First Solo

A

alland

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Feb 21, 2012
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alland
Well I am busy doing my PPL training and this last week I did my first solo take off and landings...
And boy did it feel good when I touched down for that first landing !

The landing was as perfect as I could have hoped for, even my CFI came on the radio and complimented me on the pattern work and executing a very good landing.

He then told me to go stay in the pattern and do three more take off and landings.
Strangely the landings got a little worse with each one I did, by the forth one I was becoming pretty frustrated and stressed out.

Not sure why this happened, I have done dozens of landings with my CFI on board and usually get them in the ball park without being to heavy on the landing gear or wandering off center line.

Maybe I was just a bit overwelmed by the fact I am now a solo student ?
 
Congrats to you! The first solo day is a great memory.

Maybe the reality of what you were doing sunk in the more you went around the pattern. Either way, you went flying and came back with a good story to tell. That's a win in my book.
 
First of all, congratulations. It's a life-changing event.

As to the landings, I had about the same experience. One good one, a go-around because I ballooned on roundout, followed by a couple of mediocre ones.

Keep up the discipline and airwork. The certificate is the goal and it's within reach.
 
Congratulations!

My guess would be that subsequent landings were not as good due to stress. Yes your first solo is fun and everything, but it's stressful!

Betcha that's what it was.

But regardless, any landing that didn't hurt the you or the plane is a good one (so I've been told!).

Good job!
 
jspilot said:
Congrats to you! The first solo day is a great memory.

Maybe the reality of what you were doing sunk in the more you went around the pattern. Either way, you went flying and came back with a good story to tell. That's a win in my book.
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Tracey said:
Congratulations!

My guess would be that subsequent landings were not as good due to stress. Yes your first solo is fun and everything, but it's stressful!

Betcha that's what it was.

But regardless, any landing that didn't hurt the you or the plane is a good one (so I've been told!).

Good job!
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Usually stress. The first one is always the best it seems. Don't over think it, landing will come naturally in a few more hours. If yu have doubts grab the CFI and do a few more with him, but you are a soloed student pilot! Congrats!
 
First, congratulations!

Second, the airplane is different without your CFI in it. It's common to find that all the habits you learned regarding power settings and the sight picture and everything else will be subtly different without that dead weight in the right seat. So you'll have a what-the-heck moment when you aren't getting the same outputs for the same input any more.

The standard at this point is that your landings are consistently safe. Not always pretty, not always smoooooth, but always safe (which may mean going around and trying again).

Once you pass your checkride, the new standard is:
One greaser is good luck
Two greasers is damn good luck
Three greasers is a big fat lie.

Again, congratulations!
 
TMetzinger said:
One greaser is good luck
Two greasers is damn good luck
Three greasers is a big fat lie.
Click to expand...
That's funny, I've never heard that before.

I did, however, once catch this HUGE fish..... :lol:
 
Thanks guys, your comments are very much appreciated.

And just to expand a little on my training, I am from the UK and at 63yrs young decided it was now or never to try and achieve a very long ambition I have had to become a private pilot.
So I decided to embark on a two week accelerated flight training course to coincide with the time I would be over in Florida at our vacation home.

I started on the 22 March and soloed on the 2nd April. However, I began to think things where moving a little to fast in my CFI's quest to have me ready for my checkride on the 6th April the date my course was due to finish, I was becoming stressed and not sleeping much due to trying to think out the next days tasks he had planned.

From my first solo, I had only three days left to finish up the required number of solo landings, my cross countries to complete, my night hours to complete, and prepare for my oral exam and the checkride.

So I made the decision that the accelerated package was just a bridge too far for me, and went in the next day and told my CFI, He was a little perplexed by my decision, but understood when I explained my feelings.
I have now gone on a hourly training schedule so I can take things a little slower, I am back over in Florida for 5 weeks in June/July, so hopefully I will come back refreshed, and ready to complete the tasks I have left to earn my certificate.

I am not knocking the accelerated course, but maybe it is better suited for the faster thinking younger guys, than the old brain I have, which takes a little longer to compute stuff than it used to do !
 
Congratulations!

I have well over 500 landings, the vast majority of them tailwheel. I STILL have varying quality of landings in the same series. They won't all be perfect.

Did you bend the airplane? If not, then they must have been pretty decent.
 
I'm sure you'll get all kinds of opinions on this, but I don't believe in accelerated courses (and yours was more than accelerated. You'd need a worm hole to get from here to there that quickly). IMHO you need time to absorb what you've learned.
 
To me, greasers happen only when I am solo and nobody's watching :mad:

For checkride prep, my CFI told me to do the smoothest landing that I've ever done. Dropped the Warrior on a runway like a grand piano.
 
Sit in a kitchen chair. Have two friends pickup the chair ONE INCH and drop it. Your worst landing will probably never be that bad. We tend to over-analyze landings. You done good.
 
I could never do the accelerated thing, I would have way too many questions and I would be too stressed out.

On my solo, I too had a good first landing, so-so second, and downright crappy third one (I think I re-flared three times or something odd like that).

Kimberly
 
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