First solo baby!

Yep! You read it right…I went solo tonight! Here’s how it went down:

Got to the club at about quarter to five. Met up with Brad (my regular instructor) and Dave (the instructor I was going flying with today). I had to sign a bunch of stuff, to get the paperwork out of the way so I could eventually go solo. Yep, that’s right they didn’t tell me that I was going solo today.

Dave told me to go and get a plane and do my walk around, so I did. I got trusty old C-GXAM who had just recently been put back into service after getting a new battery. After the walk around I went back inside to get a transponder code from the guys in Montreal. The code they gave me was 0467, not that that is important, but I figured I’d write it down just for posterity.

Dave came out and jumped into the plane. He quizzed me a bit on emergency procedures and then we were off. Wind was rather light tonight, and a bit off runway heading. Take off went ok and I got myself into the circuit. Dave didn’t do much talking…it was kind of uncomfortable to be honest.

On my first approach I was super high so guess what? I had to overshoot. I was under the impression that I should hold a constant altitude while flying over the runway and then climb when I got to the end, but apparently that isn’t right. Climb as soon as you know you are going to overshoot and as soon as it is safe to do so.

The next time around I tried chatting with Dave a bit, but he wasn’t too talkative. My next approach and landing went pretty good to which Dave said, “Lets see if you can do it again.”

On my next one I was coming in and it was looking like I was going to be a bit longer than I wanted to be. Rather than drop down some flaps to steepen my approach I decided to just ride it out. Not really a good idea. Touched down and immediately went to full power and pulled back up. I commented that I probably should have thrown down some flaps to which Dave replied, “Well then why didn’t you?!” It was kind of harsh, but it was a damn good question.

On my next circuit Dave told me that he would work the radio on downwind. No problem, I figured a forced approach was on the bill. I was right. A little past mid-downwind he pulled the engine on me and told me to do what I needed to do to land the plane. Turns out the approach I opted to take to the runway put me rather high. This time I didn’t screw up, I threw down 20 degrees of flaps and brought it in for a decent landing.

Once on the ground Dave told me that this was going to be a full stop and to get off the runway. I was thinking, “Great, looks like it’s gonna be a while before I get to go solo,” as I pulled off the runway onto the taxiway. Dave told me to radio ground and get clearance to taxi back to the club. On our way back he looks at me and says, “So, do you want to go solo tonight?”

“You betcha!” was my response. So…we headed back to the club, I dropped him off and away I went. I had to contact clearance again and then go and do my run-up once again. After the run-up I got stuck behind a Katana from the club next door. It was just bad timing or something. There was a lot of traffic for the controller to keep track of and when the Katana called for take off clearance he was told he’d have to wait a while.

We waited, and waited, and waited some more. There were a bunch of times I was hoping the guy in the Katana would call up the tower to remind them he was waiting…but alas, it was not to be. About 20 minutes later the tower remembered that this guy was waiting and gave him clearance to take off. I was right behind him, jumped on the radio to make sure they knew I was there and wanted to take off. No delay for me, they told me to taxi to position and wait for clearance. A minute later I got clearance and away I went…down the runway, all by myself.

The plane was considerably lighter with only one pilot in it and it seemed to climb a little better. Turned onto downwind and gave a call to the tower to let them know. Then I nearly forgot to do my downwind checks, oops. :O Eventually it was time to turn onto the base leg and get set up for my approach. Had a little chat with the tower guy when he incorrectly thought the guy in front of me was only doing one circuit…I figured I’d let him know it was me. :)

Came in on final ok. I think I was a bit off to the left (as usual) but got it all straightened out. The landing wasn’t picture perfect by any means but it wasn’t even close to my worst one either so I was happy with that. Rolled off the runway onto the taxiway and then called ground to get clearance to taxi back to the club. Wow! What a feeling!

Got back to the club and Brad and Dave were waiting outside for me. After I shut the plane down Brad got a pic of me for my ‘first solo’ picture. Chatted it up with the two of them for a while. Dave told me the reason he wasn’t talking to me was because he wanted to make sure I could do everything on my own. We headed back towards the door to the building and Brad got me to turn around near the door so he could take another picture. I thought it was a strange place for a picture but hey…who was I to argue.

Then I turned around to open the door to go inside, but I stepped off to the side to let Brad and Dave go first. Next thing I know there is a wall of water coming out of the door. It’s a good thing I had stepped off to the side to let the boys in or else I would have been soaked! Turns out…that was the plan. Apparently it’s a tradition that after your first solo you get soaked. And…they tell me that since they didn’t get me tonight, that I’m free game for the rest of my training. Great!

Anyways…I drove home with a big smile on my face tonight. My next booking is on Sunday and I get to keep flying the circuit. The procedure will be that Brad goes up with me at first, to make sure I’m feeling ok that day, then I land, drop him off and go back up on my own for the rest of the booking. I need 4 hours of solo circuit time. I think that will go by quickly.

Fantastic day today!