During my private pilot training in Ithaca, NY (KITH) i was up with my flight instructor one late afternoon just as the sun was setting behind a high cirrus deck, we were flying southwestbound and the sun was at our 2 to 3 o'clock. my instructor pullred the power out on me and i started going through my engine failure checklist. Just then I heard what I first correctly assumed was the sound of a piston engine. I quickly told myself that it was impossible to hear another airplane's engine other than my ownduring flight. Well, I looked off my left wing and saw a Mooney zooming away from us. We didn't see him since he was flying right out of the sun, but he saw us. It must have scared the sh*t out of him because he forgot to lower his landing gear on final and had to make a go around and then landed way right of centerline on a 150ft wide runway.

I only had about 40 hours total time and it kept me on the ground for a few weeks while i contemplated ever flying again, but I'm back up now working on my instrument rating as part of a college degree.

After the incident I decided to keep my eyes outside the cockpit more and if I have my own airplane someday, it's gonna have TCAS onboard.

What really ****ed me off though, was when the guy who nearly ran me over left, he pulled an unnecessarily tight bank less than 50ft off the ground and flew several hundred feet right over the airline terminal and control tower.