I had been checking the weather every single day to get updates on what today’s whether would be like. It appeared that it was due to be calm for the first time in ages. My lesson was booked for the Saturday this time, rather than the usual Sunday. When I woke on Saturday at around 0930 the first thing I did was ring up and check Liverpool ATIS. The one thing I was looking for was the wind, which was 8 kts. A little annoyed again, but not anywhere near as bad as it has been for all my circuit lessons. So I rang up again an hour or so later: “6 kts”. It was slowly going down. By around 1300 it was 1 or 2 kts – on its way to calm (lesson at 1500).
When I got there, it was dead calm. Not a single breeze. I was sat in the lounge waiting around and preparing things, when thee biggest downpour came along. I thought I must be the unluckiest guy on the planet, having wind on every lesson, and now the rain once the wind has gone! *****! I sat there thinking “it aint gonna happen today”. Anyways, my instructor came along and he said we would go in the circuit, and see what happens. The rain had this time completely passed, it was a very quick downpour (one thing going right).
So off we go, the usual checks, power checks, taxi etc and away we are. Circuits were going fine, apart form the haze/fog which was significantly thick (yet another bit of bad luck). We could still see the airfield reasonably well, but there was no clear horizon to the south of the airfield, so that meant on takeoff, crosswind and downwind, we had no horizon (we were using runway 09). Still though, there was nothing too difficult and we had 5 successful circuits. On the taxi way back to the apron, my instructor hit the PTT button:
“Tower, would like to make a request….”
“Go ahead G-SD”
“Would like to send my student on first solo?”
“Approved G-SD”
Well I ****. And that’s exactly what I said to him when he got off the radio. I genuinely thought I wouldn’t be soloing today and that I would have to wait at least another week. At this point every single cell in my body was swimming in adrenalin, I must have had a pint of the stuff pumped in me. I was so bloody excited; fear isn’t the right word, just nerves and happiness throughout. Anyway, aside with the emotional content for now, the taxi back to the apron was the longest taxi ever. When we got there he gave me a small brief about how it would climb quicker and come down slower, he got on with it and just jumped out the aircraft, he has a lot of faith in me and he just let me get on with it.
When he shut the door I felt like the most isolated person in the world. Totally alone with nowhere to turn. The thing is though, at this point I thought I would be trembling, but I wasn’t. It was simply overwhelming excited ness. So I done a quick magneto check, got the ATIS and put in the call. Because I was so used to mainly using rw27 I took the airfield chart out the back of my knee board just to make sure I was clear about the taxi ways at the 09 end. I think at this point I had a strange repetitive condition. I kept looking at the chart just to make sure I had read it right, Echo the Foxtrot coming back in, Echo then Foxtrot. I must have looked at it 20 times, even though I knew what I was looking at, don’t ask me why! So I was told to taxi to Echo, which is a backtrack (not on the runway) of pretty much the entire length of the runway. Again, this felt like 10 years, rolling down there, not too slow, not too fast. Keep the nose on the yellow line, don’t panic, you’ll be coming back down here in 15 mins (hopefully)! So I got to Echo and waited 10 mins, there were a few aircraft coming in so this wait felt (again) like light years. I kept putting carb heat on every couple of mins (again, probably doing it too much – was just making sure!)
So I heard a call on the radio:
“After the landing Cessna, line up and wait G-Sierra (crackle)”
(I 90% knew it was me and thought I would reply after a few seconds with the read back and the full call sign – he never came back so it confirmed it was me he was talking to – ok so maybe I should have confirmed properly!)
When the aircraft landed, I was to make doubly sure:
“Lining up to wait G-SD”
“G-SD”
As soon as I heard that I knew this was it. Lined up and waited for the call, which then came in:
“G-SD cleared takeoff not above 1500……………..”
“Cleared takeoff G-SD”.
Putting on full power was amazing, knowing that as soon as those back wheels leave the ground, I am all alone and must make a successful flight. Looking at the right hand seat and seeing it empty other than for a few charts, was the strangest feeling in the world. You all know the feeling! I got to 500 feet a lot quicker due to our weight being less, so when I turned crosswind, I extended it for about 30 seconds, to get a good distance from the runway for the downwind. So I put the downwind call in and was told to report ready for base. Before I reported base, I was given traffic information and told I would be number two to a Cessna on final, I immediately spotted the Cessna and reported visual and number 2. Seen it land, then I became number one – I was again alone - in the circuit! I turned onto base and was made up with the flight so far. I remember my instructor saying it would come down slower, so I started the descent ever so slightly early – which turned out to be the correct decision. Full flaps and started turn to final. I remember a friend of mine (who is a Nav in the RAF) saying to me: “think of a song for your first solo”. Well, I thought if I do that I will probably forget to use the radio – so I never sung to myself…….yet! I put the final call in and then started singing out loud – I am crazy yes but I was just so happy to be doing this and I had set up on a good approach.
I couldn’t have been any happier with the landing, straight down the centre line and no ballooning or floating like I had done previously. It went so well I am just over the moon. I put the call in to taxi back and ATC congratulated me on completion. I must say that the help I received that day was excellent and the chap in the tower was great. I thanked them properly on my way into the apron. I was made up. I saw my instructor pointing to me to where to park, and the last hurdle now was not hitting another aircraft (how annoying would that be after a successful solo, to hit an aircraft on the ground….) And before you say it, no I never hit nothing! Done a quick shutdown and was greeted by my instructor with a handshake. I told him how it went and made my way back to the office.
Well, I will spare any more emotional descriptions if I can but I am now the happiest guy on earth. This has to be number one so far in the best day of your life book. And like you lot all said to me, I couldn’t get the smile off my face! I got a great bottle of champagne with a personal label on it, which I think I will keep and not drink (even though I wanted to) – thanks to LFS and my instructor for having faith in me. If I may quote myself from earlier posts, I never even thought of getting this far, but here I am, my first P1 SELF post of 20 mins in my logbook! And thank you once again to all the people in here that give me confidence and positive vibes – THANKS!
Until the next solo circuit session,
A very very happy
Lee
