First solo(nearly)

[modelman]

Had 2X1 hour sessions with my instructor practising circuits yesterday( I have 2 hours prior to that practising circuits and t/o and landing emergencies).
He felt I was ready to solo.The club unrestricted FI was to check me out first and I had an attack of nerves and made a right hash of it and never got my solo.:* .( I also forgot to do my power checks-doh!) I am Mr Careful and am normally very thorough with all pre-flight stuff
First landing was pretty reasonable,but I bounced a bit on No2 and 3 and the instructor thought I was too tense and terminated the check out.
My only excuse is that I had been flying on and off from 12:00 to 19:30 and probably was a little tired.
The second go was a little hampered as I was sent on an extremely long downwind leg due to anther a/c missing the airfield.
I still have a slight tendency to balloon a little on the flare so maybe I am not quite ready.My approaches always seem to be spot on.Got some more circuits booked Sunday.
I was really disappointed with myself and feel a bit demoralised.
Anyone one else felt the same way?
Modelman

[foxmoth]

Might be worth next session starting off with the guy that can send you solo rather than having the anticipation caused by swapping instructor. Good luck.:ok:

[Gingerbread Man]

Don't worry about it. It probably was somewhat down to fatigue, but the anticipation can't have helped. Just try to be confident about what you're doing, don't grip the yoke too hard and keep everything smooth.
When it was time for mine, my instructor just turned to me and said "I'm going to get out now.... alright?". Not much time to get tense about it there!

Good luck with it.

Ginger ;)

[White Bear]

I still have a slight tendency to balloon a little on the flare so maybe I am not quite ready.My approaches always seem to be spot on.Got some more circuits booked Sunday.
I was really disappointed with myself and feel a bit demoralised.
Anyone one else felt the same way?
Modelman


:ok: I feel this way every time I balloon because I'm too fast, and I've done hundreds, maybe thousands of landings.
Just hold the column back, resist the tendency to push, and add a little power if you feel you're getting a bit too slow.
Regards,
W.B.

[Shaft109]

Don't worry about it, it'll come eventually.

Like Gingerbread man, it came out of the blue when after a good hour of circuit bashing in turbulent summer air, i was knackered and was just looking forward to getting out and having a p!ss. The boss just said, "O.K. I'm going to get out now. Just do as you've been doing." that was it - no time to be afraid.

N.B. I had a bit of a disagreement with my instructor up to this point on the final approach/flare as i had unwittingly developed my own little way of doing it, and he thought I was doing something else.

I learned in a motor glider with a 60ft wingspan and when deploying the airbrakes the change in the aerodynamics caused the nose to slowly pitch down and thus increase speed so you had to add a little back pressure to compensate, but i didn't retrim so the stick still had a firm (forward) pressure which I just held against my hand and as the speed bled off in the flare the pressure faded so I used that to judge my speed. But he though i was actively trying to push forward and this caused quite a bit of friction that wasn't helpful.

My point is (if that long winded pile of tosh doesn't make sense) make sure you understand exactly why the instructor wasn't happy as it could prolong the problem.

Good Luck!

[Ridgerunner]

Don't worry about it, nerves before first solo is pretty normal. I screwed up my first solo checkout on a similar set of circumstances due to being hell bent on getting it done. I was forgetting d/w checks till the end of the downwind leg etc, and was just not with it. Just wait for another day and go for it.

[Pilot RatBoy]

I am having my check flight tomorrow afternoon for my first solo after about 10 hours of circuit bashing because i had a similar problem with my landings. I either flared too early and ballooned, or flared too late and caused my instructors laundry bill to rise!! However, once you have nailed one or two landings, you stop thinking so much and the landings become smoother. I'm saying this now, but I bet I mess mine up tomorrow now!! I just I hope there are no birds in the vicinity and they have replaced the plane I damaged after I had a little birdstrike on Wednesday which delayed my check! Anyway, good luck with your solo!

[RatherBeFlying]

Fly with the instructor who can solo you and work out the interpersonal stuff -- mostly your own butterflies.

When you're not hearing anything from the right or back seat, it's getting close.

Just fly it the way it should be flown.

[Whirlybird]

Been there, done that. I screwed up my first solo checkout three or four times! I thought I'd never do it. I was so, so, so depressed about it all. Eventually, my lovely regular instructor upgraded, and he could send me solo.

Now, I can look at it from the other side. I have a student who I think is pretty close to first solo. But I'm a newish instructor; I've never had anyone ready for a first solo before; it's a first for me. Will I know for certain if he's ready? Nope...which is why he'll fly with a more experienced instructor first, phew!!! But if that instructor won't send him solo, who will he blame? Himself, of course; we all do - though it could well be me who got it wrong. I'm already planning to try and get round it by just telling him I want him to fly with the CFI to make sure all's going OK, to teach him a bit more about emergencies in the circuit, or something like that anyway. But he's not stupid; he'll probably guess. :(

So you see, modelman, there's quite a lot going on here. Possibly you're not quite ready, possibly you are but were naturally nervous with another instructor. Either way, try not to get too demoralised. Keep flying, keep learning, and someday soon you'll get to do exactly the same as you're doing now, but with no-one next to you. That's all it is really. It's not that big a deal...but of course it feels like it.

[Oxeagle]

Don't worry about it, one of my friends has done 21 hours and still hasn't gone solo! That's not down to a lack of skill on her part, just events forcing her to have long breaks in flying. I find I have good flights and bad flights, it just happens for whatever reason. For example on my first solo, I had been doing circuits, I felt that it wasn't going too well, so I was pretty annoyed as I felt I had blown my chance to go solo on that flight. Anyway, we landed to take a break and when we went to get back in my instructor told me to go do a circuit on my own! So even if you think things arenbt going too well don't rule out soloing! I'm sure you'll get your solo next flight no problem :ok:

[modelman]

Thanks for all your words of encouragement-very uplifting.I guess when you see experienced pilots make it look simple,it's easy to forgot that they may have had the same trepidations.I read a story about a WW2 ace ( I think it was Johnnie Johnson) who trashed a couple of planes during his training and went on to great things.
I will try not to get hung up on it as I am enjoying my flying immensely and my r/t has improved a great deal from my original nervous mumblings.

Thanks again
Modelman

[rotorcraig]

When I was training my instructor said to me at the end of one lesson "I expect you'll go solo next week".

I thought (worried!) about it all week, and made an absolute hash of the following lesson! Didn't go solo and went home very disappointed.

Whether it was nerves, an off week, or whatever - don't worry about it, just concentrate on enjoying your training. One day soon it will all come together and you'll go solo! :ok:

RC

[Whirlybird]

When I was training my instructor said to me at the end of one lesson "I expect you'll go solo next week". I thought (worried!) about it all week, and made an absolute hash of the following lesson! Didn't go solo and went home very disappointed.


I did something very similar; got so worried and excited I could barely drive to the airfield, let alone fly. A lot of instructors don't tell people until they're about to send them off; seems like that might be a good idea for people like us.

Just remember...
What do you do now when you get in the aircraft? Fly.
What will you do after you've done your first solo? Fly.

[raviolis]

Hey

glad to hear I am in the same boat.
I had a couple of hours of circuits practice and the approach was starting to get good, just had to refine the flare and touchdown...
But then had bad weather and didn't get flying for a while so when I went back to it I felt like I nearly had to start AGAIN ! Frustrating. High on approach, too fast.. go around !
So I re-learned it and got good at it again... time to go back to my next lesson and, when all I had done was right hand circuits, the wind had changed and this time was left hand.
You could say, left hand is easier, you have better visual and all that, but all I had was right hand so my visual reference and everything were well clear that way.
So guess what I made an a*r*s*e of it and felt I had to start again ! Too high, too fast.. Go around LOL

I hear it's pretty normal, but it's not any less frustrating !

[Lister Noble]

I hope this helps.
I know it sounds stupid,but at around 10 hrs I worried myself sick that I would be sent solo when I wasn't ready.
One of my very experienced pilot mates told me that the instructor would know when I was ready more than I would.
I can't be accurate as I don't have my log book here but I think it was around 18 hrs when I went solo,we landed after some circuits and the CFI said ,"Do you feel like doing one on your own?"
Of course I said yes, and he told me not to do more than one circuit and landing.
A lot of people told me not to worry about when I was ready for the solo, as a quick solo does not automatically make a good pilot.
I was doing a NPPL and realised I would have enough hours for a PPL so changed course and completed my PPL in 53 hrs.
Point is that I actually completed the course in the average hours most bods take despite 18hrs to solo ,so don't worry and enjoy the flying,because you are paying a lot for it!
Good luck.
Lister:)

[modelman]

Had some more circuits today-the penny seems to have finally dropped,pulled off a series of survivable landings in spite of the crosswind:) .The cloud base and viz were very marginal so they wouldn't send me solo but I feel a lot better than a week ago.Probably just as well as on one circuit whilst on the early downwind,another a/c was converging at our level and the FI took control with the evasive action.Thought I had c:mad: :mad: cked up but this bloke in a higher performance a/c had turned left almost immediately after t/o straight into our path:eek: .All part of my learning curve I guess.....
Will have another attempt next saturday,later in the day so maybe lighter winds.

Modelman