Almost soloed again after 15 years

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Tommar98

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Tommar98
So Sept 7 2003 was my last PIC time. I've been taking instruction over past few months while awaiting my 3rd class medical special issuance which came last week. I've been doing mostly IFR work and was going to go up tonight with CFI, head over to practice area and return for a few touch and goes and then solo.

I was not having a great day and was not feeling great (some huge stressors at work) but I figured I'd be fine and I would have a CFI with me anyway. That was a mistake and valuable lesson. I should have just elected to not go.

Well the radios had some problems but not a huge issue-lots of static which proved to be a distraction. Found myself making little mistakes, some bad radio calls, not getting to pattern altitude in time and then had to do go-around on first attempt because I was blown too far past center line and was chasing the approach down to final. Actually a good decision which CFI commented on.

Then it just seemed to go downhill after that with so-so landings. 3rd time around we switched runways because winds were picking up and giving me a tailwind. I ended up making it a full stop since my short final got a little funky with winds. I back taxied and then - allowed myself to get distracted by other airplanes in pattern - and took off with 2 notches of flaps still in. I caught it and made the proper climb out and dumped flaps one at a time but it shouldn't have happened.

Lesson learned. I wasn't feeling great when I got to the airport, but I wanted to get that goal of a solo after 15 years and I should have just cancelled. Fortunately I learned this lesson about mental/physical preparedness and did so with CFI an not on my own.

I'll hopefully get the solo sign-off on Sunday.


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It may seem like a significant setback today but very minor blip in the grand scheme of things. No biggie. Easier to handle a bad day when you’ve been flying consistently for a while and you don’t have much emotion attached to it but the significance is the same - no big deal. Keep at it, it will all come back and you’ll soon forget about these small issues.
 
Relax,get the pressure off yourself. It will come back to you.
 
you are probably overthinking everything. I am 55 years old, but I remember back when I started my PPL training at 17 years of age I did not think ENOUGH. I would have soloed on the first day of instruction if my CFI had let me.

I think there is a balance in there somewhere - try to get the happy medium of the mindset of a 17 year old with the wisdom of a 45 year old. I think that is a good spot - confident enough to try anything but wise enough not to.
 
Stephen: you are certainly correct. I had a dangerous CFI during my primary. I soloed at 8 hrs at a Class D. I look back on that and can't believe how irresponsible that was. My wife has 15 hrs in on her private and I would expect maybe 20 hrs before she solos.
Today I am 60. And yes, I know enough now to know I don't know enough. Anyway, after a few days, I've realized it was just a bad day. I'll be back at it on Sunday.


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Ok. 15 yrs and 3 days since logged last PIC time. Did it today and it was a nice feeling. Now I can get back to working on my skills and cross country work. Foreflight wasn't available in 2003 for me when I last did xcountry.


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Congrats! As a recerntly-signed off pilot with 11 years of rust (my first solo was 15 years ago in October), I know how great it feels to be back. Did you get your PPL before your lay-off or are you still working on it? And yeah, ForeFlight was just a babe when I last flew, and just about every old-timer looked at is as a useless distraction - heck GPS in general. I was at a ForeFlight for VFR seminar a local EAA chapter put on yesterday. Several of the guys there, already using FF, were in your age range. Times have changed. Again, congrats on the PIC time.
 
Actually I was close to my IFR check ride 15 yrs ago. Just got my special issuance medical back after a year long process. So I started training again in hopes of it coming in- and it did a few weeks ago. I’m going to work on my vfr skills and get back on my ifr training.


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I got signed off after 40 years of no flying...and had many bad days along the way. I then bought a plane, got my high-performance endorsement, and then just passed IFR. You can do it! And there will be many days when you wonder if you are up for it...all normal.
 
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