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Tropical fairy

Tropical fairy

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Tropical theory CMEL
Mine Ford Island… my instructor was an ag pilot he thought it was funny not to tell me it was my first solo day. Landed on Ford Island he got out of the plane and waved his hand “go “ Experience the first instructor could set the tone for The rest of Gen or Carrier aviation. Thank you Mike Helms! Aloha forever grateful for your brave creative perspectives .
 

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Mike Helms was last reported living in Hilo, also a gifted carpenter
 
Does a bounce on the fast-taxi test followed by a flight Orville and Wilbur would have been proud of on Dec 13, 1903 count?
 
Beautiful late June day. Cessna 152. Harvey Field, WA (S43). 2700' x 35' runway.

Did 4 cycles with my instructor, Chong, and one go-around. After I executed the go-around, he asked why we went around. I said I thought we were getting pretty long down the runway. He said, although we were long, we were not too long, and it was one of my better set ups.

After the 4th cycle we taxiied off the runway. He got out and headed up to
the office to watch and be near the radio. The plane seemed awfully empty. Taxiied to runway 32 and took position. I was more nervous than I had thought I would be.

Punched the throttle and executed a good takeoff. Interestingly, the plane took off about 200 feet sooner than it did with Chong. His 160 pounds made a noticable difference in the handling of the tiny plane.

All three of my patterns and approaches were good. First landing was bad--rolled out late, too abrupt flare, ballooned and bounced. Terrible. Embarrassing. Second landing was worse! Bounced, got right on the runway, then corrected to the left and got the nose to the left and landed with a side load. Again, embarrassing.

The third one was okay--a bit late in the roll out and hence little flare, but it wasn't a hard landing, a bit of a balloon, but slight, well-centered. I had more or less redeemed myself.

Adrenaline makes you stupid. I was literally vibrating.

When I pulled it in to park, my brain wasn't working up to par, and for some reason I decided to shut down and push it backwards into the parking space--something we had never done before.

Adrenaline can make you stupid.

My instructor, Chong, came out and asked where I was going to park it. Basically, in his polite way he was asking, "What the feck are you doing?" The space I had planned to park was a 172 space and there were two free 152 spaces right in front of me. I hopped back into the plane to start it and taxi. I have NO idea what I was thinking, and Chong said, let's just push it.

Chong and I posed in a handshake along side the tail number, but the camera didn't work, so no picture. I didn't think to bring a camera.

During my first solo taxi, as I was turning base on the first cycle, I thought about my father, who had fallen off a ladder and died two years earlier. After that I didn't think about anything except flying the plane.

It was not an auspicious start.
 
9/23, felt ready, no joy.
9/26, I felt ready, no joy
9/27/1969, I felt ready, we made one T&L, on the taxi back Ozzie told me to stop, and let him out, time to solo. Stop again after the landing for a debrief. :)

The takeoff went smoothly, the 9 year old Cessna 150 was happy to be relieved of 160 pounds on the climb out, and around the pattern, routine.

On final, 40 degrees flaps, 15 above stall (Our standard for the old College Park MD, CGS, with the shorter runway and actual 50 foot trees at that end), a helicopter made an autorotation landing 200 feet down the runway, and just off the side, on the grass.:crazy:

Full throttle, carb heat in, flaps 20, major trim change to balance forces on yoke and max rate of climb airspeed, flaps 10, then 0. Trim elevator to neutral again, and fly the pattern.

This time on final, all was routine, stalled onto the runway from about 2 feet up, and returned to Ozzie, on the taxiway.

"Why did you not complete the first landing?"

I did not know whether he would stay until I landed, or take off and leave a lot of rotor wash, maybe even drift over in front of me, so I just redid the whole thing.

"Keep thinking like that, and you are going to avoid a lot of danger, do some more circuits, and meet me at the tiedown"

At the tiedown, I asked why he had not let me solo earlier, and he explained that the gust factor was just a little more than he released first solo flights .

For those not familiar with the 1960 C 150, it had manual flaps, and changes could be made rapidly. Control force change with large power changes were large, and without major trim adjustments, could be overwhelming. Airspeed control could be a challenge during those changes, but Ozzie called go arounds frequently, and I was in a normal mode in responding.

I still prefer manual flaps.
 
asicer said:
That's pretty much my goal for every flight that doesn't involve sightseeing.
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I remember a lot of my flights but for some reason, while people tend to remember their first solo, I have literally no memory of it.
Another one that has an interesting gap - I was recently asked for how many hours I had in a 182. So I pulled them up in my logbook and found one that was interesting - I did a business trip in a fairly new Turbo 182T with a G1000 panel. I distinctly remember the trip and I'm not at all surprised it was in a 182, but I don't remember flying a 182 with a G1000 panel.
 
Domenick said:
Beautiful late June day. Cessna 152. Harvey Field, WA (S43). 2700' x 35' runway.

Did 4 cycles with my instructor, Chong, and one go-around. After I executed the go-around, he asked why we went around. I said I thought we were getting pretty long down the runway. He said, although we were long, we were not too long, and it was one of my better set ups.

After the 4th cycle we taxiied off the runway. He got out and headed up to
the office to watch and be near the radio. The plane seemed awfully empty. Taxiied to runway 32 and took position. I was more nervous than I had thought I would be.

Punched the throttle and executed a good takeoff. Interestingly, the plane took off about 200 feet sooner than it did with Chong. His 160 pounds made a noticable difference in the handling of the tiny plane.

All three of my patterns and approaches were good. First landing was bad--rolled out late, too abrupt flare, ballooned and bounced. Terrible. Embarrassing. Second landing was worse! Bounced, got right on the runway, then corrected to the left and got the nose to the left and landed with a side load. Again, embarrassing.

The third one was okay--a bit late in the roll out and hence little flare, but it wasn't a hard landing, a bit of a balloon, but slight, well-centered. I had more or less redeemed myself.

Adrenaline makes you stupid. I was literally vibrating.

When I pulled it in to park, my brain wasn't working up to par, and for some reason I decided to shut down and push it backwards into the parking space--something we had never done before.

Adrenaline can make you stupid.

My instructor, Chong, came out and asked where I was going to park it. Basically, in his polite way he was asking, "What the feck are you doing?" The space I had planned to park was a 172 space and there were two free 152 spaces right in front of me. I hopped back into the plane to start it and taxi. I have NO idea what I was thinking, and Chong said, let's just push it.

Chong and I posed in a handshake along side the tail number, but the camera didn't work, so no picture. I didn't think to bring a camera.

During my first solo taxi, as I was turning base on the first cycle, I thought about my father, who had fallen off a ladder and died two years earlier. After that I didn't think about anything except flying the plane.

It was not an auspicious start.
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Thank you ~hot in passenger seat reading your story. They never tell us it’s going to fly different when they get out.
 
Was flying with a CFI for the first time. My regular one couldn’t make it that day for some reason. This guy was around and available. Left North Island KNZY for the practice area, then to Brown Field KSDM to bounce (t&g’s). Did a couple, then he says taxi over to the base of the Tower. Did that, he says bounce twice, land and come pick me up. After the first one on 26R the tower changed me to left traffic for the Left. The CFI said he couldn’t believe they did that. Didn’t make any difference to me. My regular CFI was ****ed that he soloed me.
 
I am often accused of having an excited pulse rate of 9bpm. I just don't get excited.

But that day after the 3rd landing I almost, well, I did forget to pick up my instructor.

If the tower had not have told me to stop I would have left her out in the middle of the airport.

I think I may have gotten excited to fly by myself. I did look into the rear of the plane to see if I was really alone...
 
My CFI, Ben, had given me a 'heads up' that solo day would be our next scheduled day to fly. I had asked for a heads up so my wife could be present to watch. The day arrived, Ben and I went up and did a few touch n goes at the field, taxied back to the FBO where he climbed out and sent me on my way. He and my wife then watched me fulfill a lifelong dream at age 62 as I completed 3-T&G's at KARR. After landing Ben cut the back off of my T-shirt and wrote my name, 'First Solo' and the date on it. I had that framed along with a photo of Ben and I by the plane. Along with our wedding day and my retirement day my 'first solo' day is a memory I will always cherish.
 
I knew solo was getting closer, but didn’t know it was going to be that day. I had 10.5 hours. That afternoon, we did three or four times around the pattern in the Tomahawk, and then my CFI had us pull off the taxiway onto a part of the ramp. He was filling out some stuff in my logbook, opened his door, said “okay! Do three times around to a full stop and remember that it’ll climb better without me in here”.

It actually was a non-event soloing for the first time. I didn’t feel nervous, elated, or anything other than normal.

After putting the plane away I did feel some elation, but it was really not much more than another training event along the way. Passing checkrides was much more significant.
 
I was 17. It was mid February in Maine. It had snowed last night. The J-3 now wore skis. I had not yet been checked out on skis. Learned fast. Discovered that if, when taxiing down wind for t.o. with a cross wind do not put your tail into the X-wind while lining up for T.O. Nose into it. The old girl did 90 degrees of taxi-turn and continued headed for the ditch. Clyde, the CFI got out in the 2 ft snow and dragged the tail around and said " Last time that I'll drag your tail around for you. Next time you do it."

One more T.O. and he got out and said to do three t.o.s "then pick me up."

Had to do some fast nose down trimming with no Clyde up front. All and all it was just like my previous 7.2 hrs. No shirt tail ceremony. BTW, Clyde had spent WW2 instructing in Stearmans for Embry Riddle. Primary for UK students who would later go into Hellcats and Corsairs. I have always been lucky with CFIs from student up to ATP.
 
May 8 2012. We'd done three or four circuits in the Cherokee 140 when my CFI asked for my logbook, scribbled in it, and got out. Told me to do three more circuits with full stop and taxi back. As soon as I took off I was struck by just how weird it felt to have an empty seat next to me, and the climb rate was better. That was followed almost immediately by that feeling of "Oh, cr@p, what have I just gotten myself into?" that I'd felt a few times before and have felt a few times since.

I think there is a digital picture somewhere, but the best one was a Polaroid that was pinned up with the rest of the first-solo and new-pilot pictures in the FBO. I asked for it later on but no one knew what happened to it, so I'm sure it's in a landfill.
 
I was 16 with 8 hours, it was at a tower field (wasn't called class D then). No advance warning. Did a few touch and goes, then the instructor took the mike and talked to the tower, no headsets back then, either, so I didn't hear what he said. Tower cleared me for a "stop and go", huh? Instructor said to stop on the runway, got out, "do three more landings and pick me up". He waited by the side of the runway to watch. No fear of course, I was 16. The main thing I remember was laughing out loud and slapping the empty seat next to me.

Second and third solos were the same drill, except on one of them the tower advised of a no-radio biplane departing from the cross runway, I was so interested in watching it that I got distracted and only did 2 landings instead of three before stopping to pick up my instructor.
 
My favorite of many 1st solo stories involves a student I was teaching. The airplane was based at a mid-size airport with a tower and TRACON, and to avoid traffic at that busy airport we typically did pattern work at a desolate, nearly-abandoned municipal field about 10nm away. This particular student was of a sort that CFIs tend to like: always prepared, always punctual, always engaged, always enthusiastic. After several well-executed circuits at the lonely little strip, we taxied to the ramp and shut down. Surprise, kid: I'm kicking you out of the nest! I ceremoniously produced a pen and blessed the proceedings, briefed him to make three landings (full-stop at his discretion) and return to the ramp, and added a few reminders about what to do if things didn't go as expected. Then it was all thumbs-up and off he went. Taxi, takeoff, climb, all normal. Turned downwind at the right spot. And then just when I was feeling pretty good about his prospects, he turned 45 degrees away from the airport and disappeared into the bright afternoon haze, the drone of the little O-200 fading until lost in the hush of the breeze. Unbelieving, I stared at the empty sky as if to will the Cessna back into the pattern. Minutes passed. Uneasiness, and a tinge of panic rose. I realized that I had no way to contact the aircraft directly--this was before handhelds were a thing and the only radios on the unattended airport were locked inside rusting hangars. But there was a pay phone. I found a faded phone number for the local TRACON (how IFR clearances were obtained) taped to the phone, plugged a quarter into the slot, and dialed the facility. "Uh, say, you wouldn't happen to be working a Cessna, Nxxxxx, would you?" "Just a minute...[sound of voices in the background]...yeah, we handed him off to local. I'll patch you upstairs." Several long seconds elapse, then, "Local, Greg." "Yeah, you, uh, you are working Cessna Nxxxxx?" "Why, yes we are. Are you the instructor?" Sudden dread came over me and my throat clenched like a fist. I swallowed hard and managed a "yeah," bracing for bad news. "Well he's in the pattern doing touch and goes. He said this is his first solo, which kind of surprised us, but he's on his second approach and doing a great job so far." The dread dissolved into a momentary shudder of elation. "Ok, good to know Greg, thanks." And then a thought occurred, "Please remind him that his instructor's gonna need a lift." Soon, the faint music of a lone O-200 signaled the return of my wayward student. A tiny smudge of blue and white in the distant west came into focus, grew wings, entered the pattern, and touched-down on the sun-bleached runway, easily making the midfield taxiway to the ramp, coming to a halt right where I had stepped out of it an hour or so earlier. The engine muttered to a stop and the beacon went dark. "So," I asked, "How did it go?" A brief pause, as if for dramatic effect, and then, "It was pretty great, I think," and he then filled me in with a brief description and self-critique of his little adventure. "Okay, nice job. Uh, if you don't mind me asking, why did you go to [name of other airport] instead of just doing your touch and goes here?" Another pause, and he, musing, as if the question made no sense to him at all, replied, "Well, I just kinda figured it would be safer, you know? What with the longer runways and the control tower and all that." I fell silent, marveling at his unpredictable, unconventional brilliance. A half hour before I had been ready to beat him with a sock full of nickels and suddenly I wanted to give the guy a hug, or at least buy him a beer. It was my own fault of course: nothing goes without saying.

I don't know whatever happened to that guy, but I'll never forget HIS first solo.
 
Pre solo checkout with a more senior instructor in 25 gusts. Fun times for a student just 15 hours or so in.

Then a wait for weather and finally after some weeks it looks “good enough”. He went up with me and we did three circuits first where we realize the ceilings were maybe lower than the atis says. We went through a few wisps. He said we’ll ask tower for left circuits instead it looks better on that side.

Sent me off, had to descend a bit halfway through downwind cause them clouds looked bit close. Uneventful otherwise and landed after one go cause clouds and all that.

Got the plane back in the hangar maybe 30 minutes after I landed? Was doing debrief and writing up the logs and such when instructor asks what’s that noise? Open the people door to peak and it was hailing. Just missed an eventful solo by a bit.

In hindsight maybe not the best day to have gone. There was zero other planes flying at a field that normally on a good day you could wait 10-20 minutes easily for takeoff cause the swarm of school planes doing circuits and such. However, easier to do it all on my own instead of looking for traffic and waiting to get in a call with the pattern full on a nice day.
 
Roger Wilco said:
My favorite of many 1st solo stories involves a student I was teaching. The airplane was based at a mid-size airport with a tower and TRACON, and to avoid traffic at that busy airport we typically did pattern work at a desolate, nearly-abandoned municipal field about 10nm away. This particular student was of a sort that CFIs tend to like: always prepared, always punctual, always engaged, always enthusiastic. After several well-executed circuits at the lonely little strip, we taxied to the ramp and shut down. Surprise, kid: I'm kicking you out of the nest! I ceremoniously produced a pen and blessed the proceedings, briefed him to make three landings (full-stop at his discretion) and return to the ramp, and added a few reminders about what to do if things didn't go as expected. Then it was all thumbs-up and off he went. Taxi, takeoff, climb, all normal. Turned downwind at the right spot. And then just when I was feeling pretty good about his prospects, he turned 45 degrees away from the airport and disappeared into the bright afternoon haze, the drone of the little O-200 fading until lost in the hush of the breeze. Unbelieving, I stared at the empty sky as if to will the Cessna back into the pattern. Minutes passed. Uneasiness, and a tinge of panic rose. I realized that I had no way to contact the aircraft directly--this was before handhelds were a thing and the only radios on the unattended airport were locked inside rusting hangars. But there was a pay phone. I found a faded phone number for the local TRACON (how IFR clearances were obtained) taped to the phone, plugged a quarter into the slot, and dialed the facility. "Uh, say, you wouldn't happen to be working a Cessna, Nxxxxx, would you?" "Just a minute...[sound of voices in the background]...yeah, we handed him off to local. I'll patch you upstairs." Several long seconds elapse, then, "Local, Greg." "Yeah, you, uh, you are working Cessna Nxxxxx?" "Why, yes we are. Are you the instructor?" Sudden dread came over me and my throat clenched like a fist. I swallowed hard and managed a "yeah," bracing for bad news. "Well he's in the pattern doing touch and goes. He said this is his first solo, which kind of surprised us, but he's on his second approach and doing a great job so far." The dread dissolved into a momentary shudder of elation. "Ok, good to know Greg, thanks." And then a thought occurred, "Please remind him that his instructor's gonna need a lift." Soon, the faint music of a lone O-200 signaled the return of my wayward student. A tiny smudge of blue and white in the distant west came into focus, grew wings, entered the pattern, and touched-down on the sun-bleached runway, easily making the midfield taxiway to the ramp, coming to a halt right where I had stepped out of it an hour or so earlier. The engine muttered to a stop and the beacon went dark. "So," I asked, "How did it go?" A brief pause, as if for dramatic effect, and then, "It was pretty great, I think," and he then filled me in with a brief description and self-critique of his little adventure. "Okay, nice job. Uh, if you don't mind me asking, why did you go to [name of other airport] instead of just doing your touch and goes here?" Another pause, and he, musing, as if the question made no sense to him at all, replied, "Well, I just kinda figured it would be safer, you know? What with the longer runways and the control tower and all that." I fell silent, marveling at his unpredictable, unconventional brilliance. A half hour before I had been ready to beat him with a sock full of nickels and suddenly I wanted to give the guy a hug, or at least buy him a beer. It was my own fault of course: nothing goes without saying.

I don't know whatever happened to that guy, but I'll never forget HIS first solo.
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Not MY first solo story...that's elsewhere in this thread. No, this is a first solo story of a student at the same FBO as I. I heard this story from the Chief Pilot.

The day started as described in the above thread...a few curcuits around the Class D field, a full stop landing, the instructor hopped out, the student taxied to the runup area on the far corner of ramp, then taxied to the active and launched all the while his radio work was being monitored on a handheld radio by instructor. Upwind, crosswind and downwind legs all looked normal but, like the above story, the student failed to turn base and instead flew off out of site. He failed to answer radio calls so the instructor called the tower that had a slaved radar from the nearby Class B. The student was squaking 1200 but the tower controller did see a target heading west from the field. Attempts by tge tower to communicate with the student went unanswered.

About 20-min later the FBO gets a phone call from the student. Seems he wanted to do a soft field landing....something he had not learned how to do...on his solo and flew about 10-minutes to a grass strip where, unfortunately, his landing was, umm, unsuccessful. The plane ended up being a total loss but the Junior Birdman was bent and bruised but nothing broken. Needless to say he failed his solo and his instruction came to a screeching halt. Not sure what legal or insurance issues the student had to deal with but I'm sure there were some.

About a week before my solo a different student panicked on her solo and had to be talked down by her instructor.
 
November 3 1990, Petersburg Virginia, N94183
Memory is sadly fuzzy now about a lot of it. I know my instructor, a big dutch guy that got me a little past solo before moving on to airlines or some such thing....

anyway he was a good guy and a good instructor. We did a dual from JGG over to PTB, prob did some air work and touch and goes. He recorded x-wind landings, go around, and sim engine failure in my logbook.

1.9 hours total flight, with 0.3 of that solo. 10 total landings recorded.

I remember it being an overcast gloomy day, and cold....but I could of course have that all wrong, confusing it with some other training flights there.
Anyway, at one point he directed me to full stop and taxi back. Got out on the taxiway near the runup area as I recall with a handheld. Looking on Google maps today for reference, it was runway 23

And like everyone else that solos, especially in 150's and 152's.... the plane climbed lake a homesick angle! Did I mention that Onna (spelling?) was a big guy? I was around about 165# at the time and thinking back on it we were probably at or over gross many flights when the tanks were full.

I remember being hyper-focused on the landmarks to keep my pattern at the right distances. I remember a junkyard under the downwind I think it was, but don't remember much else.

Oh, I do recall resisting the cutting of the shirt tail. I wasn't familiar with the tradition and I guess I just figured things like that were things they did to folks "against their will" as sort of a hazing...so I didn't just stand there and let him do it...so he didn't. I do in a way wish I'd have known about the tradition before hand
 
Brad W said:
I do recall resisting the cutting of the shirt tail. I wasn't familiar with the tradition and I guess I just figured things like that were things they did to folks "against their will" as sort of a hazing...so I didn't just stand there and let him do it...so he didn't. I do in a way wish I'd have known about the tradition before hand
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It seemed rather presumptuous to trim my own shirt.
 
I don't remember too many details, but I do recall thinking that the Tomahawk was climbing like a rocket on that first solo take off.:lol:
 
My first solo was spring 1979. I lost my first logbook, so not sure the exact date.

I had flown some with CAP a number of years before, but did not solo. I was in my senior year of college and decided I wanted to try for USAF pilot training. I figured some flying would help. So I found a place that was a reasonable distance and flew Grumman Tigers. I wanted a bit more demanding a plane than a Cessna or Cherokee.

I had been flying there a bit and wondering why I had not soloed. The FBO was undergoing a change and the instructor was looking for another job. Looking back, he just didn't want to sign anything.

He left and a new instructor showed up. Our first flight, he soloed me. It was uneventful. I do remember on downwind, I did reach over to the other seat to really confirm it was empty. :D

Funny thing is, I did get into USAF pilot training, but through the ANG, and after training, I ended up getting my CFI and working for my former instructor. He had purchased the FBO at that same field.

Fast forward about 40 years, and I am currently based at that same field. And about to get back into instructing, but not primary.
 
Early summer 2019 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. I lived there at the time but the flight school was based 30 miles east in Charlottetown. Instructor didn't tell me I would solo that day. He wanted to go to Summerside to practice touch 'n goes at a different airport than our usual one. After we did the first landing, he was like "hold on, let's make this a full stop, I see a buddy of mine on the ramp I want to say "hi" to real quick". I thought to myself what an a** - I'm paying for the plane and time lol. Little did I know, it was all coordinated with his "buddy" who was the airport manager there. I taxied to the ramp, he opens the door and says "while I talk to my buddy, why don't you fly a pattern (well, he said 'circuit' as it's Canada lol) on your own?" I was like "hell yeah" and off I went.
 
midlifeflyer said:
I remember a lot of my flights but for some reason, while people tend to remember their first solo, I have literally no memory of it.
Another one that has an interesting gap - I was recently asked for how many hours I had in a 182. So I pulled them up in my logbook and found one that was interesting - I did a business trip in a fairly new Turbo 182T with a G1000 panel. I distinctly remember the trip and I'm not at all surprised it was in a 182, but I don't remember flying a 182 with a G1000 panel.
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I don’t remember mine either. I know the general circumstances: airplane, instructor, airport and my dad being there for the moment. I have posted about here but had to go look it up in my logbook to have any details. Interestingly I noted the conditions of the first solo quite well in the logbook. I guess seventeen year old me knew I would not remember twenty eight years later.
 
March 2019
Remos GX aircraft
Winds gusting 26kts. Rwy33 in use. MVFR. Cold as ****.
Flew with CFI in the AM the he asked me to solo. I went to eat lunch nearby. Came back and got in the plane.

Recorded one video for myself in the cockpit before I started the plane, mainly to put my thoughts into words and convince myself I've got this. I've never showed it to anyone, still.

Did run-up 2x. Announced "student pilot first solo". Took off. Laughed with joy in downwind that I'm actually flying myself. Had 1 dicey XW landing, the 2 others were good.

They cut the tail off my shirt. Handshakes were given.

Then I had to drive back to Chicago an hour away as fast as possible for a 1st date, which I couldn't have possibly felt more confident for. Won't forget it any time soon.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
I don’t remember mine either. I know the general circumstances: airplane, instructor, airport and my dad being there for the moment. I have posted about here but had to go look it up in my logbook to have any details. Interestingly I noted the conditions of the first solo quite well in the logbook. I guess seventeen year old me knew I would not remember twenty eight years later.
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The funny thing about me not remembering is that the lead up to it was very memorable.

My presolo landings were worthless. Among every error that exists, I may have come up with a a few new ones. I just could not line up. I don't mean on the centerline - I couldn't line up on the runway! There was a small building (probably for maintenance equipment) on the grass to the side of the paved runway and I'd invariably be pointed right at it.

We go on vacation. I come back to find my CFI had a blowout with management. "Oh no!" Now I'll never solo!"

My new CFI saw something I was doing my first CFI didn't catch and I soloed two lessons later.
 
geezer said:
9/23, felt ready, no joy.
9/26, I felt ready, no joy
9/27/1969, I felt ready, we made one T&L, on the taxi back Ozzie told me to stop, and let him out, time to solo. Stop again after the landing for a debrief. :)

The takeoff went smoothly, the 9 year old Cessna 150 was happy to be relieved of 160 pounds on the climb out, and around the pattern, routine.

On final, 40 degrees flaps, 15 above stall (Our standard for the old College Park MD, CGS, with the shorter runway and actual 50 foot trees at that end), a helicopter made an autorotation landing 200 feet down the runway, and just off the side, on the grass.:crazy:

Full throttle, carb heat in, flaps 20, major trim change to balance forces on yoke and max rate of climb airspeed, flaps 10, then 0. Trim elevator to neutral again, and fly the pattern.

This time on final, all was routine, stalled onto the runway from about 2 feet up, and returned to Ozzie, on the taxiway.

"Why did you not complete the first landing?"

I did not know whether he would stay until I landed, or take off and leave a lot of rotor wash, maybe even drift over in front of me, so I just redid the whole thing.

"Keep thinking like that, and you are going to avoid a lot of danger, do some more circuits, and meet me at the tiedown"

At the tiedown, I asked why he had not let me solo earlier, and he explained that the gust factor was just a little more than he released first solo flights .

For those not familiar with the 1960 C 150, it had manual flaps, and changes could be made rapidly. Control force change with large power changes were large, and without major trim adjustments, could be overwhelming. Airspeed control could be a challenge during those changes, but Ozzie called go arounds frequently, and I was in a normal mode in responding.

I still prefer manual flaps.
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My cfi told me he needed to go to Easton, so we left either college park or Lee (Annapolis,) get to Easton and boom, time to solo. On the way back I asked why he needed to go to Easton and he said longer runway. I was like Edith bunker finally getting it a minute after everyone else

Only thing I remember about the flight is being alone and wondering how that happened
 
Longer runway.............

The current College Park taxiways are wider than the than the Collège Park runway I landed on for my first solo, and Easton runway is twice as long, and more. Doing my first solo there would have been a weird trip, as I was trained to do full stall touchdowns, and estimate altitude and location by watching the runway edge. That would have put my left wheel 5 feet from the edge of a 50 foot wide runway. When I touched down and looked up, I would have done a big swerve to get to the centerline!

One of my solo cross countries, I landed at Easton, to become familiar with it, since that was where I expected to take my check ride. Since I had done my control tower landing at Friendship, renamed Baltimore Washington International, Thurgood Marshall airport, I had seen large runways by then.

How long ago did you do your solo?
 
Re-posting from another thread and adding details:

My first solo was in 1991, in a 172. I was euphoric on my first solo takeoff and apprehensive for my first solo landing. My thought on downwind was something like, "Uh oh, now I have to land this thing!" That first landing was terrible, to the point that I was surprised when my instructor let me continue, but I figured out what I was doing wrong, and the second landing was much better. The third landing was textbook. (I know this because my instructor was using my video camera to record the landings.)

The problem with the first landing was that I probably touched down too fast, and in response to the resulting big bounce, I was over-controlling in pitch, which led to a pilot-induced oscillation with a total of two bounces (i.e., three touch-downs from one landing attempt). Later, I mentioned to my instructor that I was surprised that he let me continue, but he claimed that he was distracted by trying to figure out my camera and didn't see it. (I think he was just trying to make me feel better, because his videography for all three landings was flawless.)

I never had a landing like that again.

I need to find that video and digitize it.
 
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