WOOHOO!

[cjsmith]

My coworker soloed today! Three times around the pattern, takeoff to landing. Even beyond the checkride, the first solo flight seems to be the defining moment for a pilot. I will never forget mine.

I'm bummed that I couldn't be there to see him fly, but Oh Well. He just peeked his head around the door to my cube a couple of minutes ago and wordlessly showed his T-shirt emblazoned SOLO.

I'll get the full scoop when our other pilot coworker is also available to take a chat break. I haven't yet spilled it to him that I was watching Saturday morning in case he soloed then. :-)

YAY first solo! I suspect he will never forget this day.

Comments

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

hooray!!!

i'd love to be a fly on the wall during the chat break to hear the details and soak up that enthusiasm.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

He is on cloud nine and my other coworker and I are making much of him. :-)

[tmc4242.livejournal.com]

My first solo was 23 years and 10 days ago. I soloed on my 16th birthday. Still remember it like it was yesterday. Had 3 other airplanes cut me out of the pattern on the first trip around. And this at KSLR -- not a super busy airport. I still remember being very surprised at how much better the airplane climbed without Dad in the right seat. My Dad, Richard Caldwell, was my instructor. He's still instructing and giving checkrides at Sulphur Springs Municipal.

Congrats to your friend.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh man, three people cut you off on your first solo? Obviously you were prepared to handle it well!

I too remember the rapid climb without my instructor.

Sulphur Springs? Been there! A virtual wave to your dad. (And he's a check pilot too, eh? Nifty!)

[tmc4242.livejournal.com]

It was real interesting. There was a high cloud deck ( 5-10K ft ) and the visibility was lousy. Just as I turned downwind a couple of 152's from one of the Dallas flight schools announced they were turning downwind at midfield, flight of two. Okay fine. Got them in sight. Widen pattern and prepare to extend downwind. When I was crossing where I would normally have turned base I looked down and saw one of the locals in his J-3 already on base. No radio of course, but I saw him. So I wound up really extending and flying a really long final. Annoying, but it worked.

Dad has been an instructor since about the time I was born. CFII since the early 70's and a designee since about 1980. He was the airport manager at KSLR from June of 1972 until sometime in 1999. Last time I asked he had something like 25000 hours -- all general aviation.

When were you through Sulphur Springs ? It used to be a really nice little airport, but the city has let it down lately. Non aviation folks are making important decisions now. Not good sometimes. Caldwell Aviation has a hangar on the old ramp still. If you make it back that way, stop by and say "Hi."

I literally grew up at that airport. Lived on the field from 1972 until about 1990 and still have the scars on my elbows and knees from learning to ride a bicycle on all that asphalt. ;-)

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Don't they still cut off the backs of their shirts, afterward?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Some do, some don't. My coworker was wearing a nice shirt, so I'm glad there's a little flexibility in that tradition. :-)

[rfrench.livejournal.com]

I don't follow that tradition with my students (this coworker included). I personally hate shopping for clothing so much that I would kill anyone who ruined a perfectly good shirt that I was wearing, so I don't inflict it on anyone else either. Instead what I do is take pictures of their landings and them standing next to the plane, and make a nice collage to hang on the club wall with their name and date.

[layer.livejournal.com]

awesome. tell him congratulations from me.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I did! :-) He's still grinning like a loon. I love hearing about people's first solos.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Yay! :-)


Maybe someday...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

You'd certainly have no trouble with the book-learning required, and I suspect your attention to detail would make you safer in the air as well. Maybe someday!

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

By the time I get the time and $$, I'd not only have to start over, I'd want to. :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I hear ya. Heck, I'm nearly starting over. It's the way it goes. If/when you get that time and money, there's no reason to let "starting over" stop you!

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

All of a sudden, you're all about posting the airplace porn, aren't you?? :) Stop stroking my imagination, darn it! ;)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, not only am I flying again and Rob still instructing full-time, but I have a coworker who is going through all this stuff I still remember so well from my first time around. Join us and all this will one day be yours! Come to the dark side!

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

But you killed my father!!!




Er, no, wait, that's probably not right. :)