Flightblog

Lesson #11 - Centennial of Flight Marks My First Solo!

An auspicious day for flight indeed.

All night it just rained and rained. I kept looking at the satellite images of Hawaii, watching the cold front sweeping down the island chain from the northwest. First thing this morning I made coffee and came out to check the METARS down the state. Kauai reported clear skies and 29.97+ pressure, Oahu: clear skies and 29.95, Maui: scattered, broken and overcast, pressure 29.94. Within an hour it had started clearing and the pressure was rising, so I headed down to the airport.

Upcountry was in the clouds, it rained on me all the way down eh hill and I finally broke out of the clouds at about 200'.

The beacon was OFF on the ATC tower! VMC conditions!

Fletch was waiting for me at the hangar, transcribing my logbook entries from my temporary logbook to my new hardcover one. We chatted for a few minutes and then he asked me to preflight the airplane. The mechanic came out and shook my hand, congratulating me on my solo (which I hadn't flown yet...that was kind of weird), guess he had to leave early, told me he was assured of my success. Guess my instructors had been talking in the hangar before I got there.

Fletch and I taxied and got clearance, runup as usual then into the air.

'7332 Lima, make left traffic, runway 5'

'Cessna 7332 Lima. Left traffic. Runway 5.'

Easy going. My headings and altitudes were perfect. Patterns were tight. Wind correction was excellent. My touchdowns were oh so smooth....like butter. I was flying better than ever! After 2 trips around the patter, Fletch called the tower and advised that we'd be making a full stop on 5. As we taxied to the hangar, he kept telling me that if anything feels weird, just go around.

After a few minutes of logbook and paperwork, we went back out to the plane and let the tower know I was a student pilot making first solo. They were OK with that. Fletch shook my hand and told me to have fun, then shut the door.

It was absolutely weird to be in the airplane by myself. Hot in the sun and just quiet. I very quickly got my headset on and listened to ATIS kind of loud to break the silence. Once I got taxiing, it sort of hit me all at once that I was doing this by myself. It was weird, I started to get a little nervous.

At the runup area I did a regular runup and checked mags and carb heat (didn't remember til hours later that I'd forgotten to check the ammeter, darn guy that walked out with the checklist last week!), everything looked good. Called the tower and got clearance:

'Maui Tower, Cessna 7332 Lima on the east ramp with Whiskey. Request takeoff for touch and goes'

'Cessna 7332 Lima. After takeoff make left traffic runway 5. Taxi to and hold short of runway 2 at Echo.'

Then I got nervous...

'Maui Tower. Aren't you going to give me a squawk? 32 Lima.'

'7332 Lima. I guess I can if you want me to. After takeoff squawk is 03**'

'Maui Tower. Say again.'

'32 Lima. Squawk 0377'

'Maui Tower. Squawk 377. 32 Lima'

At the hold short line I let them know I was ready to go and got my clearance to take off. Taxied out onto the centerline and smoothly applied full power. 32 Lima accelerated down the runway, right on the centerline and I swear I was airborne within 300'. Made my 45° turn at the intersection and then my left downwind. Cross checked altitude and WHOA! I'm at 900'! Guess my climb rate is a little better without the 180lbs of flight instructor I usually carry with me.

At the numbers I pulled carb heat, reduced power to 1700rpm and dropped 10° of flaps.

'7332 Lima. Cleared touch and go. Runway 5'

'Cleared touch and go. Runway 5. 32 Lima'

My first landing was pretty good. I flew a nice, long, stabilized final and was on glide the whole way down. When I got to the numbers, I was nice and slow and just floated for a second before touching down gently, but a little bit off center. Smooth transition to power and I'm accelerating for takeoff again.

Even got high on my climb out the second time around, but just powered back early and began my descent slowly. Carb heat on. Flaps 10° and make the turn to base. Cleared touch and go. Turn down final and I'm perfect. This time the turbulence was a little stronger and I had to really work to keep the plane on the glideslope and centerline. As I rounded out, a little fast for turbulence penetration, I just floated and floated. It seemed I was holding the nose up forever. As I held the nose, I steered with the rudders and forgot the ailerons. Too bad, I got a little sideways and touched down a little harder than I like. Not dangerous, not a 'bad' landing...just not gorgeous. So, carb heat off, power to full, flaps up and we go around for one more.

Again, great pattern work. Great approach. Just touched down a little rough. I don't think I was prepared for how differently the plane would fly (especially in ground effect) without Fletch.

Taxied across runway 2 to the ramp and pulled up to the hangar where everyone was waiting to congratulate me. It was great, I was a Lindbergh, exiting the airplane to the accolades of my airman peers.

Fletch went to work on my logbook, endorsing me for solo flight with generous wind/visibility limitations. Brad got his camera and took a few photos of me with N7332L on the ramp, then with Fletch. It was great! Since I was wearing a black shirt, I had to buy a T-Shirt from Maui Aviators to cut up. We made a nice magic marker inscription of 32Lima and the Wright Flyer with the date, airport, runways, tail number and hours logged.

Today, I became an airplane pilot.

Total time to solo: 11.3 hours
Landings before first solo: 60
Lessons to solo: soloed on lesson #11

6 in .7
.3 as PIC :)

Posted by johnpeace at December 17, 2003 02:58 PM