Awesome milestone: First time out of the pattern!

TexasAviation

TexasAviation

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TexasAviation
My first two solos felt very much like I still had a babysitter watching over me (which was a good thing). I'd start and end the day with an instructor and just fly around the pattern alone a few times.

Well, last night was my first time to handle a whole flight from start to finish by myself ... and actually leave the pattern.

Holy cow, that was a great feeling!

I flew out to the practice area to do all the maneuvers on my list. Most were great; a few were terribly sloppy.

After that, I decided to fly over the small town where I live, about 15 miles away, just for the fun of it. Having the freedom and knowledge to fly where I want — safely and confidently — was an amazing thing.

From here on out, it looks like I'll be continuously given a longer leash with each passing week. With any luck, I'll be doing my dual cross country next week and solo cross country soon afterward.

But last night's flight seemed like such a cool milestone, I wanted to share for pilots who are just now starting their training. You'll be here before you know it, and it feels amazing!
 
it IS a cool milestone, and freaked me out far more than my solo lol, although I did just fine. congrats!
 
Great stuff! My first solo wasn't very exciting to me (I guess that makes it good). I was actually more excited and accomplished when I did my first solo XC. I got into flying to go places, so that's when it really hit me.

Congrats on your solo and getting out of the pattern! You'll feel even better once you get your solo XC done.


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I never practice stalls without my CFI. Did you practice any stalls?

My first time out I buzzed my friends house "legally" and on the way to the practice area. I was like a teen with the parents car. Not the best use of my time as a solo student.
 
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Isn't it a great feeling? It hit me on that first completely solo flight once atc gave me "squawk vfr, frequency change approved" and I thought "what should I do now.... I CAN DO ANYTHING"
 
evapilotaz said:
Did you practice any stalls?
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm actually pretty comfortable with stalls now. The plane I'm flying (Archer II) stalls super predictably, and my instructor included them in the list of approved maneuvers ... so I did them. No biggie.
 
JoeFromKS said:
Isn't it a great feeling? It hit me on that first completely solo flight once atc gave me "squawk vfr, frequency change approved" and I thought "what should I do now.... I CAN DO ANYTHING"
Click to expand...

eh, not quite "anything", but we get the point....
 
That is so awesome. My first time out I just cruised around....... Until I realized I was lost...... Not REAL lost, just kinda lost. It is a great feeling and just gets better.


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First XC solo is even better!

If you can talk your instructor to making Denton one of the stops, please advise and we'll link up.
 
Congrats your going to love solo cross country.
 
Thats a great milestone, i remember my first "cold-turkey" solo flight my instructor gave me the option to fly to another airport about 15-20 miles away and practice landings there and some maneuvers along the way. Like you say i think it is a huge milestone and almost if not better than the first solo. Have fun!!
 
I remember not wanting to let the airport get TOO far away from me the first time I did that flight. Scary and exciting at the same time. If you liked that one, you're gonna love the solo XC flight...
 
My first time out of the pattern solo was when I did my long solo XC. Did my first solo, then 2 weekends later did my dual XC on Saturday and my solo XC on Sunday. As I was flying away from the airport, I did get a bit nervous going from 3 trips around the pattern to flying almost 200nm round trip by myself!

Flying the same trip just the day before made it pretty easy though. I know exactly where to go, when to turn etc. Turned out to be such an awesome feeling.

-Brian
 
Awesome brother! I did my first flight like that about 6 weeks ago and I agree, what a feeling! Your X Country is a hoot as well.
 
Nice feeling, ain't it? It gets better, too!

Where are you training out of?
 
Greenvilee? Awesome. Now you need to get yourself a dial X/C and get signed off on a solo X/C down to the ATX and we'll do a pilot lunch/dinner if you'd like. Lots of us pilots down here.
 
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