PPL Lesson 17: First Solo

So today there was a break in the weather and I managed to get in PPL Lesson 17: First Solo.

If you have been keeping up with my blog posts you will see that I have been trying to go solo for the best part of a month but the weather or the planes breaking have prevented this.
Today I saw that there was a gap in the weather and decided to use my lunch break to get my solo in!
I arrived at the school and as I was pressed for time my instructor (Martin) had already fueled the plane for me.
I did a quick A check on the plane to make sure it was fit to fly,then my instructor got us going to save time.
We taxied and I did one solo with him which went perfect. The wind was calm and we did the usual process which consists of

1. Start climbing and do climb checks.
2. Climb to 500ft
3. Do a climbing turn to 1000ft
4. Wait for the power to exceed the white arc
5. Power back to 2300rpm
6. Call downwind
7. Do downwind check
8. Carb heat in, power to 1700 turn base, keep the nose up to bleed the speed of to get back in the white arc.
9. Pitch for 70, set flaps, use power to maintain decent rate
10. Look out, then turn final
11. Get landing clearance
12. Do finals checks
13. Aim for 65kts and use power to land
14. Carb heat in at 200
15. Cut the power at the threshold
16. Flare

Now all that comes quite natural and it is reassuring with your instructor in the seat next to you.
However after we landed and taxied down Charlie, my instructor said he was getting out and as long as it’s ok with me, I can do it myself?
Hell yeah it’s ok with me, let’s go!My identity now changed to Student Golf Yankee Bravo to indicate that I was a trainee flying solo.
I requested taxi to A1, and at that point requested clearance to take off and lined up on the runway.
It was just me, nobody else, they had faith that I can do it.
I set max power and off we went, I got the 55kts and rotated into the climb.
It was really rocky on the way up as I was used to the weight of two people in the plane! On top of this without the instructor the plane climbed a lot quicker than normal.
The circuit was pretty standard until I came into land, it was a lot windier than it was on the previous one.
You naturally aim the plane to correct the cross wind and I started to come in. I reached 200ft and put the carb heat to cold.
I crossed the threshold and cut the power and used the rudder to try to aim the plane straight.
Next I waited then flared on the landing and touched down! Yay me!
However due to the strong winds the plane took a bit of controlling however I got it under control.
The Air Traffic controller came on the radio and asked me if that was my first solo, “yeah, that obvious hey” I said.
“Nope that was actually pretty impressive, well done, taxi via Charlie and park at customs”
“Thanks” I replied.
Wait a min im still a pilot, I need to complete the call. “Taxi via Charlie and park at customs, Golf Yankee Bravo.
I did my after landing checks and then taxied to custom where my instructor was waiting.
He said the landing was pretty good and we discussed that the wind had increased!
He sent me in 8kts crosswind, when I left which was maybe 10 mins after landing, I took this screen shot from my weather app.

As you can see that gives around a 13kt crosswind. I reckon the crosswind during my flight was 10-11kts.
We got back inside and I got a little souvenir certificate, hand shakes and smiles all round.
This was my big chance to log my first P1 so what do I do? Write my instructors name of course 🙂
A bit of tipex and I now have exercise 14 complete (first solo) in 16.6 hours. It could have prob been done a little bit quicker but I’m happy with that.
Then the drive back to home with the biggest grin on my face 🙂

Thinking of training via the modular route? Or started and still have questions? Then read The Essential Modular Flight Training Guide.