Well after years and years of telling everyone i wanted to fly, i finally got serious about lessons and took the plunge. Now many hours and bumpy landings later, my instructor stepped out and said off you go ! I'm sure i don't have to tell most of you on this forum the thrill and rush it is to look over to your right for the first time and see no one there ! I was held short of the runway for what seemed like an eternity, which let my heart rate drop back down to some what normal, then tower asked me to expedite my take-off which didn't allow me to get more nervous, then 500 agl, it suddenly dawned on me, " holy ****, ain't no going back now, you gotta land this thing on your own" , came in a little high and a little fast, but got it figured out, didn't bounce but wasn't my smoothest either, but i made it, and my instructor was happy. I feel really lucky in the flight school i chose, as my primary flight instructor is the owner, (German and very methodical,) we have not concentrated on landings and/or solo, he kept drilling into me "what if something happens at the airport while you are on your solo, and you have to go somewhere else, you need to be able fly the plane, navigate, communicate, get into and out of and avoid all the class Charlie and Bravo that surrounds us, thats more important than solo", everything was going great until he said "OK your ready for solo" then all my landings went to ****, i couldn't find the right flare point to save my life, but we got it worked out i guess. Now here i am grinning like a Cheshire cat, having done something i have always dreamed about. Next week already booked first solo cross country. Wish my Dad could have been here to see it. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Let me be the first to say, "congrats!!!!" That's awesome. Flyings an addiction...a good one. Looking forward to many more posts and pictures in the future. 172, nice start.
Congratulations! Sounds like you have a leg up by starting out in complex airspace. I learned to fly at an uncontrolled airport with very little traffic. When I started flying to controlled airports I felt like a fish out of water. Don't worry about the landings, before you know it you'll be signing the airplane out and practicing solo pattern work on your own. You'll know you are hooked when you hope for a stiff crosswind. Dave
Congratulations! That's the greatest feeling ever, isn't it? Now you start to learn and to be very careful about what you think you can do and what you can actually do. Focus, concentrate, practice, and leave ground thoughts on the ground.
I was paranoid/nervous when I solo'd. On my x-country I realized my flaps did not raise all the way (still at 16%) & I was overspeed. No issues though! Checked for stress cracks upon landing. To hone my landings I did nothing but practice them for a couple days...insane amount of landings but now I can grease them relatively easy (while still putting the wheels down within spec).
Congrats! It is so liberating and confidence-inspiring to be set loose solo. Get endorsed to fly in Bravo solo - I did and it was great, I fly in DFW Bravo airspace all the time and in fact MUST contact approach to get to my home airport KADS. It will make trips much more enjoyable in the future if you need to get near big cities, plus VFR flight following is a must for x-country IMO.
Congrats! I remember my first solo very well. I suspect you'll remember yours forever too. I remember hearing my instructor's voice in my head on every leg of the pattern. Back when I did it in 1994, we did 3 landings in a row where the first two landings were touch-n-go's. I remember constantly checking my airspeed in my scan, making sure not to get anywhere near stall speed until I was only a few feet above the runway. I did my first solo on a 5500 ft runway on a completely calm clear day, so in hindsight, I had plenty of room to be imprecise on final. I think the instructors are even more nervous than the student pilots on first-solo days. .
LOL. I meant to say 3 times around the pattern. But on a 5500 ft runway, you could do 3 landings in a row on it in a Cessna 172! .
A big old' dose of Congrats! You will never forget that feeling of looking to your right on short final for the first time and seeing an empty seat. It's terrifying and exhilarating for all of us.
Thanks everyone, the picture was taken after the flight (as can be seen from the sweat stains on my shirt LOL). Also thanks for all the advise, i am fortunate to have several friends who fly and own planes, every thing from C150's to SR22's and Barons,Bonanza's and the like, and my best friend growing up in the UK now lives in Oregon, and is a Cirrus factory instructor, teaches at 3 different schools and is also FO on a private fleet of King Air's ,Lear's and a couple of Gulfstreams, so as you can imagine i do lots of phone calls after each lesson for encouragement and advise. I think the best thing i did was interview 5-6 flight schools before i took the plunge, and this was the one that made me feel most relaxed about the program. The owners main goal is that we "learn and improve" every lesson and not just focus on that first solo, so we have already done so much that most schools told me would come after the solo, as they would concentrate on pattern work and landings. Flying out of Van Nuys, which i think is still the busiest GA airport in the world, you have to be able to talk the talk and walk the walk, around the 10-12 hour mark i remember a flight, having to get a clearance from socal for transition through Burbank, into and out of Socal for flight following, to Ontario, to Bracket and back to Van Nuys via socal and Burbank, all while, he had me doing dead reckoning and pilotage, I never felt so intimidated, or busy, it almost wasn't fun, on the walk back to the hanger I ask my instructor if he normally puts 10 hour pilots through that, his answer " heck no ! most 10 hour students cant hold an altitude and heading, let alone fly and navigate and talk, so i got to keep you busy" As i said always learning and always something different, but for sure my favorite is doing the special flight rules route over the top of LAX, don't know why but i just get a kick out of seeing all the heavies below me ( maybe you are there Lou747 ?). Not sure if other schools do this but every few weeks, they send me out with my reserve instructor for a review, and wouldn't you know it once i found out he could not sign me out for solo, my landings with him are spot on, then i get back with the bloke who is aloud to step out and i cant find the flare point with a flash light and a guide dog !! But yesterday i put in two lessons, and at the end had enough day light for just one TO, pattern and landing, which i didn't think counted as solo, (thought i needed 3) but i was told, on your own is on your own, so good job.. Next week's plan is 6 good landings with my primary instructor, then 3 on my own, then out to the practice area ( westlake village, simi valley), slow flight, stalls and steep turns, with instructor,then back to KVNY, then repeat flight on my own, so approx another 4 hours, After that a beer or 3. One of the best parts about yesterday was one of my pilot friends knew i was going for it on my second lesson of the day and listened to the whole thing on ATC live, while playing golf with his wife, send me a text as soon as i had parked to congratulate me...I think he was nearly as excited as i was... Again thanks for all the encouragement and sorry for the long ramble.....I think i have the bug....
Fantastic achievement - congrats! I am on the road towards first solo - boy would I like to be where you are now... I am learning to fly at a small grass airstrip. 1800ft runway. Not much clearway to speak of. Needless to say, my instructor makes sure I fly at the numbers when landing. For sure he will be just as nervous as I, if not more so, when I am unleashed. Good luck for your forthcoming adventures - and keep the updates coming!
Congrats on that great accomplishment!! It seems everyone who has been through it has some interesting, unexpected quirk pop up. I know how excited you were in anticipation of this milestone...congrats again! BTW: Ferrari-Tech, are you going to be at S.C.S. this weekend?
I probably posted this before but anyway, I was sitting here thinking about my first solo almost 70 years ago. A 1937 J-3 with a 55 HP Lyc, tail skid, no brakes, no radio, and a wide open door that gave me a great view of Florida. I still enjoy that kind of flying more than anything and I'm still able to do a few things but I have lost some of the smooth coordination now.
