First Unsupervised Solo

[Ted]

The problem with this winter thing (especially here in PA) is that the sun is down before 5:30. But if I put in time from 7 to 4, I can get in the air by 4:30, and get maybe 45 minutes or so in before dark. My instructor and I did two lessons like this, and he said after the first one "There's not much of a point to this. You're best off just flying around and practicing things yourself during this time." I soloed on November 1st, and had about 5 hours of flying since then (3 of which were the night cross country in the Aztec).

He signed off my log book for unlimited solo within 25 nm of the airport, provided that the weather was good, and his rule being that I call him before flight so he can approve. Yesterday afternoon I got approval. It was a gorgeous afternoon with no winds. Winds don't bother me that much, but it's still nicer when there aren't any.

Although I have been pulling the airplane out of the hangar, pre-flighting it, etc. for a while now, this was the first time that I did a full solo flight in the sense that I pulled the plane out, preflighted it, got everything set up, and then did my taxi, takeoffs, landings, refuel, park, etc. all myself.

At this point, it just all feels natural to me. Not comfortable/complacent certainly, but comfortable in that I understand what I'm doing, what the procedures are, what I'm supposed to do, and I'm confident in my ability to do it. I'm also being cautious and gradually expanding. Yesterday I went up and did 9 touch-and-gos. My instructor has encouraged me to go to the practice area and practice more maneuvers, but seeing as this was only my second solo flight (and first unsupervised solo), I decided I wanted to just stay in the pattern and work on my landing refinement - hitting my altitudes and headings exactly, landing exactly where I want, landings being smoother, landing on the center, etc. If I get the go ahead today and/or tomorrow I'll head out to the practice area.

As for the landings - the first one and the last two I was happy with (at least as far as the actual landing was concerned). The plane came on the ground in the center, with the mains first followed by the nose, and it was smooth. The 6 in the middle I was doing better about coming out of climbs and turns at the exact altitude and heading I wanted, but the landings themselves were either soft and all three wheels hitting at once, or mains first and hard. One or two of them the plane floated up a few feet because I pulled the yoke back too much to get the nose up, but it's not nearly as bad as it used to be when I first started my landings.

 

[JasonCT]

Good show Ted!

Those first solo times are something -- don't have to be far or long but certainly special.

 

[etsisk]

Sounds like it's coming along! And that whole landing business... I've only got a few hundred under my belt, and they still surprise me every now and again ...


especially coming into r/w 32 at RDU. Dang.

 

[t0r0nad0]

Sounds great Ted. Here's something that Ric (colomtnflyer) told me the other day regarding pulling back on the yoke too hard in the flare - "Don't think of it so much as having to raise the nose, but rather having to lower the tail."

 

[Ted]

As one of my friends with 500 hours or so said to me: "If you become a landing expert, please teach me."

I'm still at the point where flying around and doing touch-and-gos is fun and exciting. Although by the time I hit 9 I was about done for the evening, so it was a good time to stop.

The next step will be doing the cross countries/solo cross countries. I have the plane Sunday afternoon and then again from the 24th through 27th, so I am hoping to get a lot of time in then. But I also need to have things planned out and approved with my instructor first to make the best use of that time.

Moving along!

 

[rottydaddy]

Here's something that Ric (colomtnflyer) told me the other day regarding pulling back on the yoke too hard in the flare - "Don't think of it so much as having to raise the nose, but rather having to lower the tail."

That's really good advice... and way to go, Ted! It sure is a big deal, for some reason, the first time you go from picking up the keys to putting them down again all by yourself... congrats!

 

[FlyPatchFly]

I remember my first unsupervised solo. Someone left the ILS turned on (though, at the time, I didn't know what this was). I was flying out of Spokane, WA (GEG), a class C airspace. Did the run-up, cleared for take-off. Head out on the centerline and full throttle. As I rotated out and climbed to about 200 feet, suddenly a VERY loud BEEP BEEP, BEEP BEEP starts blasting. Louder than anything I'd heard up to this point, even the stall warning. A blue light was flashing on the control panel and my heart rate had rapidly increased.

I turned my head around to see if I could make the runway and was about to call the CT when it suddenly stopped. My CFI had never gone over the ILS system, but I had used it on Microsoft Flight Sim. I figured out that that's what it was.

I continued on to the practice area, but wasn't really feeling that great. So, I did a steep turn once. Flew around a bit trying to relax and ended up heading back to the airport. As I came in on final, the light started going and BEEP BEEP started up again. This time I was a little more relaxed.

 

[FlyPatchFly]

The best advice I've recieved in this area is to look at the end of the runway and not right in front of the plane. Focus on the end and concentrate on slowing increasing the pitch angle as the plane descends. It should be kind of like the nose stays the same while the tail drops. It's not exactly like that, obviously (or you'd end up stalling very soon), but that's the feel you're looking for. An even pull on the yoke as the plane descends.

 

[KennyFlys]

My PPL flight training was out of the flying club at Navy Jax. During my first unsupervised solo, I went over to Herlong and did a few "crashes and dashes" and other maneuvers. But after that, I just spent an hour having fun, looking around and enjoying the flying.

I took it up as high as I could get to have a nice bird's view of Jacksonville to include JAX and Cecil Field, where I was stationed at the time. I got that little C-152 up to about 9,500 in the spring. Comng down was a different story. I had not been taught such things as "shock cooling."

I didn't have an issue but closing the throttle and pointing the nose down just might not be the wisest way to descend.

Last I looked, that same bird is alive and well, flying out of San Diego or somewhere in SoCal... a long way from Navy Jax (NIP)

 

[Ted]

By tomorrow it will have been a week and a half since I made an entry into my log book (bad Ted!), although on Monday I did get to fly right seat in the Navajo. Tomorrow and Sunday look to be great flying days, so I should get a good sum of time in there, both solo and dual received.