Solo is done...finally!!

M

michelle

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Jun 11, 2008
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14
Location
Austin, TX
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Display name:
michelle
:blueplane:

First lesson was on June 19th...since getting started in June, I had logged right at 25 hours, including a few hours in a different craft. Since then, I had also accumulated approximately 55 take-offs and landings in Austin and the surrounding areas.

The elements worked against me a few times and there were the fun morning of going out to find a dead battery and also the day I went out to find the left brake having puked all over the ground.

There had been a possibility of doing it yesterday, but the winds were a little gustier than the FI felt comfortable with so the solo was put off until this morning...

After the first couple of touch-n-go's, I saw him reach to the bag in the back to start on the endorsement and then we did a full stop at 50R so he could get out and cut me loose. Two touch-n-go's later, I decided to full stop the third landing...I was a little ****ed at myself since I knew the third was the ugliest of them all (caught a gust right before I touched down) and I knew I had performed better in worse conditions.

Collected myself and taxied back around and shut the plane down...got out and had a drink and then we ultimately headed back to AUS. Shirt-tail was not physically cut (a good thing since I had not remembered about that little practice when I put on a shirt this AM that cannot be replaced).

Most of the work has been in a Diamond DA-20, with a little bit of time in a DA-40...quite a different feeling without the extra 200 pounds of instructor/passenger in the right seat ;)
 
Congratulations Michelle! Sounds like you did a good job. :yes: Did anyone take a picture of you and your airplane when you soloed?
 
Good deal Michelle. Don't be too hard on yourself over that last landing. As you said the plane is a lot different without that 200lbs in the right seat, and it takes some getting used to especially in regards to your approach and landing speeds (think along the lines that you can reduce 5kts from each) and in gusty conditions, heck, sometimes you just plain can't make a pretty landing, you just have to stick it to the ground best you can.
 
michelle said:
:blueplane:

I was a little ****ed at myself since I knew the third was the ugliest of them all (caught a gust right before I touched down) and I knew I had performed better in worse conditions.
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I'm sure your instructor remembered as well, and believe me, if you think that's the last time the wind will spoil a well-established landing, you are mistaken!! :D

Congrats!!:cheerswine:
 
Congrats Michelle! BTW, I had an ugly landing on my first solo that I decided to turn into a go-around, so I got four trips around the pattern instead of three. :D
 
thnx all...

in no particular order:
- don't think there were any pics taken. I know I didn't have a camera (other than the cell phone and I didn't think to take a pic of the empty seat) and I don't think the instructor did either. Did get the 'congrats' comments from the two people working the FBO at 50R.

- hadn't really spent much time on the 99's site since the last time I had looked at the regional site, it hadn't been updated in a while.

- yeah, I know the wind will mess up future approaches. I just know I could have done better under the circumstances. But then again, I also can have a tendency to make some perfectionists look like slackers ;)

- and I've had my share of go-arounds...if anything, I have shown a tendency to make use of them in situations where I probably could have made a relatively decent landing but would have had to do a full-stop instead of the radio'ed touch-n-go. Interestingly enough, my biggest problems have been on a straight-in approach where I didn't have to deal with a downwind or base component, and it had seemed like those ought to be the easiest landings to get down.
 
michelle said:
- hadn't really spent much time on the 99's site since the last time I had looked at the regional site, it hadn't been updated in a while.
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They're not always that great at updating their sites; they're more of an "in-person" sort of group.
michelle said:
- and I've had my share of go-arounds...if anything, I have shown a tendency to make use of them in situations where I probably could have made a relatively decent landing but would have had to do a full-stop instead of the radio'ed touch-n-go. Interestingly enough, my biggest problems have been on a straight-in approach where I didn't have to deal with a downwind or base component, and it had seemed like those ought to be the easiest landings to get down.
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Never be afraid to do a go-around, and start it when you FIRST think you might need it, not after you've already eaten up half the runway and still haven't touched down. Too many people try to save a bad landing or wait to see how it's going to turn out. The NTSB reports are replete with accidents caused by pilots initiating the go-around too late! It's not surprising that the straight-in is harder at this point. It goes back to what we learn first being the best ingrained in our minds. You were taught the pattern first, and with good reason. After a while you'll get so that you can translate the sight picture you would expect to see downwind to base to what you'll see on a long final, but it'll take time.
 
Good job on soloing, pilot.

As Tony B sez, on to the cross-country and night work. It's amazing how much landings improve after the night arrivals.
 
Great job, Michelle! First solos are great fun.

Don't worry, any issues will be resolved with further practice. Remember that you're in the very beginning stages of learning something that you will spend the rest of your life attempting to perfect. Nobody expects you to be perfect right now.

Time to keep on flying! Go pass that check ride! :)
 
Great job, Michelle! Are you based out of 50R? If so, I strongly recommed going to Brenham (11R) for one of your X-C flights, it's 70.1nm so it qualifies. Go grab lunch, enjoy getting a taste (literally and figuratively) of what that future ticket will allow you to do. Also, the EAA Chapter at La Grange (3T5) has a fly-in BBQ the first Saturday of each month. Only 37.7nm from 50R, so not a x-c, but still good food and a good place to drool over airplanes for an hour or two on a Saturday.

Keep us posted on the rest of your training!
 
t0r0nad0 said:
Great job, Michelle! Are you based out of 50R?
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No, flying out of AUS but doing some landing work at 50R.

If so, I strongly recommed going to Brenham (11R) for one of your X-C flights, it's 70.1nm so it qualifies. Go grab lunch, enjoy getting a taste (literally and figuratively) of what that future ticket will allow you to do. Also, the EAA Chapter at La Grange (3T5) has a fly-in BBQ the first Saturday of each month. Only 37.7nm from 50R, so not a x-c, but still good food and a good place to drool over airplanes for an hour or two on a Saturday.

Keep us posted on the rest of your training!
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We mapped out Llano for a XC...my comment to the instructor (who is not a native Texan) is that we needed to make some BBQ runs.
 
GREAT JOB!
And after you hit LLANO, head north a bit to SEP (Stephenville, TX)
I have yet to make it down to Llano, but I frequent Stephenville! It's a great place to take pax! FREE BEER! NO JOKE!

But i've also been to Brenham, and it's great too! The food is good, yes, and the view is great (Runway view).... But if you want AMAZING BBQ! SEP (and from what i hear, Llano) is the place to go!
 
Yes, I need to make it to SEP some day. It's a pretty long flight from SGR - 202.6nm. That's pretty much a $500 BBQ run - not quite in the budget at this point in time.

Texas POAer's, I'm supposed to head to Brenham with a friend of mine some time soon. I'll post when just in case anyone's up for a lil' ol' Texas git' t'gether.
 
Congrats on the solo!

I was in SAT helping my sister move on 8/10, then we flew out of CVB back up here to Iowa on Monday. It was a gorgeous day on Sunday! A little warm, but at least it's a 'dry' heat. ;)

We're looking at moving to the AUS area next winter sometime so maybe we'll see you in the sky sometime!
 
Congratulations, Michelle - sounds like you did a great job. Yeah, the plane handles differently without the 200 lbs of instructor, so that can mess you up the first time. And the second. Pretty soon you realize that no matter how many hours you have, you can still mess up a landing for any reason, or for no reason at all! That's good to know, so you can realize you can just stop worrying about it! :D
 
CJones said:
Congrats on the solo!

I was in SAT helping my sister move on 8/10, then we flew out of CVB back up here to Iowa on Monday. It was a gorgeous day on Sunday! A little warm, but at least it's a 'dry' heat. ;)

We're looking at moving to the AUS area next winter sometime so maybe we'll see you in the sky sometime!
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An Iowa boy in Austin??? That's a hoot! :D

I've been here two weeks and still not sure how well I fit into this town. :)
 
KennyFlys said:
An Iowa boy in Austin??? That's a hoot! :D

I've been here two weeks and still not sure how well I fit into this town. :)
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Yep. That's the plan right now at least. My wife can really sing, so why not move to the live music capital of the world. ;) Get her started in a small band and soon enough I'll just be working as the pilot of her new Gulfstream. :)

It all depends on job availability of course.

Oh.. And by the way -- I am NOT an Iowa boy. I am an Alabama boy that has been stuck in Iowa for the past 8 years. ;)
 
CJones said:
Yep. That's the plan right now at least. My wife can really sing, so why not move to the live music capital of the world. ;) Get her started in a small band and soon enough I'll just be working as the pilot of her new Gulfstream. :)

It all depends on job availability of course.

Oh.. And by the way -- I am NOT an Iowa boy. I am an Alabama boy that has been stuck in Iowa for the past 8 years. ;)
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Alabama, eh? The story gets better... :D
 
CJones said:
They still haven't found the body of the last guy that made fun of Alabama around me... ;)
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I have a student this week just spending some money to have fun and learn a bit while here before returning to South Korea next week. He's a contract ship inspector for new construction at a shipyard. I figure he REALLY fits in there. He proudly admits to growing up and Alabama and being a true redneck. :)
 
michelle said:
No, flying out of AUS but doing some landing work at 50R.
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We did that today.

We mapped out Llano for a XC...my comment to the instructor (who is not a native Texan) is that we needed to make some BBQ runs.
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THIS is planned for Friday. :D

But, tomorrow... we're going to Sulpher Springs for him to visit the Cub Factory.
 
Congrats on the solo Michelle, I look forward to soloing myself. Funny I live in Austin and learn to fly in Springfield MO, go figure. An formation texas BBQ run would be fun.

-Stephen
 
mavrick said:
Congrats on the solo Michelle, I look forward to soloing myself. Funny I live in Austin and learn to fly in Springfield MO, go figure. An formation texas BBQ run would be fun.

-Stephen
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Stephen, Welcome to the board!

Where ya flying out of in Austin, now? I'd love to see a group together for a BBQ run.

Today, my student in town for the week wanted to go up to Texas Air and visit the American Legend factory. That was a pretty good trip. I'll post the pictures of it this weekend. They do a sweet job on building those Cub types.
 
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