My Aviators - My Journey as a Woman Pilot

Tuesday I went on a stage 1 checkride with another instructor. Basically we just went up and did a few maneuvers and a landing to make sure I was on track. All went well, in fact I felt awesome up there. I dropped Elwyn off and went back up by myself for a while. I went out and worked on my stalls and steep turns trying to make sure I was within standards on all of them. Those went pretty well. I came back and wanted to practice a few more landings before I was due in class for ground school. My first landing was a bit shaky, I was not pleased with it at all. As I was climbing on departure, I heard a radio call that a bonanza was 2 miles out entering a left downwind. I scanned and didn't see him so I turned cross, scanned again and still didn't see him. I assumed he must have been further out than he thought, so I turned downwind. Just as I am turning downwind, I see him off my nose and slightly above me. Now I don't really know what to do, I radioed that I turned and he was behind me. The bonanza was quite understanding and extended his downwind to allow me to land. Now I know that I should have diverted to line up behind him when I saw him, but it was a bit unnerving to know that I had made such a mistake that could have been quite bad, since the bonanza didn't have me in sight at the time. I am now being much more diligent in finding aircraft before making any movements of my own. Next time I will stay on departure until I have him in sight or I know he is far enough on downwind that we will be separated.

Total Hours Logged: 32.8