Second Solo!

Posted on June 28, 2007 | Filed Under Flying 

Today I got the privilege of flying a plane without anyone else in the cockpit–and only one year and five days after I did it the first time. With things seemingly working against me today, the lesson went surprisingly well. After not having flown for over two weeks, and with scattered layers at around 5-7000 and thunderstorms on the horizon, I was mildly surprised when my CFI walked into the FBO and simply said: “You ready?”

Does a bear crap in the woods?

We went up, and after the first touch-and-go I was concerned. It wasn’t bad, but it was a bit squirrelly. On the next landing I got no comments, and when I asked for pointers, he said “None right now. You’re doing well enough that I’m just keeping quiet.” On the next time around I managed to elicit a “Very nice.” On the fourth time around we went to a full stop for me to drop him off at the FBO.

It’s amazing how a small, 108 HP engine can surprise you without “dead” weight in the right seat. :) Keeping the climbout at Vy it still seemed like I was a rocket compared to previous takeoffs.

Two t&g’s and one full stop later I was done. It was very nice. The tower and I were the only ones on the frequency, and things went very well.

It’s amazing how fun it was and how much differently things felt from two weeks ago. I think this was mostly due to mental preparation and a resolve that “Dammit, I’m going to have fun”.

Flight Time: 1.3 Hours

Total Time: 24.6 Hours, 1.4 PIC (w00t)

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