Solo!

SO! It's finally happened, I can finally call myself a proper pilot. Today was 'solo day' in the old Cesnna 152. As promised I have attached a live video update, do please excuse the 'umms' and 'errrrs' I'm sure I'll get better at it with time, I was a bit "chuffed" as you can imagine.

The circuit was brilliant and one I will always remember.  I was unaware when I set out that today I would be sent solo. The day started like every other, and I thought I would try and grab Clive for an hour to just do some more training.

We started with a short field take off, carrying on from my last sortie to Headcorn (EGKH) which I'm very happy to report that I have finally got the hang of! Climbing up into standard left-hand circuit from Runway21, we began talking about the different types of landing Clive wanted me to perform during the training session. After the first circuit, we climbed back up and began the preparation for a short-field, full flap landing, which went just brilliantly, if a little way off the centre line. There then followed a 'flapless' landing, which also went well, apart from having too much speed on the approach, which I later bled off in the flare. Finally, I was asked to perform a glide approach, consisting of simply landing the aeroplane without the power of the engine. This is an art I recall from my gliding experience in the Air Cadets. I then executed one final standard landing....


.... Now, the solo was sprung on me somewhat..... After landing from the last circuit, Clive declared that he had control, which first made me think that something was wrong. While rolling down the runway he then began a radio transmission that went as follows;

"G-BSTP, Lydd, that was to land in fact, not touch and go, we'll exit at Charlie if that's okay, I'm going to hop out and send my student solo" 

This led to a frankly embarrassingly child like grin from me, that was then replied to with a smile and a nod from Clive. followed by; 

Clive - "Now do you feel confident enough to do it"

Me- "Yes most definitely!"

Clive- "Excellent, I'll be up in the tower, if there's any trouble stay calm and let us know, have fun!"

Those were the last words I remember. After the door shut behind Clive I was in "fully concentrating" mode. I can honestly say, though, only having just completed this huge milestone in my training, I can remember very little about it. It seems to me like my main focus were numbers and questions I  was asking myself;

'How high am I?'

'Where am I in the circuit?'

'Where's that other traffic?'

'What speed should I be doing?'

But I do recall turning onto base leg to land and being number 3 in traffic, which put my off a little but the advantage of being by one's self is that you have complete control of situation.  So I simply extended down wind to allow extra time to set up for landing and FINALLY managed to land on the centre line! It certainly came good at the moment of truth!

Thank you all so much for the support, I really feel like I'm getting somewhere now and I can't wait to share more of my experiences with you all.

Above; One very happy chap indeed, post solo next to TP.

Below; The log book entry, highlighted in blue to be forever remembered.