Another 1st solo announcement!
 

I've been looking forward to doing this post for - er, quite a long time... But I can finally say it, I did my first solo yesterday! It went really well, but the best bit was backtracking down the runway basked in glory. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" /> . .. .Did anyone else find it all much easier without having some bloke watching over your every move? I got a bit high on approach, but because I was in control, I had no problem doing what I needed to do to sort it out without a fuss and one of my best ever landings (in my limited time so far) followed. Much more relaxing than dual in some ways (even if the whole airfield was watching and I knew it!). . .. .Am now at work. What a contrast. And my colleagues are going to drug me and lock me in a filing cabinet if I get out my log book and point to the bit that says 'in command' one more time... . .. .Anyway, now that it's done, I hope to pass the tedious afternoons joining in with some of your discussions of the finer points!

Well done. I hope you'll always remember this one. We all have different recollections of "how it went".. .. .My own memory is that the old Cessna 152 went like a bomb in the Blackbushe circuit without the instructor's (heavy) weight next to me. What was real nice was the fact the ACT took the time to congrat me despite the many aircrafts he had to deal with. . .. .Enjoy the rest of it and do keep flying after you get your PPL (where do you fly from?).

Penguina,. .. .Congratulations <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="smile.gif" /> . .I'm hoping to be able to put up an announcement of my own in the next couple of weeks . .. .*sniffles* everyone I know is doing their first solo except me *pout* <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

WAHAY, Penguina, way to go!! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" /> . .. .It just gets better.... .. .I've just done my QXC today, so I'm celebrating too <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" /> . .. .Funnily enough I'm back at work as well, but there's no-one around to tell - otherwise I'd be pestering them too. SD

Well done! Now the fun begins... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />

Blimey - some replies! Wot a friendly bunch! . .. .WAHAY!!! back to you Saab D. Mutual plaudits all round! Have to admit, the QXC is the bit I'm most brickin' it about, in a kind of can't wait way... Have you done everything now?. .. .CBG - Yep, both those things happened to me too. The congratulations from the tower made me feel like I was in Star Wars or something. Never fear, I have great plans for my PPL - which suddenly looks a good deal closer. . .. .And to djk - believe me, I know how you feel! I was told I'm 'so nearly there' for so very long and was daft enough to tell all my friends the first time my instructor gave me those empty promises , so they kept asking me how it went every time they saw me. Tell you what, though - I was worried it would be an anticlimax after all that waiting, but it wasn't. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="smile.gif" /> . .. .Suppose there'll be a lot more now that spring is nearly upon us.

Penguina,. .. .many thanks for the encouragement. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="smile.gif" /> . .how long do you think it will be before someone ties you up and gags you or just tells you to stop smiling? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />

Well done Penguina! First solo is such a great feeling. First landaway is almost as good..... but not quite. :-). .. .Good luck with the rest of your training.. .. .Simon

First landaway is great too!. .. ."I'VE just turned up in MY plane on MY OWN - LOOK, JUST ME" type swagger into the cafe.. .. . <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="cool.gif" />

Penguina. .. .Well done - its a special moment.. .. .Lots of people feel that their 2nd and 3rd solos don't go so well as the first: I suspect as their self awareness grows they become more self critical, so just focus on the end of the course and what it will feel like to get that envelope from FCL at Gatwick with the shiny brown folder. .. .You'll be there in no time!. .. . <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="smile.gif" />

Nice one Penguina! I think that anyone who has ever soloed knows how you feel - hence all the congratulations.. .. .I was at a party last Saturday after having done my first solo and there was a senior RAF chap there who was shaking my hand etc....it's a great feeling. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" /> . .. .I now can't wait for my first away landing myself.. .. .Happy flying all.

paulo - swaggering's all very well for you, mate, but I've got horrible visions of taxying the wrong way, causing a traffic jam and blocked runway or something. Don't trust myself to be cool at any rate!. .. .djk - well, by 5pm everyone was avoiding me as I beamed into my monitor. At home now - and, er, beaming into my monitor! Give it until maybe next week and I might have stopped, if someone doesn't stop me first. Only fellow right-minded flying types truly understand, eh?. .. .I'll keep an eye out for your 'announcement'. Can we have a blow-by-blow account?! . .. .Thanks for all the congratulations! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="smile.gif" />

Penguina... Sweet! Hope you have the grinning photo for posterity. Don't little planes perform so much better without the instructor? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />

Congrats penguina and good luck with the rest of the course. Enjoy every minute, you're paying enough for it <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />

Nice one, Penguina - it just gets better from this point!. .. .I was flying Saturday and saw a guy out taxiing who joined my flying club at about the time I flew my first solo. After I'd left the circuit on a navex, I heard his instructor make the "returning to xxx, instructor exiting and student to undertake first solo" call. I felt palpable excitement for him as I listened to the calls as he went round!. .. .Redhill Tower (for all their faults?) are also very good about squeezing a congratualtions in during the call - it makes it feel like even more of an achievement when people notice!. .. .Let's do a dance for that long hot Summer <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" /> . .. .Hersh. . . . <small>[ 27 March 2002, 08:24: Message edited by: Hersham Boy ]</small>

<img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="smile.gif" /> CONGRATULATIONS and I hope in the months to come to be able to post my news too, I can believe how chuffed you feel and know how much it really means as everyone talks of their first solo....keep it up and keep it safe <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />

Penguina,. .. .of course I'll give a blow-by-blow account. I just wonder how many times I can fit the word "fab" into my announcement <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="smile.gif" />

Congratulations Penguina - I hope your flying continues to give you a lot of happiness.. .. .I have really enjoyed reading the recent posts re first solo, partly because I hope to be in a similar position in the not to distant future, but mostly because it is very heartening to read about so many people experiencing such deeply felt pleasure in life. There have been ecstatic posts from people from all sorts of age groups, income groups, from all walks of life.. .Getting rare in these times to see this, and it is becoming a high point of my daily Pprune.. . . . <small>[ 27 March 2002, 23:58: Message edited by: chickenhawk66 ]</small>

Yes, I always read the first solo posts too, there's something quite compelling about all the different versions of the same experience and the elation people always express makes me smile. I thought about putting this post in the wannabes forum for this reason; they need cheering up over there at the moment. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" /> But I didn't want to face the wrath of the moderators so early in my PpRune career! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="smile.gif" /> . .. .djk - OK, OK, daft question of mine! As a fellow enthusiast I ought to know better! (By the way, if your plane clanks at you while you're up there together, apparently this is just its way of getting to know you better and nothing to worry about! Freaked me out at the time!)

Penguina,. .. .Just had another lesson today. no solo to report unfortunately. The plane I've been using quite a lot recently G-BIJW has been sent back to the company we hire it from at Biggin Hill.. seems quite a few problems have been developing with it and my school haven't been satisfied with the service they've been getting. And today I found out that my regular instructor quit last week, so now I've got to do a few more hours with a different instructor and convince them that I know what I'm doing <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />