Haven't seen any threads here on your first solo flight.  Let me start one.

The year was 1956 or 57.  The years elude me now.  The aircraft was a Luscombe 8E on floats.  A great aircraft to learn to fly in because it has a stick instead of a yoke and the instructor sat next to you.

We had only been doing air work for about 30 minutes when the instructor said, "Take us in."

So I entered the pattern, landed, and taxied to the dock.  The instructor told me to leave the engine running.  Then he got out, grabbed a strut, and pushed me out into the water.  He yelled, "Give me three landings!"

The knot in my stomach felt like a watermelon,  I doubt I could have swallowed a sip of water.  I taxied out tp the center of Richardson bay and muddled whether I should take off or taxi back to the dock and tell my instructor I wasn't ready yet.

The wind was light and the water had a slight chop on it.  Perfect conditions for a first solo.  But I was scared.

I pushed in the throttle and soon was going fast enough to rock the plane onto the step.  Then I was airborne.  

I stared out the front window.  I was afraid to look to either side.  I finally reached 500 feet and at the end of Tiburon Peninsula I turned left onto my base leg.

Tiburon peninsula was a narrow strip of land that jutted out into  San Francisco Bay.  The FBO, Commodore Center, was on the narrower Richardson Bay side.

When I cleared the peninsula I turned onto my downwind leg.  Soon I was upon the little valley where we always turned base.  I turned base and began adjusting the throttle.  By the time I was ready to turn final my power and altitude were about right.  This was the point here I forgot about the knot in my stomach and concentrated on the landing.  Before I knew it I was on the water ready to start again.

My second circuit I wasn't quite as nervous.  Things became more automatic.  I looked out the side windows and watched the wing tip cut a line over the houses in Tiburon.  I turned base and then final and landed with a bit more confidence.

On my third circuit I was humming to my self.  And as I turned onto my last final I think I said out loud, "I'm a pilot!"

I taxied to the dock.  My instructor was grinning as he grabbed the strut and gave me the hand signal to cut the engine.

He tied the plane to the dock and we walked to the office where he told me to pull out my shirt.  He cut off the shirt tail and nailed to the wall at the end of a line of several others.  It was the best trophy I ever got.

Who could ever forget their first solo?

Noel

 

My first solo was a few days after my 16th birthday in 1988 in Apple Valley, Ca. I started taking lessons when I was 14 1/2, so by the time I reached the legal age to solo and had my 3rd class medical, I’d already had tons of lessons and flying experience. It wasn’t even really a surprise that I was going to solo that day since my instructor and I had been talking about it for weeks leading up.

Basically we went up and did a few touch and go’s and then a full stop to let him out. Ironically though, on the last landing we were almost t-boned by a Piper Cub that either didn’t have a radio or wasn’t communicating in the pattern. KAPV only had a Unicom for people to report their intentions and positions. We announced we were turning base to final when this guy came right over the top of us. Being in a high wing Cessna we couldn’t see him above and he hadn’t been reporting. 

Aside from that, the first solo was fine and I wasn’t even nervous. I was actually really happy that I wasn’t going to have to pay for an instructor for a while, lol.

My first solo....hasn't happened. At this point, I don't know if it's going to.

My first Solo was November 9, 1997, I was smiling ear to ear. At the time I was living in Toronto, Canada and went to school at Buttonville Airport. We were flying the C150's back then. It is a great feeling having the plane to yourself for the first time.

13 hours ago, birdguy said:

The year was 1956 or 57.  The years elude me now.  The aircraft was a Luscombe 8E on floats. 

noel .... you & i share a decade of fond memories it seems.

mine were of a cub on dry land.

I'd love to hear what the Luscombe panel was .. the cub was sparse as i grew to see.

Edited July 2, 20187 yr by vadriver

So here is something, I have over 1500 hours (all but 300 hours in various King Airs), an ATP, MEII, and a rotorcraft endorsement and have never solo'd. Beauty of military flying I guess.

The Luscombe was pretty bare John.  No artificial horizon.  Just a turn and bank indicator, VSI, IAS calibrated in MPH, and the engine instruments.  No electrical system.  You just flipped the ignition switch and someone had to prop the engine.  No lights so we couldn't fly at night.  No radios.  It was just a no frills flying machine.

Noel

Lyons Luscombe for FSX (works in PD3 too) pretty well has it laid out except for the light switches.

My first solo was the year 2000 in a Piper Warrior at Schaumburg Regional Airport (06C) about 8 miles west of O'Hare. My instructor was getting angry at me because I wasn't having the prettiest landings, but after three good ones he set me free. This is for sure something I will never forget, and in fact, I found it easier to land alone than with the instructor inside.

Cheers, Pete

7 hours ago, 19dcavscout said:

So here is something, I have over 1500 hours (all but 300 hours in various King Airs), an ATP, MEII, and a rotorcraft endorsement and have never solo'd. Beauty of military flying I guess.

You get crazy stories like that from servicemen. I met a guy who was in his 50s and getting his civilian drivers licence for his first time, because he enlisted at 18 and had a military one his entire life which was good enough as long as you are enlisted, and he could drive tanks, armored vehicles etc. His first day of civilian life he had to do all of his drivers tests from the beginning and all the way through

First solo was 2/29/2000. Leap year!  Nice wx for Western New York for a day in February. One thing that made it fun was on my second touch and go ATC extended my crosswind leg out over one of the local colleges and had me hold there to accommodate a Mercy Flight helicopter heading to the local Trauma center. 

  Definitely a day to remember. 

 

Kevin

 

6 hours ago, birdguy said:

You just flipped the ignition switch and someone had to prop the engine. 

on floats ...... that I would have wanted to watch !

The dock boy propped it for you John.

Noel