Well, did my first solo on the weekend! Went up with my instructor first and
did 2
touch and go's than on the third time around he asked me to do a full stop,
and he'd get out and I could do one on my own.
"Are you happy with that?" he asked.
We landed, and taxiied off the runway and the plan was to taxi back up to
the entry point of the runway, and he'd get out. A Cessna was taxiing from
my left. We were both going to reach the taxi intersection at the same
time.
Instructor asked me who had right of way. I told him that we did. "Do you
think he's going to stop?" he asks.
"Nope!" I said.
I stopped my a/c, and the Cessna didn't even acknowledge me. Just kept
sailing through the intersection. My instructor got on the radio and made
the comment "So much for the rules of taxiing!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" came the reply.
I thinking great! I'm about to solo, and I'm about to be caught up in an
air rage incident.
My instructor politely reminded him that we had right of way.
The other guy suggested that he would have been blocking our route if he
had stopped for us, but this was based on the incorrect assumption that we
were heading back to the hangars. Anyway, nothing more was said, and we
pulled in behind him and waited for him to take off.
My instructor got out, wished me luck and began his walk back to the
office.
I made my runway entry call, and took off. Without the instructor in the
right seat, the a/c certainly got off the ground a lot quicker, and the
rate of climb was much better. Normally, I'm at about 800 feet when I'm
turning onto my downwind leg when I'm doing circuits. This time, I was at
1000 feet before turning onto downwind.
Air was fairly smooth, skies were crystal clear. The wind was a bit gusty
on my final approach, and the head wind strengthened a bit since the last
touch and go, but I was prepared for it. Needed a little extra power to
flatten the approach a little, but I ended up quite happy overall with my
performance so far. Landing was good, with only a slight balloon before
touch down. Without the instructor in the a/c she wanted to float a bit
more than I was expecting.
As I taxied to the tie down bays, my instructor was still walking back to
the office. Unfortunately he missed my landing! A few of the old timers
were watching however, and came up and congratulated me as I walked back to
the office with the hugest grin on my face. They reported to my instructor
that my landing was great.
Filled in the log book, and got the all important rubber stamp put in it.
I'm a happy chappie!
Total hours before solo: 7.0.
Total hours after solo: 7.2.
--
Oz Lander
I'm not always right,
But I'm never wrong!