Solos

[Laura Herrmann]

I'll never forget my first solo! It was in a C152 at KFCM. Maybe the same one John flew.....N93564 which I affectionately called the PuttPutt. My instructor had asked me a few days earlier if I wanted him to get out so I could fly alone, and I said "no, thanks, not today". I don't know why, but the thought scared the beejezus out of me at that moment (probably because I'm not a natural pilot.....).

Then, on the Fourth of July he asked the same question, and I told him to yes, get his butt out of the plane! After I launched my first thought was "There's nobody in here with me" and then "Oh s**t, I have to land it now". I did three awesome laps in the pattern, even with the first landing being kind of a t**d (again, probably because I'm not a natural pilot.....). It was so much fun I almost didn't come back in. The Tower complimented me on my radio work and landings (confirming the well-known issues with parallax and the view from the KFCM Tower...). So, July 4, 2019 will mark the 19th anniversary of that flight - I've always loved the Fourth, and soloing that day makes it even more fun!

[Bill Bridges]

A different type of solo was when I made A/C in Vietnam and especially when I was flying guns. A new type of responsibility. I wish I could have said it was uneventful.

Grace and Peace,

[John O'Shaughnessy [FCM]]

I wanted to start a new thread about Solos, but it got tacked on to this one, but was not popping up as recent. So posting to it to bump it.

Odd - Maybe Mike can move it.

My first solos are much fewer and (I guess) equally not exciting. My very first solo was an early morning affair at Flying Cloud airport in a Cessna C152. It was a sunny, summer morning. Pretty calm air, as I recall. Like many, the two things I remember are that plane sure seemed bigger with no one sitting next to me, and it had more "get up and go" without the instructor.

My only other solo of note was in a glider. Also uneventful, but fun.

[Terry Carraway]

I wanted to start a new thread about Solos, but it got tacked on to this one, but was not popping up as recent. So posting to it to bump it.

[Ralph Jones]

I learned to fly in an Air Force aero club

I had bad experiences with two Aero Clubs: WPAFB in the 60's (as a 2Lt) and Buckley in the 80's (as a contractor). Both of them were pencil-whipping MX which led to me quitting the first, and the second being flat-out closed down by the base CO when the FAA raided it. But the T-34's were sure sweet when they were working...

[Terry Carraway]

The George HW Bush thread got a bit off track, so I thought I would start a new one just on the topic of solos.

By First Solo, I mean not just your very first one, but other category/class solos, or special types.

My first ever solo was a Grumman/Gulfstream AA-5B Tiger off a 2000 foot strip. It was a bit anticlimactic, as I had been ready to solo for several lessons, but my instructor was about to leave that school, and would not sign me off. The airport changed hands, and the new instructor soloed me the first flight with him. I do remember looking over at the seat beside me on downwind and getting a BIG grin seeing it EMPTY.

First jet solo was the T-37. Again, I had been ready to solo for several flights, but the USAF syllabus, you soloed when you got the ride that was to solo. I was the first in my class to solo. Did the mandatory 3 TO/landing with my instructor, then he had me taxi over to near the Runway Supervisory Unit, and shut down the right engine. He climbed out and fastened up the belts and waved me off. I did about 9 patterns on my own. Mainly what I remember was the Supervisor of Flying decided to cold to be thrown into the solo tank, as it had a 2 inch sheet of ice on it. So a couple of my WONDERFUL classmates spent over an hour breaking up and removing all the ice. So THEN they could throw me into the, literally, ICE COLD solo tank.

First glider solo, I went with a instructor from Laughlin in his 7KCAB over to the glider field near San Antonio. I forget if it was the first or second time I flew there, the instructor asked if I had soloed. I said not in gliders. He said no problem, then he asked, "have you ever done a simulated rope break?" Nope. "Oh, let's take one more flight to make sure you are ready to solo." Hmm, I wonder what will happen on this one?????? So yes, one each simulated rope break, and then I soloed.

One more, A-10. There are no two seaters. There was a simulator, but students were not allowed to fly it. So we got a cockpit procedures trainer check out. The CPT looked like the real thing, but all the gauges were pictures. But all the moving things moved. So you went over the pre-start, start, pre-takeoff, after landing, and shutdown checklists, also all the boldface emergency procedures. Then you went out and did the same thing in an aircraft, actually starting it up, while your instructor stood on the ladder. If that went well, the next day you had your first flight. The instructor flew the chase position (loose wingtip formation), and we joked, that he was there to tell the crash trucks where the crash site was. Not a big deal, very straightforward aircraft to fly.

[B.Butler]

I am happy for you.

There are Good Things, and Bad Things, about learning to fly in the New York metropolitan area. ...

He came back, absolutely dripping with sarcasm,...Left me pissed off at ATC for while. When I joined the freq, I had told him I was a student, and that I was on my first solo XC, but this was a man who had left compassion...

But the real moment was in tremendous contrast to yours. Third and last leg...

I learned to fly at Colorado Springs. Standard cross-country was I-25 to Pueblo, Arkansas River to Lamar and direct COS. So all is well, I'm calculating my gs like every 20 miles or so with landmarks or crossing radicals (HGO 210, etc), but that last long hypotenuse across the featureless sagebrush has me worried. I get to LAA, make my120 degree turn and there is the unmistakable massif of Pike's Peak. ... "aah...okay."

Other Story: forgive me if you've heard this one:
I learned to fly in an Air Force aero club, in which I could select C-172, PA-18 or a T-34; same price.

No contest, right? For a 20-year-old soldier with an active fantasy life, it was heaven. Every time I taxiied away from the ramp, canopy back, it was June 4, 1942, and I was with Scouting 5... But my dive bomber did in fact have very primitive avionics and one had to find the correct freq on the "coffee grinder" receiver.

On this particular day, I called: "Peterson Ground, Mentor 34V, short count, please." The receiver happened to be on the correct freq, so I heard the voice dripping with sarcasm, say, " One... "

My immediate reaction was hurt and anger. "That s.o. b. is making fun of my SBD!" But almost immediately I wondered, " how do you get a job like his? "

It was the beginning of a rich and satisfying 40-year career.

[Tom Charlton]

I did a similar thing. I had my Flight Guide and stuck it up on the glare shield . . . Took it off the glare shield and got about a 25 degree change in the mag compass.

Hi Terry,

The whisky compass in my Cub is correct as long as you’re actually headed about 350°.
Any other heading . . . it still sez 350°. Don’t need no stinking compass <grin>.
California ~ Florida: I-8, I-10 then I-75, no problem. Well . . . there was that interesting diversion around Mt Lemmon north of Tucson.

Regards,
Tom Charlton

[Terry Carraway]

A friend and I were delivering a Taylorcraft BC 12D for another friend, from Miami to Long Island,NY (1969). Early on the plane had a vibration that we concluded was the wind driven generator which had failed and was in overspeed. So, we took it off and put it on the floor, set the pliers on the glare shield. Navigating by coast line until dark (don't mention the lack of nav lights). When it was dark we used the compass, which was pulled by the pliers, and generator (unnoticed). Confirming our position, I said that looks like … oh crap, we are directly over McGuire (at maybe 2000 feet). It was a Military Airlift Wing base then, I think, but their radar must not have seen this paper airplane. We landed at CDW(long day) and finished the trip a few days later.

I did a similar thing. I had my Flight Guide and stuck it up on the glare shield of a C-172 flying down to Morehead City. I was around Dulles and talking to them, and they were getting upset, as I was not flying the course they wanted. And I was, or at least so I thought. I checked the DG to the mag compass several times, before the light bulb came on. Took it off the glare shield and got about a 25 degree change in the amg compass.

Learned that lesson.

[Randy Sohn]

BD wrote:. We landed at CDW(long day) and finished the trip a few days later.

Chuckle, those misadventures reminded me of what young Tex Edwards used once, told 'em - "hey, dont't gig me, I'm just learnin".

best, randy

[Jeff Hartmann]

BD wrote:

The 300-mile long cross country also has a couple of memories. One is of flying smack dab right over McGuire Air Force Base. The controllers there were perfectly happy to have me in their airspace. The notable moment there came when a couple of A10 Warthogs flew by me, pretty close, and pretty slow. I can't tell you why -- making sure I really was a C152? Taking an opportunity for some training? Maybe I just happened to be where they needed to be? -- but it was certainly cool from where I was sitting.

A friend and I were delivering a Taylorcraft BC 12D for another friend, from Miami to Long Island,NY (1969). Early on the plane had a vibration that we concluded was the wind driven generator which had failed and was in overspeed. So, we took it off and put it on the floor, set the pliers on the glare shield. Navigating by coast line until dark (don't mention the lack of nav lights). When it was dark we used the compass, which was pulled by the pliers, and generator (unnoticed). Confirming our position, I said that looks like … oh crap, we are directly over McGuire (at maybe 2000 feet). It was a Military Airlift Wing base then, I think, but their radar must not have seen this paper airplane. We landed at CDW(long day) and finished the trip a few days later.

[Tom Charlton]

I'm still just a VFR pilot

Hi Mark,
I’ve reverted to being a VFR pilot with the Cub. Occasionally I’ll even talk on my handheld radio if I must.

an iPad running ForeFlight strapped to my leg . . . It absolutely feels like cheating

Took a hundred dollars worth of sectional charts to get me from El Cajon, CA to Sarasota, FL. But now I cheat with an “iFly” GPS<grin>.

Regards,
Tom Charlton

[Mark Horak]

I learned something about sectionals, that day. They work really well if you've been following along, and you can say, "Okay, that's such-and-so road, and there's this-and-that river." But if you've been unconscious for even a little while...

I'm still just a VFR pilot and had barely flown since I moved to CA in 2002. But since I bought the C-150 last year and have gotten back into it, I've been going everywhere with an iPad running ForeFlight strapped to my leg. You always know exactly where you are and where you have been, overlaid on a sectional, and you can accurately fly right down the edge of restricted areas if you are so inclined. It absolutely feels like cheating so I guess this means I'm ok with cheating, especially out here where there are 7k peaks everywhere you turn.

[Randy Sohn]

Ercoupe/Aircoupe

Chuckle, out at Wes-Tex Aircraft in LBB, Roy always called'em "Urpcups".

best, randy

[Terry Carraway]

he 300-mile long cross country also has a couple of memories. One is of flying smack dab right over McGuire Air Force Base. The controllers there were perfectly happy to have me in their airspace. The notable moment there came when a couple of A10 Warthogs flew by me, pretty close, and pretty slow. I can't tell you why -- making sure I really was a C152? Taking an opportunity for some training? Maybe I just happened to be where they needed to be? -- but it was certainly cool from where I was sitting.

When was this? I could have been me in one of them, if the right time frame.

As long as you were not south bound, right on the V airway that just skirted the restricted airspace for the range there. And that you did not do so in a Ercoupe/Aircoupe.