First solo flight (lesson 19) PPL
11 Jun 2005My birthday!! I was due to fly solo today (having taken and passed my air law exam earlier in the week) and I was extremely nervous as we were driving to the airport, after I gave in all the documents like my medical certificate etc, my instructor from Plymouth (who occasionally worked in Exeter too) wasn’t available on the day, so I went up with an instructor i’d never flown with before, for 5 circuits, all from the opposite runway to what I had been using in the previous flight.
I thought they were all a bit rubbish, landings were all bumpy because the touchdown zone on runway 08 is a bit strange at Exeter, there’s a dip in the runway, so it drops away and its difficult to judge how high off the ground you are, but the instructor seemed happy with how I flew and he just put it down to nerves. We taxied off the runway and he said, “Fancy going up on your own then?” So I said …. “yes”, he mentioned that he’d be listening on on the radio, & then got out of the plane and then signaled to me that I was ok to go!
I contacted the tower and requested taxi for takeoff, I taxied out past the viewing area (where my parents were watching from) to holding point B1, (which is about 1/4 of the way down the runway), as I has done earlier with the instructor, and did my pre takeoff checks. I watched a Spanair plane come in to land, but they decided that taxiway C was too small for them (it isn’t, it’s used frequently by bigger jets) and wanted to backtrack and come off where I was holding.
ATC allowed them to, so I was told that I needed to get out of the way for them, I turned around and moved back, turning right onto taxiway A (which i’d never been on). ATC had planned for me to be able to turn back again back to B1, but as the Spanair plane turned off the runway onto taxiway B, they thought I wasn’t far enough down taxiway A, so the tower asked me if i was ok to just carry on down to A1 (right at the start of the runway) - I said ok, so went down there and stopped.
I then had to wait for another two commercial flights to come in and land before I could take off, which felt like forever, but this was mostly so that i’d have the circuit to myself and wouldn’t have to contend with holding for them while in the air, as the tower knew I was doing my first solo flight.
Eventually I was cleared to take off and I distinctly remember thinking “ahh, I can’t believe I’m doing this” as I put full power on and began to roll down the runway!
As I lifted off, it felt so weird being in the air without the instructor, the plane handled much better and climbed a lot faster without the weight of a fully grown adult onboard!
When I got to 300ft aal (above aerodrome level) I can remember thinking “well I’ve got to land it somehow now!!” & I knew my Mum & Dad would be able to see me from the viewing area. But I didn’t try to look for them, just stayed fully focused on what I was doing.
I climbed to 800ft aal which is the circuit height at Exeter and I flew the rest of the circuit fine, I extended my downwind leg a bit because there was another GA plane on final approach but he managed to get out of the way quickly and I was cleared to land, the approach was perfect, the best I had done all day and the flare before landing seemed perfect but I think I held it off just a little too long, and too high, as it felt like it dropped on the runway with a bit of a bump, but I have done far worse landings before!
I taxied back in with a huge grin on my face, and the tower even said “well done” over the radio as they gave me the taxi instructions.I parked the aircraft with the instructor for that day marshalling me in, shut down the engine and he congratulated me with some grumblings about the SpanAir pilots and the wait i’d had before I could go,
As we secured the aircraft and walked back in, I didn’t seem like I had done it!! - my dad got a little choked up as he saw me in the flying school again, having witnessed it all from the viewing platform.
It was absolutely amazing day and experience, that i’ll never forget (I’m sure the same is true for all pilots) and I can’t wait to go up and do it again!