Solos

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  • Solos

    Originally posted by Richard Duxbury
    and first solo
    Dux, just thinkin' here - I'd always thought that you could ony "solo" once?

    best, randy

  • #2
    Originally posted by Randy Sohn View Post

    Dux, just thinkin' here - I'd always thought that you could ony "solo" once?

    best, randy
    At the little strip where I soloed, they had a first solo, second supervised solo and third supervised solo.... After that you could sign out a plane and fly in the pattern for another 7 hours, on to dual x-country next.

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    • #3
      There is a lot of solo flying.

      But only ONE FIRST solo.

      Other solos, even in different aircraft, are just solo flight.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Terry Carraway View Post
        There is a lot of solo flying.

        But only ONE FIRST solo.

        Other solos, even in different aircraft, are just solo flight.
        Oh, how right you are, Terry. Each pilot could probably talk for an hour about the emotions he encountered the FIRST time he flew ALONE in an airplane.

        During a lifetime, we'll encounter a lot of First's: first sex, first time in Dad's car without Dad, first time speaking before a group of hundreds, first military command, first day in high school, and on and on. But none of them will be as exciting, as thrilling, as awesome, as lasting, as the first time we actually fly an airplane, with no one else on board! That is a First only a very small percentage of humans will ever encounter and a First they will never forget.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Ward Miller View Post

          Oh, how right you are, Terry. Each pilot could probably talk for an hour about the emotions he encountered the FIRST time he flew ALONE in an airplane.

          During a lifetime, we'll encounter a lot of First's: first sex, first time in Dad's car without Dad, first time speaking before a group of hundreds, first military command, first day in high school, and on and on. But none of them will be as exciting, as thrilling, as awesome, as lasting, as the first time we actually fly an airplane, with no one else on board! That is a First only a very small percentage of humans will ever encounter and a First they will never forget.
          Ward -- I'm pretty sure that I'm off the charts of normal on this, but I don't have any firm or thrilling memory of my first solo. I remember going around on one approach to landing, the runway in use, and how well the 150 climbed, but nothing of any rush of emotion or any overwhelming feeling of accomplishment (although I'm sure I did feel accomplished but doing it). Maybe it's just that I was so scared for most of my primary training that this wasn't any different? ;-) Now some of the other things you mention as firsts .....

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Scott Dyer HPN/NY View Post

            Ward -- I'm pretty sure that I'm off the charts of normal on this, but I don't have any firm or thrilling memory of my first solo. I remember going around on one approach to landing, the runway in use, and how well the 150 climbed, but nothing of any rush of emotion or any overwhelming feeling of accomplishment (although I'm sure I did feel accomplished but doing it). Maybe it's just that I was so scared for most of my primary training that this wasn't any different? ;-) Now some of the other things you mention as firsts .....
            Same here. I remember it, but it was a bit anticlimactic. But I was ready to solo several flights before I actually did. My instructor just would not solo me. He left and a new guy came in, and soloed me immediately.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Scott Dyer HPN/NY View Post
              but I don't have any firm or thrilling memory of my first solo.
              Hi Scott,
              Nor do I. Perhaps too focused on the task at hand?
              (sure wish I hadn’t lost my first log book <likely buried in my father-in-laws attic>)

              Now some of the other things you mention as firsts .....
              First engine failure. Perhaps more prepared / accepting of subsequent ones. All memorable but never any bent airplanes.

              These engines hardly ever fail . . . till they do<ng>.

              Regards,
              Tom Charlton
              "The aeroplane has unveiled for us the true face of the earth." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Tom Charlton View Post
                First engine failure. Perhaps more prepared / accepting of subsequent ones. All memorable but never any bent airplanes.
                Tom - Yeah, the emergencies tend to stick with you....

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                • #9
                  I remember my first solo in helicopters at Ft. Wolters. I was first to solo in my class. I land, my IP and stick buddy get in. My stick buddy immediately wrecks the helicopter by overpowering the IP. My stick buddy is sent directly back to the Infantry and my IP didn't instruct any more. From that moment on I never had a stick buddy and never flew with the same IP for the next 9 months in flight school.

                  Grace and Peace,
                  I Earned my Spurs in Vietnam
                  48th AHC 1971-72

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                  • #10
                    I didn't have Bill's issues, but distinctly recall the instructor getting out of my military helo and me doing a solo pattern around the field. Looked really funny to see the controls moving on his side of the cockpit without him there. I had a great instructor. Former AF that flew F84s, mayor of a near-by small town and just a great fella. As we went out to the plane around dawn, one could envision him wrapping his silk scarf around his neck as he seated himself back in the day :-)

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Dave Siciliano View Post
                      Looked really funny to see the controls moving on his side of the cockpit without him there
                      Even better in a J-3 Cub, which is flown solo from the rear seat. Looks like an invisible pilot up front.

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                      • #12
                        Funny, I only have a vague memory of my first solo, but I can recall my first solo cross-country with great deal of detail and vividly recall the pride and relief when I departed the last turnpoint with the absolute certainty that I would find my way home.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Dave Siciliano View Post
                          I didn't have Bill's issues,
                          ROFL.

                          Grace and Peace,

                          I Earned my Spurs in Vietnam
                          48th AHC 1971-72

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                          • #14
                            I soloed from TOL. My instructor simply said "try not to hit the glideslope shack"!

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                            • #15
                              I had more than a dozen first solos, as the instructor, I was more nervous than my own solo.

                              Back to GWHB, I didn't realize he had flown 58 missions...

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