First Solo Flight - Oct 27th 2007

Yahoo... I just completed my first Solo Flight in my pilot training. It is awesome to fly the plane alone. Little anxious, confused, something different than you are used to, but eventually you land that plane right on the center line and there you go you did it. Having done the pattern work so many times, it is just another landing you would do. But the fun part of it is that you dont have anyone telling you what to do, you make every decision in getting that damn plane on ground. Boy I enjoyed it a lot. Let me show you what happens in a pattern. It is a lot of work happening really fast. From the take off to touch down it takes around 7 mins. In this, you need to change the throttle multiples times, change the trim tab for more than 3 times, turn 4 times, use right rudder pressure for a long time, need to be in contact with the tower, listen to their instructions, get the flaps down, and up once the touch down happens. Maintain the speed of 65mph when approaching the runway all the way till touch down. When just above few feet from the ground, you need to pull the yoke back and flair, let the plane settle and let it touch down. it is an awesome amount of work compensating for the wind all the way through.



I cannot fly if the winds are more than 4 kts. So I couldnt fly at the place where I generally fly. I went to Brown Field for Solo. It was cool. I am going solo in an airport where I havent been. Yes, it was exciting. My instructor and I went around the pattern couple of time, got familiar with the pattern. I left my instructor at the ramp and went back to runway to take off. There was another airplane ready to take off, but was going through their checklist. I called in the tower and told them I am ready to go. Tower asked me if I can go around the plane ahead of me. I said yes I can. Oh btw! A typical calls sounds like this "Brown Tower (people I want to talk to), this is Cessna 707GS (model and tail number of my plane, who i am), ready to take off (what i want)"
So I went around those people and jammed the throttle in, let the airspeed increase. While doing so, I had to compensate the left turning tendencies with right rudder pressure. When the airspeed reached 55-60mph, I pulled the yoke back and started climbing. And then I did the rest of the pattern as required. My first landing was good, though I thought that my base leg was not well placed. I tried a wider pattern to get a better base leg. It was much fun. I did three of these and went and picked up my instructor and we flew home. The controller at the Brown field congratulated me! Lot of people congratulated me on the way back to my base including Gillespie field's ground controller, GSA's manager etc.
Anyway, it was great fun soloing the plane. I am ready to go again.
Yahoooooooooooooooooooooo............