Went Solo Today!

[Jimmy]

Hey guys,

As promised, I wanted to let you know I finally took to the air by myself this afternoon. Its been three years since my first flight, with a little over 10 hours now I was feeling ready to go for it.

The weather was reasonably calm at Rangiora today, with a bit of rough stuff on finals, so better than the last few weeks. In CUW, a Cherokee 140, we did some circuits, going through the usual stuff and emergencies. I wasn't expecting to go solo today, so was surprised when my instructor got us to do full stop and asked if I wanted to do one myself.

It went prety smoothly, I had fun, avoided the other traffic and made a decent landing. It seemed prety weird not having an instructor there, and I did get up to circuit height a bit quicker!

I didn't get any photos to share as I wasn't expecting it today.

So yea, I'm stoked I finally did it. All my time mucking around on here must have helped.

James

[ashton]

congratulations man
hope one day i can afford to go flying too

[Ian Warren]

Well done James , guess the change from Wiggy to Rangi , was it disappointing or exciting , but anyway from here were do you go .

[Ace]

Congrats Jimmy, a memory you will never forget I bet

[AlisterC]

Well done James. Good to hear from you, and best of luck for the future of flying

[Kelburn]

Congrats. I'm gonna do my license full time starting in a few weeks - hope too get solo asap.
Did you have any freak moments like you do in exams and randomly forget something you knew all along or was it all smooth?

[FlyingKiwi]

Congratulations - that's something you'll remember for the rest of your life.

[ardypilot]

Well done Jimmy!

[Jimmy]

Thanks guys,

Yea I made the change to Rangiora, rather than changing to CAC, I reakon its worth the $10 in petrol to get there and back. It was definately exciting too, wasn't really anything to frightening, after doing so many with the instructor before it was prety hard to forget something.

From here, its solo consolidation, so a couple of circuits with an instructor then solo circuits, and three hours of that. Followed by advanced training, and all the exams.

James

[towerguy]

welcome to the club mate
well done

[spongebob206]

Congrates mate

Well Done

[benwynn]

Congrats! Must be really exciting the first time, good luck with the rest of your training.

[Anthony]

Congratulations James!
I kind of know what you men about it feeling weird - when I got my restricted drivers license, it felt so 'illegal' not having a supervisor with me.

[A185F]

WOW massive gongrats James !! Who was your instructor ?? You'll remember that forever.
Good on you

[Jimmy]

QUOTE (A185F @ Jun 24 2009, 09:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

WOW massive gongrats James !! Who was your instructor ?? You'll remember that forever.
Good on you

Thanks , Sarah Collins, I'v done most of my flying with her, shes a good instructor.

James

[ZKTOM]

I'm on 2.5 hours and up to power and flap stalling-followed by circuits... Do you need to have at least ten hours for solo or is it just whenever you are ready?

[HardCorePawn]

There is no 'hard and fast' rule on when you go solo. You will be sent solo when your instructor (and/or a B-Cat) deem you ready

However, I think they've changed some of the rules about having certain exam passes before solo cross countries etc... and quite possibly the English Language Proficiency thing...

[flyandy]

Hey Man

Well done, from my ltd experience with other aviators, no matter how many squillion hours they have, they all remember their first solo. Welcome to the club.

The bad new is you now know that the aircraft will perform better without your instructor. You can't wait to kick him or her out again to go solo!

Keep up the good work - may all your turns be left, rejoins standard overhead and at RT - keep your eyes peeled for those crazy Nordo chaps!

[Syncop8r]

Well done.
I fly out there as well (currently with Colin Gittens).

However I just rang to book my next lesson and was told they're not operating anymore.