First solo this morning!

Irish_Armada

Irish_Armada

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Oct 8, 2011
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Irish Armada
Out of KEDU in a C172 ... weather was perfect (finally, already had 3 solos scheduled over the past couple of months which were aborted due to weather) and it was awesome. The plane felt a little lighter, but not all that different without my instructor -- other than the obvious fact that he, uh, wasn't there! My second landing was my best, but all 3 were respectable. :D I recorded it on my NFlightCam Plus so I'll be trying to get that video posted at some point so you guys can check it out. Feeling pretty dang good!! :):):)
 

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Great, great news. I live next door and the weather was beautiful today. Keep up the good work and get your practical test done and passed soon.

Do you fly with CAFF?
 
:blueplane:
Irish_Armada said:
Out of KEDU in a C172 ... weather was perfect (finally, already had 3 solos scheduled over the past couple of months which were aborted due to weather) and it was awesome. The plane felt a little lighter, but not all that different without my instructor -- other than the obvious fact that he, uh, wasn't there! My second landing was my best, but all 3 were respectable. :D I recorded it on my NFlightCam Plus so I'll be trying to get that video posted at some point so you guys can check it out. Feeling pretty dang good!! :):):)
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And feeling pretty dang good you should - congratulations! I can see the plane's on the ground but you're still flying :D

Stick with it it and get it done, would be cool to see some of the video.
 
Well done to you! Enjoy the rest of training and welcome to the less than 1 percenters who have flown a plane solo!
 
Congratulations sir, that plane looks too nice to be a trainer though...that's not fair.
 
Congrats! Nice video. (I may have to hunt down that music ;))
 
You look like you handle it pretty expertly. Me thinks #3 is the best.
 
Nice work. The video is cool. I wish I had my first solo on tape. I doubt it would have looked as good.

BTW, holly COW that's a narrow runway for a first solo! Nice job keeping it between the lines.
 
Well done... congratulations! That's a day you will always remember and your video is a fantastic record of the event.
 
Congrats, on the solo and actually landing on the centerline... almost unheard-of on YouTube! :eek: :wink2:

Seriously, good landings!:thumbsup:
 
Congrats on your solo. I plan on doing one of my solo x-country flights to KEDU. Thanks for sharing your video! :)
 
Congrats! I'm really looking forward to doing my first solo out of KISM. Perfect blend of nervousness and excitement!
 
Congratulations. Did you get your shirt tail cut off?
 
Irish_Armada said:
Here is the video I threw together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa83Y21r86M

Watch it in 1080p if you can.
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great video of your first solo! that landing strip looked as narrow as a bowling alley.

off topic:
also glad to see that the camera you used managed one of the effects of the "rolling shutter" (so the spinning prop did not look distorted even in what would be high speed shutter during "short" exposure). Unless i increase the duration of the exposure with an ND filter, the vidoes i recorded with gopro 2 distort the spinning prop.
 
iWantWings said:
great video of your first solo! that landing strip looked as narrow as a bowling alley.

off topic:
also glad to see that the camera you used managed one of the effects of the "rolling shutter" (so the spinning prop did not look distorted even in what would be high speed shutter during "short" exposure). Unless i increase the duration of the exposure with an ND filter, the vidoes i recorded with gopro 2 distort the spinning prop.
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KEDU's runway is only 50 ft wide and about 3200 ft long, but great to train on. As my instructor told me early on, "the small runway looks intimidating now, but it will force you to be a more precise pilot and it will make normal runways that much easier." I ain't no precise pilot yet, but when we fly to any respectable sized runways I can't believe how big they are :yikes:

The camera comes with an "aviator lens" which is supposed to eliminate prop blur. It does a good job most of the time but in some lights it doesn't eliminate it completely. But for the most part it's a great addition to the camera.

Also since someone asked earlier, the music in the video is Deadmau5: “Ghosts 'n' Stuff (Nero Remix)".

And yeah, I did get my shirt tail cut!:)

Thanks everyone for the congrats and all that good stuff, can't wait to log some more solo hours soon.
 
Congrats!

How's your NFlightcam +?
I had to RMA my first one after repeated GPS & audio issues. The replacement is working great! GPS reception sucks in the high wing, but I don't care much for it anyway.

Overall, I love it. Takes a little getting used to the fact that it doesn't have a viewfinder (my 1st few vids were all slightly tilted). After I got an ipad, I started using that to setup the view (via bluetooth). Now my videos are much better. The audio feature, being able to listen to ATC comm, is also a big plus.

One thing I noticed is, the G1000 glass panels look pretty dark in my videos. I wonder if there's something in the settings that would brighten them up. I can't really make out anything on the panels during playback.:dunno:
 
iWantWings said:
that landing strip looked as narrow as a bowling alley.
Click to expand...

Irish_Armada said:
KEDU's runway is only 50 ft wide and about 3200 ft long, but great to train on.
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Heh people get so spoiled...all my flying has been done on a 2900x50 strip with nonstop crosswinds. Though it is very true, it forces you to track that centerline.

And congrats on the solo! You won't forget it.
 
Irish_Armada said:
As my instructor told me early on, "the small runway looks intimidating now, but it will force you to be a more precise pilot and it will make normal runways that much easier."
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More precise, sure. Easier, no.

The first time you try to land on a 150 foot wide runway, you will flare VERY high and probably need to go around. There are optical illusions related to runway width you must learn to compensate for.

Now you've soloed. Have your instructor take you to SAC and you'll see what I mean. It's a bit far, but Castle (MER) is even more extreme -- the lines are painted at 150 feet, but the runway is really 200; it's a former SAC B-52 base.

50 feet isn't THAT small. I trained on 70. And 2300 feet long. That length trains you that excessive airspeed, particularly in a low wing or with no flaps, is a bad thing.
 
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MAKG1 said:
More precise, sure. Easier, no.

The first time you try to land on a 150 foot wide runway, you will flare VERY high and probably need to go around. There are optical illusions related to runway width you must learn to compensate for.

Now you've soloed. Have your instructor take you to SAC and you'll see what I mean. It's a bit far, but Castle (MER) is even more extreme -- the lines are painted at 150 feet, but the runway is really 200; it's a former SAC B-52 base.

50 feet isn't THAT small. I trained on 70. And 2300 feet long. That length trains you that excessive airspeed, particularly in a low wing or with no flaps, is a bad thing.
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I definitely agree with you. We've been over to Mather, KSAC, and KSMF, and the wider runways definitely create that illusion that I'm about to touch down when I'm probably still 20 feet in the air. Just a completely different sight picture than I'm used to. The other disadvantage of where I train is that it's non-towered so all those towered airports are still somewhat intimidating to a newbie like me. All in due time I suppose!
 
Towered ops will come, with practice.

The folks at SAC seem to be reasonably helpful. And lots of runways to choose from! It's not THAT far from Davis. If you've done SMF, you've done the Class C thing. Sounds worse than it is.

When you are comfy with that, come over to the Bay Area for a real workout; the airspace is a total mess. There is a Class B, two Class C's, and six Class D's, all in very close proximity. Don't try SFO Class B transitions until after your checkride; solo student operations are prohibited there (frankly, it's not a big deal, but they do expect you to hold altitude and abide by their restrictions).
 
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