A single pilot became disoriented while flying a GPS approach to sat and stalled his aircraft. ATC u...

Narrative:

I was flying in IMC on the arrival into sat about to join the localizer. I was flying with the autopilot coupled to a garmin 430. In hindsight; I had loaded the approach but did not activate it. Right at the intersection I tried to activate the approach; but I inadvertently cancelled the approach. At that point my moving map was showing only a black screen; and I lost situational awareness. I was fixated on the 430 to the point that I stalled the airplane. ATC was trying to work with me; but it became evident to them that I was disoriented. I was able to recover from the stall and called ATC to ask for a heading and an altitude and requested vectors to retry the ILS. Approach gave me a different frequency; and I assume I was the only one on it. The controller was very calm --- I'm certain he understood I was stressed out at that point. He was very reassuring and had me climb above the clouds to approximately 6;500 ft MSL. He gave me vectors to join the localizer well outside the IAF. That would have been a routine approach except that my landing gear would not extend. I again asked for a heading and altitude to give me time to manually pump the gear down; which I was given. After that; I was again given vectors to the ILS and performed an uneventful approach and landing. The special controller stayed with me the entire time until switching me to the tower on final approach (he was a lifesaver). I had this situation happen to me in busy class C airspace shortly after receiving my instrument rating in 2002; and I have talked with other pilots who have had a similar occurrence. I feel that there should be some language when the approach is flown incorrectly early on to alert ATC to instantly issue climb out instructions rather than to try and salvage an approach or try to start the missed approach procedure before the map. After the pilot realizes that he will be unable to complete the approach; there is a very awkward period where the pilot has no idea what to do. The pilot language could be as simple as [call sign; heading and altitude] or [call sign; immediate climb out request].

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A single pilot became disoriented while flying a GPS approach to SAT and stalled his aircraft. ATC understood what was happening and calmly helped him recover for a successful approach after a gear extension problem.

Narrative: I was flying in IMC on the arrival into SAT about to join the localizer. I was flying with the autopilot coupled to a Garmin 430. In hindsight; I had loaded the approach but did not activate it. Right at the intersection I tried to activate the approach; but I inadvertently cancelled the approach. At that point my moving map was showing only a black screen; and I lost situational awareness. I was fixated on the 430 to the point that I stalled the airplane. ATC was trying to work with me; but it became evident to them that I was disoriented. I was able to recover from the stall and called ATC to ask for a heading and an altitude and requested vectors to retry the ILS. Approach gave me a different frequency; and I assume I was the only one on it. The Controller was very calm --- I'm certain he understood I was stressed out at that point. He was very reassuring and had me climb above the clouds to approximately 6;500 FT MSL. He gave me vectors to join the localizer well outside the IAF. That would have been a routine approach except that my landing gear would not extend. I again asked for a heading and altitude to give me time to manually pump the gear down; which I was given. After that; I was again given vectors to the ILS and performed an uneventful approach and landing. The Special Controller stayed with me the entire time until switching me to the Tower on final approach (he was a lifesaver). I had this situation happen to me in busy Class C airspace shortly after receiving my instrument rating in 2002; and I have talked with other pilots who have had a similar occurrence. I feel that there should be some language when the approach is flown incorrectly early on to alert ATC to instantly issue climb out instructions rather than to try and salvage an approach or try to start the Missed Approach procedure before the MAP. After the pilot realizes that he will be unable to complete the approach; there is a very awkward period where the pilot has no idea what to do. The pilot language could be as simple as [CALL SIGN; HEADING AND ALTITUDE] or [CALL SIGN; IMMEDIATE CLIMB OUT REQUEST].

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.

Attributes
ACN	950643
Time
Date	201105
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	SAT.Airport
State Reference	TX
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft High Wing 1 Eng Retractable Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	GPS & Other Satellite Navigation
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 22 Flight Crew Total 1536 Flight Crew Type 475
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control

A single pilot became disoriented while flying a GPS approach to sat and stalled his aircraft. ATC understood what was happening and calmly helped him recover for a successful approach after a gear extension problem.