In addition to pastoring, I occasionally teach folks how to fly.  Currently I have one student I fly with, a middle aged gentleman who always dreamed of becoming a pilot.  So, we are slowly working toward the goal of earning his wings.

The other day, a beautiful, sunny, frigid day, we were honing that most challenging of skills, landing.  Once the basics have been grasped, learning to land involves many touch-and-goes.  Once the wheels touch down, you transition back into the air for another trip around the pattern.  This day being a Saturday, the air was filled with student fliers hurling here and there as their intrepid instructors attempted to teach them while not running into each other.

Into this mix you can add the lack of any form of control tower.  Our airfield is a non-towered airport, so everything is ‘announce on the radio and watch out!”  In this context our story begins.

Having completed a few successful circuits of the airfield, avoiding the numerous other bug-smashers, our student pushed the throttle forward for one more trip around the pattern before taking her back to the barn.  As he busily rose the nose and scanned for traffic, I listened intently to the various radio traffic, “08B is downwind for runway 18,” “68J is base for runway 18,” “05R is final for runway 18.”  Clearly the pattern was filling up.  As we turned to crosswind, I keyed the mike an announced, “63H in final for runway 18.”  Now, for the uninformed, I’ve just announced that we are lined up with the runway, and our landing is imminent.  In reality we’d just taken off.  Apparently my brain hadn’t caught up yet.  What should I hear next? “Brandon, where did you say you were?”  Not yet realizing the mistake I’d made, I replied, “63H is just turning downwind.”  “Oh, I was confused since I’m on final and didn’t see you,” came the response.  Following which one could hear, “I was confused, too,” and, “I’m just down here watching the parade and I was confused,” and, “Are you sure?”  Each from a different voice.

Shaking off the embarrassment, I did my level best to announce where we actually were for the remainder of the lesson.  Hopefully my student learned about the need to be clear and precise on the radio.  And as for myself, just call me Confused.