First solo done - not happy, please advise..
 

Hello everyone, I'm new to this board, (and have just had this message accidentally scrubbed out, so apologies if it appears in any other guise).

I did my first solo 5 days ago, and far from being the brilliant experience that most people find it, for me it was disappointing. The flying part was OK, but on landing, I applied the brake too soon, causing the aircraft to judder violently. I only just managed to stop it going off the runway.

I obviously feel I could have done better, but strangely, no one has mentioned this, so I don't know if they noticed it or not.

Regardless though, I feel I've let myself down, and wondered if anybody else has been unhappy with their first solo, or indeed, if anyone has any comments or advice.

Cheers.

Don't worry about it. Only be pissed off with yourself if you crash.

Don't be too hard on yourself. You took off and landed safely. Something might have happened e.g, the wind !!!!. :confused:

Agree with the others. Everyone makes lots of mistakes early in the game. Hopefully you have learned something and won't mke the same ones next time. Congrats on surviving --- and welcome to the club.

Don't worry about it at all! I don't think anybody does a perfect first solo. It's a fantastic achievment. Well done!

:D :D

It could have been nosewheel shimmy that caused the judder, maybe you hadn't seen it before because the aircraft behaved slightly differently with your 170 lbs of instructor out of the plane.

Concentrate on everything you did right, instead of flogging yourself for this little error. It may not be perfect but you always remember your first ;) We always learn best from our errors anyway (hopefully not too serious).

Get back on the horse ASAP and consolidate with more positive experiences and discuss this with your instructor. You shouldn't have the feeling that this is out of your control and you need some tips on how to handle it if it happens again. If it was nosewheel shimmy (caused by worn thingmy-bobs on the nose wheel) you can relieve it by applying a little back pressure on the yoke to take the weight off the nose wheel.

Have fun!

Oleo's right, I once had such a bad shimmy that I thought the engine would fall off.
Try using this philosophy, "its not the mountain you just missed you have to get worried about, learn from it , look ahead to avoid it happening again." In some knackered old crates you cant avoid shimmy once the elevator has run out of puff, you just got to live with it and A defect it before it hurts sombody.
S

Thanks for your replies, thinking about it, it probably was wheel shimmy, but I didn't react quickly enough to stop it. Like mentioned, hopefully I'll learn from this when I get back in the air!

First of all, congratulations on doing your first solo! Don't worry about these little errors, I had a similar thing happen only the other day. Any landing when you don't damage yourself, the plane or other people is a good landing.

Regards,

Simon

G_String,

Not everyone feels their first solo was a fantastic experience. In my case I was so anxious to get my licence and go off flying on my own that I was just glad it was over so that we could get on to doing some cross countries, and I was a bit embarrassed by all the fuss. Your own personality comes into this quite a lot. You realise you didn't do everything as well as maybe you could, which is fine. But don't be too hard on yourself - remember, the good landing is the one you walk away from.

As the age old aviators quote goes:

"Any landing is a good landing if you can walk away from it".

Or something like that.

Well done mate.
Trislander.

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http://www.aurigny.com/images.gb%20/trislander.jpg
"Ayline 221 airbourne"

G-String,

Take the advice of the others here - congratulate yourself on your first solo. I'm a PPL with 65 hrs, flew yesterday, nice landing but followed by a major nosewheel shimmy. Scared the crap out of my mate sitting next to me. Just pull back a little to releive the weight next time!

and once again, well done!!

JT8 :)

Dont worry about it even with hundreds of hours I still scare myself !!!!less everyday. Not let it put you off flying. As your hours build up so will your confidence and your ability to deal with the situation. Never think that you know it all because it will bit back. I once did and scared myself so bad I couldn't fly for a week. A healthy fear and a few mistakes are a good thing to keep your flying to the highest of standards.

up and at 'em

Don't worry about it. I made one iffy landing first solo, but others were ok. Hey, you saved it !! There's plenty of time to work on it and improve. I have six solo hours in gliders and believe me, I have improved a LOT in that time.

Keep at it. The solo stuff just gets better and better and better.

Congratulations on first solo. Good luck with your future flying! ;)

SC

You took off in an aeroplane and flew a circuit all on your own with no one in it but you!?!?
Loads of people dream of what you have done...well done join the club. :cool:
Don`t feel disappointed you recognised something that could be improved on,either with the aircraft or your skills.We are all learning,don`t beat yourself up about it.Something to aim for next time. :)

A girl on my UAS crashed on her first solo. She was OK, but I doubt that it was the experience that she had been hoping for, especially since the bent prop was hung on the wall in the crewroom!

Seriously, everyone has some landings that they would rather forget; you were just unlucky enough to have it happen on your first go. Concentrate on what you did right and learn from your mistakes. You never stop learning in this game...

Of course you can do better - and in future you will.

Whatever the cause, it is hard to imagine being under as much stress or anxiety as on your first solo ever again. Everything is different, scary, and daunting - the first time.

Pretty soon, whether flying solo or with the instructor, something will click and you will be "at one" with the aircraft.

Someone else posted: if you can walk away etc etc well if the plane can be used again, you did just fine!

Blue Skies

well done on your solo. great replies. i have been flying for a lot of years, fourth airline. some days the airplane lands beautifully and i don't seem to have to do a thing and other days all the effort in the world and there's still a clunk. i have flown with excellent pilots with the same experience. i put it down to the aviation humility god, the one that helps us keep our egoes in check. he'll visit often and just be glad that it's all part of the learning experience which never stops. aviation is one of those things which the more you know the more you realise you don't know. humility makes a great pilot

Well done..

Your a perfectionist who has decided
that early braking is not a good idea..

Heels on the floor until ready for
gentle braking next time..

It a learning experience...