Missing in Action :: Where's Wayne been???

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Have you ever had those days when the universe seems to conspire against you, grounding your plans and testing your patience? Well, strap in and tune in, because that's been the theme of my life recently! I'm Wayne from Whiskey Alpha Pilot, and it's high time we caught up. I've been dodging business curveballs and wrestling with the British weather gods, which sadly means my trusty C172, and I have been spending more time apart than I'd like. 

Guess what happens when you post a video titled "How Not To Land"? You get a viral sensation and an avalanche of colorful commentary! I'll share the unexpected journey one of my YouTube flights took—from a few thousand views to causing quite the stir online. It's a wild mix of armchair critics, genuine concern, and a few good laughs. But here's the kicker: through it all, it's about staying true to the joy of flying and the community it creates. 

Flying is a case of ups and downs - lefts just not hit the ground on the downs

I'm a UK based private pilot (PPL(A), who started to learn to fly in my 50s. I passed (just), but every flight is a learning experience.

I currently own 1/5 of a Cessna 172 - but I am not sure which bit is mine.

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Website https://whiskeyalphapilot.com/
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 0 (00:00):
Hello, it's Wayne here from Whiskey Alpha Pilot
and I'm back.
Oh, actually I'm not back, I'mjust here sitting in a studio
talking to a microphone, butthings have been quite
interesting over the last coupleof months.
Now, one thing I've been askedis where's Wayne been?
Where have you been?
I haven't seen any flyingvideos and the answer to that is
yeah, I've been busy.
Unfortunately, I have a reallife, I have a business to run

(00:21):
and I've been busy.
I have a business to run andI've been busy.
I just haven't had time to goflying.
And here in the UK the weatherhas been pans.
At this very moment and this isa Saturday morning, end of
April, it's a thousand footcloud base at Elstree and it's
been raining this morning and itain't gonna get any better for
the rest of the weekend.
So, yeah, no flying poo.
Anyway, kilo kilo is back fromthe annual.

(00:42):
I have done a little bit offlying, mainly just to keep
currency, because in the UK wehave this CAA rule that we have
to have at least three takeoffsand landings every 90 days to
maintain currency, to be allowedto take passengers, and I've
been maintaining that.
But I just generally haven'tbeen flying, mainly because of
the weather and the fact thatKilo Kilo has been in for an

(01:03):
annual.
She's now back out.
No massive issues, no big billsalthough I haven't actually
been given a bill yet, but theydidn't say that there's anything
massive and she's now back atthe airfield waiting for us to
get in.
Good news is I've got someflying booked and guess what?
There's no Jack.
Jack is not going to be here.
Jack is not around on the firstcouple of flights.
Hopefully I'll be flying withhim at some point in the near

(01:23):
future because it's great funflying with jack.
I will be going to privateflyers.
So if anyone's going to privateflyer probably on the friday at
high wickham, please, if yousee me, shout, wave, scream you
know the usual things, but begreat to see you.
I've got a couple of peoplelined up to come and chat to and
youtube.
Youtube's gone a bit nuts.
Recently.

(01:44):
There was one particular videowhich was shot over a year ago
about a pretty crap landing ofmine coming back from Sandown
where basically I managed toballs up a landing and did a go
around and then I landed it onthe second attempt.
It was a reasonably hot day,but main thing for me was I was
tired, we'd gone down to Sandown, we'd had a day on the beach

(02:05):
and come back back and I wasjust tired and I was making
mistakes.
So I in the light of what I dowith YouTube is I published a
video entitled how Not To Landand up to about three weeks ago,
that video had a couple ofthousand views, usual sort of
thing and then YouTube seemed tohave picked it up and it's gone
absolutely bonkers and I meanbonkers, bonkers from a few

(02:28):
thousand to tens of thousands ofpeople viewing it.
It's just like whoa.
The problem is with more peopleviewing the video.
You now get the trolls and theidiots come out.
You shouldn't be flying.
You're dangerous.
You need to be retrained.
I've had virtually everything.
One thing it has flagged up ispeople have an obsession with
landing on centerline, and yetthe centerline is a good place

(02:50):
to land on it.
It's a good place to aim for.
However, firstly, elstreecentreline's got quite a few
potholes, so we tend to land offto one side.
Secondly, I don't put a cameraslap bang in the middle of the
centreline of the aircraft.
Therefore, when you have acamera off to one side, you're
going to see a slightly skewedview the only time you actually
see what the centreline is iswhen you're actually on the

(03:11):
center line on the runway, andthen you can sort of see where
it is.
And people have just become soobsessed with the fact that I
haven't landed on the centerline.
My crosswind landing techniqueis crap.
It's just like really guys, andactually some of the comments
have become quite personal andguess what?
They get blocked.
Sorry, not gonna upset rubbishfrom people who just probably

(03:31):
spend all of their time onflight sim From other pilots.
Some fantastic responses, somefantastic comments.
You can always tell whensomeone's actually either a
pilot or a particular instructor.
99 times out of 100,instructors will actually give
you not just criticism but alsopositive criticism.
So they'll go yeah, that youdid wrong.

(03:52):
However, this is how you cancorrect it.
That's how you spot aninstructor.
Well, I'll rephrase it that'show you spot a good instructor,
because even if you've got itwrong, even if you stacked it on
the runway, I dare say a goodinstructor will turn around and
go well, there were somepositives.
Yeah, you just stacked it intothe runway, but your use of
flaps was very good at thatpoint.
Yeah, thanks, I didn't stack itinto the runway.

(04:14):
I just had a crap landing and,yes, did the go around, landed
End of story Safely on theground.
I made mistakes.
That was the whole point of mepublishing the video.
If people can't understand that, then maybe they shouldn't be
flying either.
It was how not to land andyou've just proved my point.

(04:35):
Anyway, that was.
I thought I just needed to getthat off my chest and publish
the video, because he was justreally, really mad.
And the comments are stillcoming in.
I've just seen one just poppedin.
Now I have got some more flyinglined up.
I've got a video that I'mcurrently editing of a trip to
snowdon, so hopefully at at somepoint in time I'll get around
to finishing that.
And yes, that's with Jack andthat was from last year.

(04:56):
And I've got also a reviewcoming through because I did a
course over winter periodbecause there wasn't much flying
going on with a great guy and Ican do a little brief review of
that course.
So there is quite a few bitsand pieces coming on.
But anyway, please, whateveryou're doing, please criticise
me if you wish.
That is why I publish thesevideos and podcasts.

(05:18):
If you don't learn anythingfrom my mistakes, then there's
not a lot I can do about that,but please listen to my other
podcasts, watch my videos on theYouTube channel and if you're
listening to this on Spotify orApple, please consider clicking
those star buttons and possiblyleaving me a review.
But anyway, please enjoy yourflying.
If you are a pilot, if you'relearning to fly, please leave

(05:38):
some comments.
Love to have a chat to you.
I'm now doing more and morepodcasty things as well, so I'd
love to talk to other pilotsabout their experiences.
At the end of the day, there'stwo ways of learning.
There's the mistakes that youmake, but also there's learning
from the mistakes that otherpeople make, and they're cheaper
because they made them, not you.
But whatever you do, pleaseenjoy your flying and fly safe.

(06:00):
Thanks for listening.
Bye.