This is why there are checklists for everything. Even the best pilots omit things when checklists are not used.
- didn’t remind approach to hand me off to tower
- didn’t talk to the tower at all
- landed at a class c airport without authorization
- radioed approach from the taxiway that I was holding and then realized how many things I fucked up.
It’s so easy to forget stuff and get tunnel vision and “remind ATC” isn’t on the checklist.
I was with my CFI so we called the tower from the classroom and filed a NASA report.
Lucky for me this was in Asheville (KAVL) and they train controllers there too and it's all, basically, in one room so everyone knew we were coming in and there was only one other A/C sitting at the departure end holding short waiting on us. Super lucky. It sucks when you are so used to being told everything to do and having to argue with ATC about bogus turn instructions at 300' AGL that then when they forget it's still your fault.
We went back and listened to the ATC recordings and the regional carrier that landed before we took off asked the tower if they were cleared to land so I think we weren't the only pilots missing some calls.
On the flip side the chief was a hardass and would make me call the tower and get clearance to land before beginning my descent while running the pattern. Other schools / instructors always made a call on short final to remind the tower we were still out there but the chief would fly a 10 mile downwind before he would descend and turn base without clearance. Now I think he really did know something
Had he tried to do something nonsensical approach/tower/CFI would have noticed and said something.
B - Brakes: Checked / Working O - Oil: Temps/Pressures Green U - Undercarriage: Down / Green M - Mixture, Master, Mags: Rich, On, Both F - Fuel Pump: On I - Instruments: Baro, DG, Radio's set S - Switches: All in H - Harnesses: Secure -- P - Pitch: Full fine U - Undercarriage: Down / Green F - Flaps: Set L - Landing Clearance: Received R - Runway: Clear
Most pilots in the US learn a GUMPS check:
G – Gas (Fuel on the proper tank, fuel pump on as required, positive fuel pressure) U – Undercarriage (landing gear down) M – Mixture (fuel mixture set) P – Propeller (prop set) S – Seat belts and Switches
Between flying the aircraft, communicating with ATC, and ensuring all the procedures are correctly followed (including monitoring each other) - there is a lot of stuff going on in the cockpit; and things are happening really quickly; you can sometimes get "behind" the aircraft - especially when unexpected things crop up, kudos to the pilots for recognising an unstable approach, going around, and then responding appropriately to the alarms in the cockpit and not being afraid to go around again.
I'd say it takes around 3-5 seconds for each checklist item; calling out, verifying it's in the required state, and continuing to the next one - you're looking at about 30 seconds on average; which is less time than what the pilots would have between going around and coming back for another attempt. Not to mention they're already likely following a missed approach procedure etc etc, so already pretty distracted, and then given "unexpected" (to them) directions by ATC (different circuit direction).
--- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BUMMMFITCHH https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUMPS
If there is a hydraulic leak in a small plane you'll feel that there is no pressure behind the pedals. They work the same as a car.
Most commercial airports have runways of well over 2000m, So you just land there and let it roll out.
Large planes typically have multiple hydraulic systems, and within those systems there are "fuses" and accumulators to protect the vital parts (flight controls, brakes) in case there is a leak in another part.
One thing they learned with airplanes is to set up the gauges so that when things are good, the needles all point in the same direction, regardless of what they were measuring. This made it easy for the pilot to scan the instruments. Later they added green, yellow, and red indications so an out-of-normal indication showed yellow, and really bad showed red.
Something car manufacturers still haven't cottoned on to.
For racing applications it's pretty common to have a multicolor LEDs as backlight for your gauges so your whatever gauge turns red when the reading is bad.
For normal cars the goal is totally different. They want to give you the minimum information needed to operate the vehicle and only alert when something is critically wrong. This is why proper oil pressure gauges went the way of the dodo in most vehicles.