First Solo!

[Extra260]

It's done, and I'm still here to tell the tale 

Got in the plane (1975 Cessna 150 VH-WWS), couldn't get the seat to move, climbed out got it to move but it wasn't sitting straight. Bloody old planes! Anyway, got it locked in the right place eventually. Off on Rwy 12 (YSCB) today, a bit gusty and turbulent but only a slight (2-3kts) crosswind.

4 circuits with Terry (instructor), including one simulated flaps failure (my best landing so far!) and one simulated engine failure(no problem),  back to the park, shut down, Terry says bye, 2 or 3 circuits off you go

Startup, runup checks all good, call ground and get airways clearance, same as before so easy, call and get taxi clearance, holding point charlie Rwy 12, taxied out, called tower ready, "line up and wait"... and wait, and wait... (a virgin ejet and qantas dash8 crossing Rwy 12 heading to 17) eventually get cleared for takeoff.

On takeoff I get told "maintain runway heading", halfway to Cooma (well it seemed like it) I get told ok to crosswind, "maintain crosswind look for a virgin ejet on finals to 17", spotted easily, ok to downwind (caution wake tubulence from the ejet!) just about to level off at 2900ft and my freaking seat slides back! I've read about this happening, so remembered to let go of the yoke(the plane will fly itself for a while!)... not many places to grab to slide forward... I could reach the trim wheel so trimmed down a bit to get level and then used the windscreen pillar to pull myself forward..(and pulled half the plastic off the pillar!) eventually got the seat locked in place! Managed to calm down.. called "base touch and go", approach good, , "cleared touch and go, right circuit",  landing not bad, flaps up, off for 2 more uneventful circuits... on the last one called "base full stop", approach good, landing ok and then no matter what I did (full up elevator, feet off the brakes) the nose wheel shimmy damper (supposed to stop it wobbling) went nuts.. had to stop on the runway and then start taxiing again to get to behave. Taxied to the park and shutdown...

Been grinning like a madman all day 

Vincent.

[yallu]

I'm jealous. Congrats! *thumbs up*

[Agrajag]

Excellent stuff Vincent!

When is the next flight, in hours, minutes and seconds? ;-)

I would be having a pretty serious word about that seat though. If it happened during the flare it might not have been so hoopy. Old is not an excuse, if they could make em way back 'then' then they can certainly fix em.

[John Bosch]

Congrats again, vincent!

As I said in our email conversation today, that's the same seat that gave me trouble a few weeks ago. I hope they take it in for repairs now!

[Hotspot]

The seat issue should be entered in the maintenance release and the aircraft not flown until signed off as repaired by the LAME, you are not on simulators now - this is a life and death issue!!   Btw - congrats on first solo well done, particularly keeping cool with the seat problem - keep grinning, but that aircraft should not fly until fixed. 

[grumman]

Congrats Vincent! Not many students get to solo with jets in the traffic mix.

That seat problem is a major worry though. I reckon I would have done a full stop on the first circuit and grounded the aircraft as unserviceable.

Greg

[Extra260]

Thanks guys. I have a booking for 8am next thursday (in the same aircraft).. Students don't get to write on the maint release, so I reported it to my instructor. I'll be checking if it's been logged and repaired before I accept the aircraft next time. With hindsight I should have landed after the first circuit, it felt like it was locked in ok so I decided to continue.

As for jets in the mix.. that's normal at YSCB and one of the advantages of learning there, you get to deal with class C airspace from day 1.

Vincent.

[AdamC]

Vincent is this your first solo or second.

I thought first solo was only one circuit. Or has it changed....nothing meant by this comment.

Hope it all goes well for the rest of the training........i hope you let out the standard WOOHOO when the instructor got out, i know mine was on downwind when i was doing my first solo.

Cheers

Adam

[kingfish42]

I have a friend who spent six months in a hospital after the same issue with the seat in a 172. Unfortunatly, the two passengers with him at the time did not make it to the hospital.  (Stall/spins from 200 feet are not friendly.)

This is a very serious issue and the flight school is crazy not to fix it. The seat "not" moving seems like a similar problem. If you slide it forward for flight and then can not easily move it back.........what happens in an emergency when you have to evacuate the aircraft. I have walked away from $15.00/hour (USD) flights in a 172 because the Civil Air Patrol unit would not fix the seat.

Congrats on the solo........................................get the seat fixed!!!!!    >

Kingfish

[Agrajag]

Vincent is this your first solo or second.

I thought first solo was only one circuit. Or has it changed....nothing meant by this comment.

Hope it all goes well for the rest of the training........i hope you let out the standard WOOHOO when the instructor got out, i know mine was on downwind when i was doing my first solo.

This would be the first time I have heard of being told to do more than one circuit for a first solo but then I haven't been around long myself )

I let out the standard "you got to be bl**** joking!" then an "aww ****" on mine )

Wirraway has gotta be next (and soon, got the paper work done yet!) )

[Extra260]

Vincent is this your first solo or second.

I thought first solo was only one circuit. Or has it changed....nothing meant by this comment.

Hope it all goes well for the rest of the training........i hope you let out the standard WOOHOO when the instructor got out, i know mine was on downwind when i was doing my first solo.

Cheers

Adam

First solo, it's been delayed due to waiting on medical and asic which took forever for a bunch of reasons, (like having to prove I can speak english). I think I've actually logged around 18 hours. And yes... I did a quick woohoo...  but I was pretty busy, there's no such thing as a simple circuit at YSCB.

Vincent.

[Extra260]

Wirraway has gotta be next (and soon, got the paper work done yet!) )

He was unlucky yesterday, foiled by the weather, clouds at 800ft AGL and rain. I believe he's booked for sunday, which is probably better anyway as it will be a lot quieter.

Vincent.

[John Bosch]

Yeah, booked for 3pm Sunday. Hopefully not in WWS

[cie]

Well done mate, it's a fantastic feeling...

[pphibbs]

Hi Vincent,

I know exactly how you feel. I was grinning all day the day I went solo. You never forget it mate.

Congratulations. It's an important goal along the path to your license. It also gives you that necessary confidence to move forward onto advanced areas of your training.

Regards, Paul

[Guest javo]

well done Vincent - that is one smile and one lesson you'll remember forever!

Been grinning like a madman all day

Vincent wasn't fibbing about the smile either - unbeknown to him, I was there in the background when he left the airport and captured that huge grin with my trusty camera.

[divad_strebor]

Yeah, booked for 3pm Sunday. Hopefully not in WWS

You're taking off an hour after I am!  Maybe we could extend our respective training areas a bit and meet in the middle

As for that seat, I don't know what the procedures are for that sort of thing at your flying school, but I know at my work if I find something that is dangerous and can't fix it myself right then and there, I put a "do not start" tag on the power switch of whatever machine it is, and then report it to my superviser.  I would like to think flying schools would use similar procedures.  If I had an aircraft falling apart around me, I wouldn't report it and TRUST the instructor to fill out the maintenance record to ground the aircraft, I would report it and WATCH him fill it out!

[Ausiguy]

That seat issue happened to me on my commercial checkride although it only went back a single click. The examiner freaked out and nearly canceled the ride. We were on final approach to land and I thought everything had gone OK up till then. I quickly told him it was my fault because I had adjusted it in flight and it had not locked in place correctly. He calmed down, we landed and I had a commercial ticket in my hand. Taught me to make sure the seat is right before take off and avoid touching it, especially on a checkride.

Not sure why the examiner freaked out. Guess he thought the plane was no good and wanted a reason to cancel the ride. Funny thing was that a week later the same examiner was giving a multi ride and both he and the applicant forgot to put the gear down on the final landing. They landed gear up in the seminole and after that we didn't see him around the flight school for quite awhile. 

[John Bosch]

well done Vincent - that is one smile and one lesson you'll remember forever!

Been grinning like a madman all day

Vincent wasn't fibbing about the smile either - unbeknown to him, I was there in the background when he left the airport and captured that huge grin with my trusty camera.

Hmm ... I'm not so sure. I'm positive Vincent doesn't wear glasses 

[Extra260]

well done Vincent - that is one smile and one lesson you'll remember forever!

Been grinning like a madman all day

Vincent wasn't fibbing about the smile either - unbeknown to him, I was there in the background when he left the airport and captured that huge grin with my trusty camera.

LOL! Not me I'm afraid, I'm way better looking

Vincent.

[Flyboy]

Top stuff Vincent ... Congrats !! 

I'm not in that league - still a desk-top-pilot, but I have been up in a Cessna 150 as a passenger - Fogarty's field (Melton now days) to Bendigo and return. What a hoot! It's amazing stuff. I even got to hold the controls for a bit! That was a long time ago, but I still remember it like it was yesterday.

Oh well, back to flight sim ... [sigh]  \

Keep up the good work mate.

Pete.

[John Venema]

Well done Vincent! Congrats mate.

[Maurice_King]

Yes Vincent I will add my congratulations also and I'll add that the elation you feel will not fade but grow stronger and never leave you for as a great man once was heard to say ,

 " For he that has tasted flight and been there with the creatures of the Air,

will never again remain on the ground but with his head in the clouds,

and never look skywards the same way"

..

 or something along those lines.

[grumman]

Well if we're waxing poetic:

                        High Flight

    Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

    And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

    Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

    of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things

    You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung

    High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,

    I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung

    My eager craft through footless halls of air....

    Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

    I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

    Where never lark nor even eagle flew—

    And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod

    The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

    Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

                                      - John Gillespie Magee

[Hotspot]

Well I never......thought I would see such a thing as poetry on this forum, and such lyrical masterpieces - I am desperately trying to think of another at least equal, but .... , maybe johnY or someone equally erudite might contribute? We could have a poet's forum - JV?? 

[Andrew Schofield]

There's a forum member named Vincent

He wanted to solo - we sensed it

He achieved the feat

Despite the bad seat

And now his buttocks are unclench-ed!   

Oh, and congrats Vincent. Well done - I'd love to be in your shoes - if not your seat...

[Maurice_King]

Thats bloody GOLD  Andy

[Extra260]

There's a forum member named Vincent

He wanted to solo - we sensed it

He achieved the feat

Despite the bad seat

And now his buttocks are unclench-ed!   

Oh, and congrats Vincent. Well done - I'd love to be in your shoes - if not your seat...

Oh wow... I've never had a poem written about me before, sniff.. brings a tear to my eye :'(

LOL!

Vincent.

[SBaker]

I remember when I first when solo... what a f'king weird feeling having the seat next to you empty hey?? noone to slap you across the knuckles if you dont trim etc

seat sliding back... i cannot stress how dangerous this is, many pilots have come to grief with this, wiggle back and forth before takeoff.. make sure it CLICKS AND LOCKS IN!!! I add this to MY PERSONAL checklist in my head as I line up.. its ok to ADD to the paper checklist, just dont skip anything.

imagine if it happened on the takeoff roll, suddenly you cannot reach the pedals to brake or steer... and you write off the plane on your first solo? how embarrassing would that be..

but glad everything turned out alright,  i know how much of an achievement it is, dont stop there though, keep doing those exams, keep flying..

[BennyHill]

I remember my first solo, turning at 500 feet after takeof thinking "S...t - I have to land this thing. There's no one else up here but me!"

First perfect circuit and landing  . There's not a feeling like it.

On one training flight with my Instructor the C152 (VH-TLQ) just lifted off when my door popped open.

At 1000', my Instructor, took control while I opened the widow and then shut the door. He told me TLQ sometimes popped the door, when the wings took the weight of the aircraft.

However, he did congratulate me for flying the plane (a pilot's first priority) and not doing what one of his students did and that was; let go of the yoke and tried to shut the door- at less than 400'!

[skypilot]

I remember my first solo, turning at 500 feet after takeof thinking "S...t - I have to land this thing.

[snip]

I too - it was in a Blanik glider and Yes I had the exact same thought - launch -off the tow then the it struck me - the same words!

[Hotspot]

Well if we're waxing poetic:

                        High Flight

    Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

    And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

    Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

    of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things

    You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung

    High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,

    I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung

    My eager craft through footless halls of air....

    Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

    I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

    Where never lark nor even eagle flew—

    And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod

    The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

    Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

                                       - John Gillespie Magee

To those who may have enjoyed reading John Gillespie Magee's poem, kindly posted by grumman, it may be of interest to mention that the writer was a nineteen year old RAF pilot who had just taken his Spitfire on a flight to 33000 ft, and was so moved that he wrote this oft quoted tribute to his experience of the flight on his return. Ironically he was killed a few months later in a mid air collision with an Airspeed Oxford  twin trainer, I believe in the circuit area on a murky day, which prompted the poem below as tribute to the young airman, and may please some.

     

                                                        Vale - John Gillespie Magee - A Tribute

                      The tirrany of time has lost it's hold,

                      now rapt I zoom through Angels thirty three,

                      Roving azure skies on wings of fine spun gold,

                      my finger on the face of God had sealed my destiny.

                      Through ramparts of the heavens for ever and a day,

                      mass on billowing mass, guard the passing of my way.

                      Mid the thunderous roar of lightning I roll and swoop and dive

                            Sweeping past the eagle's eerie, clinging to the crag on high.

                      And gently now my passage of friend and foe alike

                      Looking back through time I see them left, in turmoil and in strife,

                      But still I have the heavens as my nuture and my home,

                      as a nomad of the ages, free at last to roam.

                                                A. Nonmus