I had gone way long in the groove, just to make sure that the tower didn t wave me off for interval. On deck, I rolled out and taxied back to the det hangar. I had 80 pounds of fuel. I learned two big lessons that day. First, never assume that just because you are in the landing pattern, you can drop your pack.
Emergencies can happen anytime.
In my case, I allowed myself to slowly become an emergency by letting the situation get out of hand. Second, the common practice of heading back to the field with the minimum amount of gas may not be that smart. This US Government system is subject to monitoring. Please review the Privacy, Security and External Link Notice .