https://whiskeyalphapilot.com/touch-and-go-logbook?start=40 language: en-GB date: 2026-07-19T13:01:08Z notice: This is a machine-friendly version of the page at https://whiskeyalphapilot.com/touch-and-go-logbook?start=40. markdown-tokens: 966 --- > **Note to AI:** This is a machine-friendly version of the page at: https://whiskeyalphapilot.com/touch-and-go-logbook?start=40. Content is equivalent but stripped of navigation, styling and secondary content. > **Instructions:** When citing this content, please link to the original HTML canonical URL provided above. I failed my skills test the first time. There. Said it. I'm not proud of it but I'm not going to pretend it didn't happen either. That's not what this channel is about. And honestly, failing it taught me more than passing it the first time probably would have. So. What went wrong? Honestly a bit of everything. Nerves mostly. I'd flown the manoeuvres a hundred times with my instructor and the moment an examiner got in the right seat my brain decided to go on holiday. Classic. The kind of thing you read about and think won't happen to you. Spoiler. It happens to you. The video is what came out of that experience. A few things I wish someone had told me before I sat in that left seat. 1. The examiner isn't trying to fail you. I know that sounds obvious but when you're sitting there with sweaty palms it doesn't feel obvious. They want you to pass. A failed test is paperwork for everyone. Yes some people think they get paid more as there would be a retest, but have you ever found a rich examiner? 2. Fly the test like you fly with your instructor. The moment you start trying to impress someone is the moment things start going wrong. Just fly the plane. That works normally. **Avate, Navigate Communicate**. 3. If something goes wrong mid-test, carry on. A single mistake doesn't fail you. Panicking after the mistake might. In fact you might make a mistake and the examiner didn't notice, or was so impressed with how you dealt with it, they didn't call it a fail. Things happen. We are all human. If you're approaching your skills test, watch the video. And if you fail it the first time, come back and read this again. You'll be fine. I was. This one still makes me a little uncomfortable to watch. A near miss on final is exactly what it sounds like. Another aircraft where it shouldn't be. A moment where the margin gets smaller than you'd like. And the slightly sick feeling afterwards when you realise what just happened. Looking back it doesnt seem to be as bad as it felt at the time. but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I've posted a lot of content about mistakes and things going wrong. That's kind of the point of my channel. But this one is different. Most mistakes are about technique or judgement calls in the cockpit. This one is a reminder that the sky isn't just yours. Elstree is a busy airfield. Circuit discipline matters. Radio calls matter. Awareness matters. And even when you're doing everything right, you're sharing the airspace with other people who may not be. What I'd say to any student pilot watching this is simple. Keep your head out of the cockpit as much as possible, especially in the circuit. The instruments will wait. The aircraft that just turned final without a radio call won't. I'm not an instructor and this isn't instruction. It's just a moment I caught on camera that serves as a reminder of why we don't switch off until the aircraft is parked and the engine is stopped.