Solo Flight

Yeah, I know that it's not breaking news for some, but I think that the best way to start my blog would be to recount my solo flight experience. It took place in a 1969 Cessna 172 Skyhawk (Kilo model), which I will call 6-Golf on this blog. I landed three times, conditions were hot and hazy (Altimeter 30.14, Density altitude 2500ft, winds calm, 28°C). I didn't get the ceremonial "shirt-tail cut-off", but it still was a momentous occasion in my life. My instructor exited the aircraft and I flew the pattern, suddenly hearing every creak, engine vibration, and feeling every nosewheel shimmy with acute sensitivity. I'd only had 8.4hrs of dual instruction this year so it was a pretty quick solo.

Now, not to mislead anyone on what it might take to solo, I have been thinking about this moment on and off for the last 20 years and I've probably had about 30 hours of 2nd seat time in the last year.

As a little boy, I used to sit across the street from Don Scott Airport (OSU) and watch student pilots perform touch and gos in C152s for hours, hoping to get a glimpse of a corporate jet, like a Citation III or maybe a Dassault Falcon. I still have a few small stacks of photos that show a barren field with a speck somewhere in the frame barely resembling an aircraft. I paid for my own film development as a kid, so it must've been a significant aircraft for me to capture it on film. I recall poring over a dog-eared copy of "A Field Guide to Airplanes of North America" for endless hours, drawing aircraft to sharpen my recognition skills, identifying everything that flew overhead. I loved planes and read everything I could get my hands on that gave information about aviation. I knew that someday, somehow, I wanted to be a pilot. I'm just thankful that I have this opportunity to join that small group of old men that sit around the FBO and watch planes all day. I can't wait:).