Recap: First Solo!

This was an essay I wrote about my first solo that was published in the March 2012 issue of the Aviatrix Aerogram E-Zine.


I’ve wanted to fly my entire life. My Dad is a helicopter pilot so I’ve always felt it just runs in my blood. I finally got into lessons this past fall after graduating from college. I took my introductory flight on October
9, 2011. On February 19, 2012, I soloed!!

These four months of training have “flown” by! They started with bouts of motion sickness and horrible
taxiing skills. Once we started touch-and-goes I caught the bug. Trying to land that Piper Tomahawk in
10-15 knot crosswinds was a challenge I reveled in! My instructor often jokes that I’m not going to be able
to land when the wind is calm because I've been performing crosswind landings over and over and over
again for the past six lessons.

Well, on February 19, the wind gods thought of me and decided to settle down. I had perfectly calm winds
for my solo! The “s” word has been mentioned for the past few weeks and I never knew when it was going
to happen. It was delayed a little bit due to weather and a sick instructor. I think that I stressed myself out
about it so much during this waiting period that when the actual time came my body just couldn't be
nervous anymore. The routine took over and I was so zoned in I didn't even let my Dad know! (I was hoping he would be there to see.)

My first time around the pattern seemed completely natural and I landed N4336E right down the
center line. Coming in for my second stop-and-go I ballooned a little bit but saved it…although not very
well. That landing was a little rough. The fact that I was soloing didn't really hit me until I was turning right
downwind my third time around. A huge smile broke across my face as I called for a full stop landing.
Tower called back saying that I was approved for a “long landing” for a more convenient taxi. My mind
raced, Huh? I don’t know what that is…and don’t talk to me about taxiing yet; I haven’t even landed this plane! “Roger, 36E,” I radioed back anyways. I figured I was cleared to land regardless of whether it was a long landing or not. I came in on a normal approach and ballooned big time. I didn't feel comfortable trying to save that one and figured it just wasn't meant to be. I did a go around thinking, Why not? One more for good measure. I came around the pattern one last time and landed rather smoothly, if I do say so myself. I taxied back to the ramp and was so overwhelmed and jittery that I parked in the wrong place and forgot to log the time in the aircraft logbook! Ha! I was told it wouldn't count against me.

I was shaking and sweating uncontrollably but I had the biggest smile on my face. And then someone yelled from the tarmac behind me, “Yeaaaaa! You did it!!!” I turned around and saw my parents walking towards me. They had been there and they had seen my last few landings! That definitely topped everything off and I can’t wait to do it again! I went home and enjoyed some homemade mac ’n’ cheese with my family and enjoyed a glass of wine and an ice cream sundae. Not a bad day.

When Will I Fly Again?

This is the biggest question in my mind right now. I have so many other big things going on such as softball starting soon and my research grant that I should probably be working on...but the only thing I can think about is flying. It's the only thing that really get's me motivated and excited right now...

And it's the only thing I'm not doing.

After passing my PPL checkride, I had just about finished off all of my funds for the time being. Although I wanted to go straight into my Instrument training it looks like that might be postponed until I can get some funds together. With the new semester starting in a week, I will also have two jobs starting and I am spending most of my time right now preparing scholarship applications. Hopefully by the end of the month I'll have some money together to start flying in February!

So stay tuned! But in the mean time I'll recap some of the exciting moments from my private pilot training.