Lesson 23 - 17th October - First Solo

First Solo

This is a day in your training that you will never forget and will only ever happen once.  You might do a first solo in a new aircraft type further down the line, but this will always be the first real solo.

The day was calm and even had a little bit of blue sky poking through.  I was originally booked in for an hour today but someone else cancelled and I took advantage and booked a second lesson slot, and it proved to be very worthwhile. 

Today was my first time using runway 0 7 which has a bit of a dog leg approach and also means you have to come in over a line of trees.  The land owner was supposed to have felled a gap in to the trees that was in line with the runway, but got it wrong, so you still have to come in over the trees.  I spent the hour learning the circuit and approach and as the hour went on, it got better.  There were a few things to pick up on such as getting the flare right and landing down the middle of the runway.  I was also a little bit quick applying the power on take off and need to be a bit more in control so as not to climb out too steeply.  Once this was pointed out, I was able to correct it.

After a break, we set about circuits again for about 35 minutes and then Dave asked me to return to the apron and shut down.  To be honest, I had kind of guessed it would be to go solo, but it was still nice to hear it from him telling me that he thought I was ready to go on my own.  He wanted to stop so he could add some ballast so the jump from 2 POB to 1 POB wasn't too much.  Once the ballast was added, Dave went through what I should do.  After all the appropriate checks, take off and join the circuit and do 3 full circuits at 500ft, over flying the runway.  This was to get me used to flying on my own, which I soon settled in to.  After that, it was a circuit, approach and landing.  

I couldn't have been happier.  I felt in full control of the speed on the approach and the correct use of the flaps, and it was a good approach and the round out and flare were almost spot on.  I was a bit to the left which I tried to compensate for once on the deck.  The whole 3 overflies and then circuit and landing took 25 minutes.  It felt like 5!! 

Next stage will be the consolidation of the solo.  That will be a small amount of dual and then pretty much a repeat of the above, 3 circuits at 500 feet  and then a full stop landing.  Taxi back and repeat.  They don't like students to do deliberate touch and goes at Clench unless it is a genuine go around.  This is because it is a small tight circuit. Maybe this will change as I get more hours under my belt.

I need to do a minimum of 2 hours solo in the circuit before I can start to venture further afield on my own.  This shouldn't take too long but we are getting to the part of the year that can be very variable for flying.  However, as I have said many times, this is not a race and it will take as long as it takes.

It is nice to have 25 minutes P1 time in my log book now.


This is a video taken a while ago, with my instructor flying but it shows the landing I had to make today but with all the tree line intact!


One day, when I feel a bit more comfortable, I may set up my GoPro and get some more video but we shall see. 

Purchases this post

2 hours - £270.00


Totals

Total Costs = £5035.11

Total Hours Icarus C42 = 23 hours 15 minutes

Total Hours PA-28 = 1.05

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Adventure Begins

Image
Introduction When I decided I wanted to learn to fly, I knew that I should somehow record my progress over and above a pilot's logbook.  I wanted a record not only for myself, but for others who may want to follow my path.  I used this same process when I built my GBS Zero kit car, and many people have referred to that blog for help and guidance.  Below is a picture of the car and this is the blog in case it is of interest: https://gbszerobuild.blogspot.com I have decided that the blog can be a record not only of the time taken, but also the costs associated with it.  I will keep a running 'Totals' section on each post. My Background I must have been about 8 when I was taken by my parents to visit my Uncle who, at the time, was a Wing Commander in the RAF for No 50 Squadron based at RAF Scampton.  I had no real idea what he did, but when he offered to take me and my Dad to see his aircraft, we jumped at the chance.  What I didn't expect was to ...
Read more

Lesson - 24 - 5th December 2020

Following the euphoria of the first solo it has been a quiet 7 weeks.  I had 3 weeks where the weather was against me and then another 4 week of the UK being in another COVID-19 lockdown.  The week leading up to this had also been unsettled and it wasn't until the actual flying day that I could see that it was going to be possible to fly at all. As I hadn't flown for 7 weeks, we decided that we would start by going away from the airfield just to get back in to it again.  We did some straight and level, level turns, climbing and descending turns and a couple of practice forced landings (PFLs). We then got back in to the nitty gritty of circuits and landings.  All in all they were reasonable considering the time since I last did them.  There were a few notes: 1. One landing I was too high and fast and I really should have gone around but instead landed a bit too long.  I was thinking it, but should have acted on it.  There is no shame going around! 2. An...
Read more

Lesson 30 - 8th June 2021

Lesson 30 - 8th June 2021 Today I was with the new instructor.  His name is David Rogerson, or Dave 2 as he is also known.  We were in the oldest of the 3 C42s, Charlie Oscar.  It may be the oldest, but there is something about it that I like, from a flying perspective.  It just seems to fly nicer than the other 2. Dave 2 decided we would start with a couple of circuits, just so he could assess me and then I could go on and complete the extended circuits again.  However, the weather was very thermic and after a couple of aborted landing son runway 2 5, I advised that I was not comfortable flying on my own today, which Dave 2 agreed was a good shout. We flew away from the airfield to do some general handling.  This included a couple of PFLs.  Interestingly, Dave 2 indicated that the PFL and the circuit re-join were 2 of the main items of the GST that are focussed on.  As usual, I talked my way through everything so Dave 2 was aware of my thinking p...
Read more