My first solo!

I did my first solo today! Pilot-in-command for 10 minutes! And what's really cool is that today is the 113th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight.

I knew it might be coming today. My instructor and I did a few circuits together so I could get warmed up and see how I felt. After 3 or 4 of them, he said, "So, do you think you can do this by yourself?" I said, "Do you?!" He said, "Yup." And he got out of the plane, wished me well, and sent me on my way.

I wasn't nervous at all. I just did what I had to do. Halfway through, he called up to me on the radio and asked how I was. I said I was just fine. I flew a nice circuit, did everything right, and managed a pretty nice landing, to boot!

That tiny speck in the middle of the picture is me in my plane on final for Rwy 28

After I shut down, I went inside to fill out the logs. I was happy and proud and acted all cool like but I was shaking so hard I could hardly write! The magnitude of that little flight had finally hit me! What a day! I can fly a plane by myself!

Getting ready to solo

Preparation is the name of the game in aviation so over the past few weeks, I've been not only continuing to fly but also doing some other things to prepare for my first solo. My instructor told me that the time is coming, although I don't feel in any rush! 

In Canada, two written exams are required in order to get a student pilot permit, which you don't need to take lessons but you do need to fly solo. On November 2, I wrote the first of the two exams and earned my aeronautical radio operator license. This exam tests knowledge about radio phraseology, protocol, and emergencies. On November 15, I wrote and passed the Pre-Solo Test of Air Regulations (PSTAR), which was the second of the two exams. Today, I finally got the actual piece of paper! I got a bit choked up when the chief flight instructor gave it to me. It's my first license to fly!

The first solo involves flying the circuit. The circuit is a standard rectangular pattern that includes taking off, climbing out, turning back, flying the approach, and landing. It takes 5-7 minutes to fly and it's a busy few minutes! All of the flying that I've been doing in the past five or so weeks has been circuits, to get me ready to do it alone. Up, around, and down. Repeat. Some days were trickier and I flew not only with my instructor but also with two other instructors to try to hear the instruction differently and get over some of my hangups and bad habits. Other days were fabulous! On one great day, I did five circuits and my instructor said he was totally relaxed and was just along for the ride. That felt good!

In position on Runway 10 at Cooking Lake, departing to the circuit

Just to mix things up a bit, my instructor and I flew to other airports to do our circuits. On November 11, we flew 18 nautical miles north to Josephburg to do circuits on the longer, wider, quieter runway there. The big adventure came when we went to Villeneuve on Nov 28, and again on Dec 3, to practice there. Villeneuve is on the other side of the city from my airport so we traveled 30 NM to get there and flew in controlled airspace, both over the city and at Villeneuve itself, since it's a towered airport. It was a great experience and it's beautiful to fly over the city. 

Flying over the city, heading home to Cooking Lake

I have continued to love my lessons and enjoy the progress I've made. I've done tons of circuits now and should be almost ready to do one by myself. I have a great instructor and we've had a lot of fun and it makes me feel secure having him there beside me. But the point of all of this is to be able to go off by myself someday so the first little 7 minute excursion will be a big step in that direction. 

It's coming together

October was a month of wonderful flying. Things have started to come together for me. The terror of that first lesson has receded and I'm gaining confidence in handling the plane. The fall is becoming winter and the views from 2000' or 3000' above the ground are incredible.

Already by my lesson on October 4, less than one month after starting my lessons, I was able to take the controls for the whole flight, doing the take-off, climb, turns, radio calls, descent, and landing. It's amazing to me that just a few weeks of lessons can take a student pilot to this point. Of course, my instructor is right there beside me and I could not possibly do it without him, but his role has become teacher and guide, rather than the-one-who-actually-flies-the-plane.

This month, I was introduced to what is somewhat euphemistically known as "upper air work." This involves learning to recover from "unusual attitudes," where the plane is not in the right position for flying. We did a few lessons where we practiced stalls, spiral dives, and spins. When an airplane stalls, it doesn't mean the same thing as in a car. In a car, a stall means that the engine has quit; in an airplane, it means that the wings are not able to develop lift because of the angle of flight so they stop flying. At the point of stall, the nose suddenly drops down as the plane loses lift. A spiral dive occurs when the airplane turns so steeply that it overbanks and starts to descend in a high-speed spiral. A spin is caused when the plane stalls but one wing drops dramatically. In a spin, the nose points straight down to the ground and the airplane spins like a corkscrew.

These are dramatic maneuvers! I loved doing them! To feel the loss of lift in the stall and the forces in the spiral, and to see the ground turning and coming at you in the spin is quite a rush! Amazingly, recovery from these dangerous situations is easy, assuming you recognize that they are happening. I definitely do not want to practice these by myself. Eventually I will have to practice stalls solo - the other two I just hope I never cause. These are major upsets with dire consequences if not recognized and remedied. It's one thing to plan to do them and to do them with an instructor but it would be quite another to be surprised by them. I would have to try very hard to keep my wits about me if they happened inadvertently.

At this point, I have covered a lot of the basic exercises, although there is still much to learn. I still haven't flown solo and I have to learn other skills such as instrument flying and navigation. But I have some basic flying skills now and it feels good.

Commitment!

Over the last two weeks, I've had a few lessons and have focused on flying the plane straight and level, doing turns, and on taxiing. I've learned about climbing and descending as well. To initiate a climb, you have to give the plane full power, which I am reluctant to do, it seems, because it's scary. I am also a bit nervous about descending because you have to pull the power back - also scary because you start going down, which is the point but it's still scary.

What frightens me is taking control, having control of so much power. It's such a commitment! I have never felt such a sense of responsibility (even though my instructor is right beside me). I have to develop the confidence to take the responsibility and to tell the plane what I want it to do.

There's nothing like take-off to make you feel the rush of power! I did my first one today. Leading up to this, I have learned that the plane requires a lot of right rudder pedal on take-off to compensate for all of the forces that want to turn it to the left. All ready for this then, I hammered in that right rudder when it was time to take off - except that it was right brake instead (rudder is the bottom of the pedal, brake is the top). So instead of roaring down the runway, we did a full donut. My instructor said that was a first for him. We lined up again. I advanced the throttle. Full power! Right rudder! Runway rushing by! Pull back! Up we went!

Climbing out over the lake

It's a commitment to fly a plane but take-off is the ultimate commitment. There is a short window where you can back out of it, but, for the most part, once that throttle goes in, you are all in! You have to be brave and sure and ready to dive into that commitment and everything that comes after it.

This is a great life lesson for me: If you're going to do anything transcendent, you have to go for it!

And so it begins....

My dad is a pilot and so I grew up around small planes. I had my first airplane ride in the winter of 1965, when I was two years old. Over the years, I spent hundreds of hours in the air with him. A few years ago, he sold his last plane without telling me and when I found out, I cried and cried. A huge part of my life was over.

My dad owned that last plane with a partner, who has since built himself a lovely little RV7. In June, he took me for a ride in it.

As it happened, we had climbed into that little plane in front of the hangar of a flight school. After the ride, I went inside to inquire about how much flying lessons would cost. About a month later, my dad's former airplane partner gave me an aviation headset, which my dad delivered to me, along with a fresh pilot's logbook that my dad had never used. The message seemed pretty clear at that point: I had to learn to fly. After years of being my dad's passenger, it was finally dawning on me that I could be the pilot!

So, last Wednesday, I walked into that flight school for my first ground school class and today, I logged my first flight as a student pilot. It was an out-of-body experience! Terrifying! I mean, I have been in a Cessna for many, many flights but I never had to fly it! Sure, I had taken the controls here and there but it was never my responsibility to try to do it right! My instructor did everything but once we were up, I had to take the controls and fly it straight and level. It was hard and stressful! But, truth be told, it was also wonderful and awesome and fun and I know I was right where I want to be.

I have embarked on something amazing, something that is going to change my life. I know it.