I returned to the airport with my student after an instructional flight. The airfield had been VFR earlier; a cloud ceiling developed while airborne. A recall of solo students that were launched earlier had been initiated. Switching to tower frequency we heard a solo student wave-off his approach; was going to go around for another try. He climbed through the pattern altitude entering the cloud cover. In a shaky voice, he pleaded “Someone, please help me,” as he rolled his aircraft upside-down and crashed in a field a half-mile from the runway. Debrief topic that day: the cost of fear.
Bill Grover is a Vietnam War-era naval aviator and retired architect, writing his first book titled "Evolution in the Age of Climate Change and Extinction.” Book website TBA. Architectural website: www.williamgroverarchitect.com