Looking To The Sky

First Solo Flight

Yesterday I had one of the most unreal flights yet.  It was my first opportunity to fly solo!

The day started like a number of others discussing shortly what we were planning on doing and then getting into the plane to take off.  Unlike any day before, the weather was perfect, I was feeling great, and James agreed that my take-offs and landings were perfect for a day to solo.

Of course he didn’t tell me we were soloing until we did a couple stalls (which I nailed) and then a couple great landings.  We then taxied the plane to Aurora Aviation and James hopped out to tell the Aurora guys what was going on and that I was going to do my solo landings and get a radio for us to communicate.

Well before he even went inside he waved me off to head to the runway.  The taxi ride to the runway was probably the most nervous I got as it was one of those experiences where it felt as though I was going to return.

Well just like I had practiced a number of times before, I made my radio call and followed my lights, camera, action steps. (Lights – turning on the landing lights, camera – pressing the Alt button, and action – going for my take-off)

After not to long I was in the air flying…all by myself!  What an awesome experience.  It was at that moment that I really knew that I had made the right decision going for my pilot license.

I made my crosswind turn, made my radio call, and flew the Aurora patter like I had practiced; flying the downwind, beginning to slow down after the numbers, getting down to the right elevation, and coming in for my landing as I turned base.

As I entered my final for runway 35, I made my calls, slowed down to 70MPH, and when I knew I was going to make my landing, I came down and landed.  Piece of cake!  🙂

After landing I was about to get off the runway when James said on the radio for me to do it two more times before picking him up.

I flew those next two take-offs and landings just perfect and then got to meet with James.  He was thrilled for me and we both shared the joy.  I was quite thrilled to find that I was his first solo pilot that he trained.

We flew back to Twin Oaks Airpark and got out of the plane.  As I packed up, James went off to get some scissors.  As the tradition for pilots performing their first solo is to cut the shirt off your back (the back of it anyways) and fill it out with the date, plane, and other info of that first solo flight.

I’m waiting to get mine back so I can frame it and stick it in my office! (HERE IT IS!!!)

Now I have to do a lot of solo practice and begin training for cross-country flights (distances over 100 miles) which I’ll be doing over the next few weeks.

Until next time! Here are some images and a video of me landing and taking off for you to enjoy.

Logs:

Flight Time: 1.3 Hours
Ground Time: 0.2 Hours
Solo Time: 0.6 Hours
Landings: 6

Categories: Private Pilot Completion

Tags: Cessna 172, flying, James, K7S3, KUAO, N2108Y, Solo, Stalls, Testing, Video

Smooth Landings Shirt Off My Back