Progress

May 28 2011
I arrived at the airfield under a mass of clouds. To the west rain was forming. Looking out at the hangars, I could see that they were closed up. There were no planes out on the grass area except for a Cessna 175. I hoped the weather would still be good for flying. The previous week I missed out because of strong winds. Today, there were almost no winds.

I stepped up into the airfield building. A radio scanner was on the table next to a television. Occasional broadcasts were transmitted from time to time. I was going to switch the frequency to 120.5 but I left it alone.

I met my flight instructor inside. Despite it looking like a rainy day, it seemed the weather was going to pass and everything would continue as normal. In fact, there was already another flight being performed at that very moment.

I sat down at the table, and started going through some flight magazines. At that moment, I heard a radio transmission come through the scanner.
“Penfield Traffic, Texan 5131 on base leg for runway 18, touch and go.”
So my aircraft was still in the air. I sat patiently, watching the aircraft land.

Once the plane stopped after taxiing next to the building, I went outside to preflight after the previous occupants exited. With everything being good to go, my flight instructor double checked and got in the aircraft with me. After we finished the pre-start check, I started the engine and we taxied out to Runway 18.

I noticed that where the void on the panel was before, a GPS unit was fitted snugly within. It was a Garmin Aera. On the way out, my flight instructor showed me some things about it with its touchscreen.

The taxi out to runway 18 took a while, with the taxiway occasionally covered in little puddles in a few places. There was even a small puddle directly in the middle of the taxiway where around five pigeons appeared to be having a chat. We took off soon after the pre-takeoff checks as we arrived at the threshold of Runway 18.

It took me a while to get used to flying again after two weeks of being grounded, because of weather. That was possibly the reason for almost banking nearly 30 degrees in a climbing turn. Luckily I quickly realised my mistake and swiftly corrected.

Because the circuits at my airfield are always to the west, I found myself doing right turns in the circuit. This was inconvenient as it was hard to see with my flight instructor sitting beside me.

On downwind leg, I did a reasonable job of holding altitude and speed steady before we completed pre-landing checks. He pointed out that my downwind was still angling in slightly toward the runway. Not again!

I had to correct left to give some distance for base leg. Once in the turn I gave the radio call and proceeded to pull the throttle back to idle to slow down and start descending. I added one stage of flaps and turned on the carburettor heat. Streaks of rain droplets ran across our windscreen as we flew through them.

On final I found myself too high, so I kept the throttle at idle all the way until touchdown. This landing however wasn’t too nice because my flare was too short, and it resulted in a bump. I kept the pressure off the nosewheel as I applied full thrust for the go-around and took off again, retracting the flaps in stages. I did a climbing turn onto crosswind this time being careful not to bank over 15 degrees.

Leveling off in the turn I appeared to have a rough hand and almost jerked the throttle back. The engine didn’t like it and shuddered a bit. I silently apologized to the plane as I set the power. We eventually settled on 85 knots in the circuit.

This time around, after flying through rain droplets again on base, I ended up with a good approach. I flew steadily down to the runway. I flared, but almost ballooned. I realised that I left the power on, so I quickly went back to idle and touched down much more smoothly than the last attempt.

Again, I set full throttle for the go around, with right rudder to keep straight. I made another good turn onto crosswind, but almost forgot to release the right rudder after levelling off.

I turned onto downwind, using the GPS to help me as I had a slight difficulty with seeing the runway with my instructor in the way.

On downwind this time I kept straight, and did a touch-and-go once again. On the fourth circuit my instructor kept quiet, so I had to do everything myself, which I managed. I was feeling confident in the cockpit again.

After our fourth landing, we did a full stop and taxied off the runway. It was here that my instructor decided to let me loose in the circuit, flying solo. I didn’t say anything, but I was excited. I listened to him giving some last-minute instructions to me, and some advice, such as being prepared to have the aircraft climb faster with only one person in it, and saying checks aloud to help. We taxied back up to the end of runway 18. He then unplugged his headset and placed it in the back compartment before opening the canopy and getting out. Once he was out of the way with the canopy closed, he gave me the thumbs-up signal. I nodded.

I had a brief moment of blankness as I tried to start the engine, but it all surged back to me in a new determination. I didn’t want to mess this up.

I re-set the altimeter to indicate the aerodrome level, before starting the engine. Then, with the engine running smoothly, I switched on the radio and GPS, along with the strobe lights and fuel pump. The EFIS didn’t turn on automatically, so I manually turned it on. My flight instructor left the flaps at 15 degrees before he left.

With everything set, I advanced the throttle and taxied over to the holding point. Checking that there was nobody on final, I gave my takeoff call and lined up with the runway.

A smile formed on my lips. I had waited so long for this moment. And because there was nobody with me, I yelled aloud.

“Yeah! Let’s go baby!”

At least I wasn’t pressing the radio transmit button.

I was forced back into my seat as the engine advanced to full power. I kept the aircraft straight with some right rudder. In no time at all, I was at takeoff speed so I pulled back slightly on the stick. Very quickly I was airborne and climbing.

At a safe altitude, I retracted flaps and continued climbing, but at this rate I levelled out before commencing the crosswind turn, which usually happened with a climbing turn.

It was easy to see the runway on downwind. However, in an effort to stay parallel with the runway, I accidentally dipped the right wing slightly which ruined my effort. I quickly rolled back and continued flying toward base. I completed the pre-landing checks all aloud, which really helped.

In the base turn I gave the radio call. I turned on carby heat, pulled the throttle back to idle and started descending, while saying the steps out aloud. At 60 knots I added 15 degrees of flaps. The final came quick, but because before I tended to turn a bit late, I turned earlier this time, but it was too early and I ended up at a small angle.

After a few seconds I was lined up again, turning carburettor heat off and adding more flaps as I descended. When I was just above the runway, I pulled throttle back to idle and flared.

The aircraft landed nicely but firmly on the ground. I applied brakes, and turned off the taxiway where I turned off the switches and shut down the engine.

I sat there, silently thanking the plane.

My instructor walked over toward me. It seemed like a very long walk. Perhaps I should have taxied a bit closer to him.

I popped open the canopy as soon as he arrived.

“How was it?” he asked when he climbed back inside.

Words couldn’t describe what I was feeling. So instead I described the circuit itself, telling him how I dipped the wing on downwind and turned early onto final. He said it was okay, but from the ground he noticed that I landed not as soft as he liked. He said we could work on it in another lesson.

We closed up again and started taxiing back to the hangars. I stopped us in front of them. I stepped outside and into the building after we secured the aircraft.

Inside I wrote in my logbook. Today we had to add two entries: one for the flight before my solo, and for the solo itself.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of myself next the aircraft, which is usually the tradition.

My final two entries were 0.8 hours for the first flight, and 0.2 hours as Pilot In Command, with a total time of 10.7 hours.

I was really happy with that, because most people take usually around 15 hours to achieve their first solo.

But in the end it all comes down to being ready when you do it.

When the time comes for the full licence, I think I’ll be ready.