Seanaldinho
Pattern Altitude
Well today was a fine day down in Destin Florida. Had a bit of a marine layer but it burned off before we went flying. Anyways here is a little background for those of you who dont know. A couple of years ago I started glider training, soloed at 15, and got my license at 16. Im now 17 but couldnt afford powered lessons so didnt get to start them like I wanted to after my glider checkride. Then this summer I received a scholarship that paid for me to take flight lessons in Destin up to solo or 20 hours. At 8 hours instructor said I was good to go but I was not about to let 10+ hours of free flying go to waste so we went and did some XC stuff, short/soft field landings, hoodwork, unusual attitudes and the like.
So fast forward to today and I was at a little over 17 hours and we agreed today was the day to solo. So we hop in our nimble, glorious 150M and head to the training area for a tid bit then head back to the pattern for 3 touch and goes. All went very well so he hopped out on number 3 and sent me out to do 5 stop and goes.
Taxi to the runway, hold short, check for traffic, line up, full power, and I was in the air FAST. Without that 180 pound chatterbox next to me the 150 climbed like a banshee ( a whopping 700 feet per minute). Anyways I do a lap around the pattern and put it in nice and smooth. The next 2 were the same and then on number 4 I caught a little downdraft about 3 feet above the runway and kinda plopped. Oh well, one more to go. Get in the air and everybody and their brother has decided Destin is the place to be. Before that I had been playing with a Bonanza (also doing stop and goes) and an MI-8 helo. This lap though I had a skylane, 2 MI-8 helos, a citation, and king air all trying to get in. So in short on lap one I went around because of the abundance of traffic and hoping it would die down a bit. On Lap 2 I went around again because of more traffic. Lap 3 was the charm though and I got it in nice and smooth behind the skylane.
All in all, it felt good to solo for the first time again.
So fast forward to today and I was at a little over 17 hours and we agreed today was the day to solo. So we hop in our nimble, glorious 150M and head to the training area for a tid bit then head back to the pattern for 3 touch and goes. All went very well so he hopped out on number 3 and sent me out to do 5 stop and goes.
Taxi to the runway, hold short, check for traffic, line up, full power, and I was in the air FAST. Without that 180 pound chatterbox next to me the 150 climbed like a banshee ( a whopping 700 feet per minute). Anyways I do a lap around the pattern and put it in nice and smooth. The next 2 were the same and then on number 4 I caught a little downdraft about 3 feet above the runway and kinda plopped. Oh well, one more to go. Get in the air and everybody and their brother has decided Destin is the place to be. Before that I had been playing with a Bonanza (also doing stop and goes) and an MI-8 helo. This lap though I had a skylane, 2 MI-8 helos, a citation, and king air all trying to get in. So in short on lap one I went around because of the abundance of traffic and hoping it would die down a bit. On Lap 2 I went around again because of more traffic. Lap 3 was the charm though and I got it in nice and smooth behind the skylane.
All in all, it felt good to solo for the first time again.
