Flight# 34 - First Solo Flight!

Bill had asked me to perform only two take offs and landings and come back to where I dropped him off earlier. I taxied off to Runway 5 and went through the run up checklist. There are only 2-3 other flights in the pattern. I positioned behind a plane that just landed pushed the throttle as soon as it cleared the runway. The plane climbed spiritedly without Bill sitting next to me reaching 1000 ft before I even turn downwind. I announced my position on each leg of the pattern identifying myself as a student pilot. Bill was listening on his transceiver and watching my landings.

The first one around the pattern was a perfect rectangular pattern and the landing was not perfect but good. Bill congratulated me over the radio. I greased the landing on the second one even though base to final turn was not rectangular. I taxied back to the flight school and Bill was waiting with a scissors. He cut my T-shirt on the back. This is a tradition that dates back to the time when pilots were trained in tandem planes. We also took some pictures.

The Hobbs time of this flight was 0.4 hours. Cumulative Hobbs time: 35.6 hours. Below are the photos taken right after my first solo: