Narrative:

I sent my student; an english as second language individual; on his first solo. I thought that after 50 hours of training; his english and flying skills were worthy enough to solo. I sent him to do the normal three landings while I watched on the side of the taxiway with my radio. After take off from 31R; he missed ATC instructions three times to make left traffic for 31L. Then; on the left downwind; he was cleared to land and instructed to follow cessna on a two mile final. He responded to the radio call; but turned base too early; and failed to look for the traffic on final (he admitted later). This caused him to be way too close on final to other aircraft and tower instructed him to go around and he came back and landed. These two events probably shook him up where he could not think straight. After he landed he was twice instructed to hold short of 31R for a landing aircraft and responded both times. He came up to the runway and stopped short of it but as soon as he stopped; he added power and crossed the runway without clearance; not listening to the tower yelling at him. He explained after the flight that he got really nervous and blocked out what the tower was saying and how he was not thinking straight. As an instructor; I realized that his situational awareness and communication skills need work; and that I should have helped develop those more. I also should have spent more time with him; giving non standard radio calls; so that he would get used to those types of instructions. I should have also realized that his english skills were not perfect under stress. I know that now I need to try creative ways to bring up his situational awareness; and that I need to do that for all my students.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A flight instructor described the travails and errors of an English as second language student's first solo.

Narrative: I sent my student; an English as second language individual; on his first solo. I thought that after 50 hours of training; his English and flying skills were worthy enough to solo. I sent him to do the normal three landings while I watched on the side of the taxiway with my radio. After take off from 31R; he missed ATC instructions three times to make left traffic for 31L. Then; on the left downwind; he was cleared to land and instructed to follow Cessna on a two mile final. He responded to the radio call; but turned base too early; and failed to look for the traffic on final (he admitted later). This caused him to be way too close on final to other aircraft and Tower instructed him to go around and he came back and landed. These two events probably shook him up where he could not think straight. After he landed he was twice instructed to hold short of 31R for a landing aircraft and responded both times. He came up to the runway and stopped short of it but as soon as he stopped; he added power and crossed the runway without clearance; not listening to the Tower yelling at him. He explained after the flight that he got really nervous and blocked out what the Tower was saying and how he was not thinking straight. As an instructor; I realized that his situational awareness and communication skills need work; and that I should have helped develop those more. I also should have spent more time with him; giving non standard radio calls; so that he would get used to those types of instructions. I should have also realized that his English skills were not perfect under stress. I know that now I need to try creative ways to bring up his situational awareness; and that I need to do that for all my students.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.