My most memorable moment was my first solo flight. Like everybody on this forum this was and achievement coming from a childhood objective.
I remember flying out with my instructor to area Delta (Titusville) on a very beautiful morning sunny day, then we landed in the middle of the field. My instructor, who sadly passed away in a helicopter crash a few month later in a training flight took his video camera and wished me good luck. Suddenly I looked to my left and there was no one next to me. I was here on my own, engine running, T&P’s in the green and ready to go.
If I would be totally honest I was really scared, I run the checks twice and then decided to go for it. Self-reassurance came from the fact that my instructor wouldn’t have signed me off if he had felt that I couldn’t do it, also I have done it many time before without input from him so why not doing it the same way this time? I left off in the hover and looked for him outside in the field and started when I have seen the thumb up from him. I did the usual 360 degree turn and then transitioned to a quick circuit at 500’ followed by a very smooth landing on the grass at the same exact spot where I came from. I was so proud of that landing!
My instructor came to me from the right with a big smile on his face that I will never forget, we shake hands thoroughly he jumped in and we returned back to Space Coast, I will never forget this day.
Ten years down the line with a still valid CPL(H)/IR I sadly never managed to make it a professional career, I still think of my instructor and buddy Colm from time to time, not a good a finish for me but I don’t regret any of it.