Gareth's Logbook: First Solo!

I woke up Sunday Morning wondering why the alarm was going off when it was still dark outside, then I remembered, Today would be the day (again)!

As I was getting ready and making a cup of tea, Melodies mother Jan pulled into the driveway, she had decided to come and watch today's attempt. We eventually hit the road around 6:40 AM and headed to Riverside airport. As you might imagine, traffic was pretty light, so we made good time.

The sun was just rising over the horizon as I finished the pre-flight inspection, the plan for the day was to do a few trips around the pattern to get warmed up and any final kinks worked out, then drop Bob off at the viewing area where Melodie, Jan and Mike were waiting to watch my flight.

We got the Cessna 152 fired up, and taxied toward the sunrise, we had the airport to ourselves as we completed the run-up and got lined up on runway 19 Right. We were given clearance to make a left turn into a left traffic pattern so we could do our work on the parallel runway, 19 Left.

The sky was clear, and the winds just starting to blow gently from the southeast as we completed our pattern practice, when I noticed Bob pull my Medical Certificate / Students Pilot License out of my log book, he was signing me off for Solo flight! He radioed the tower saying "We're going to do a taxi-back on this landing so we can drop off the Instructor for a students first solo"

I didn't even try to keep the grin off of my face.

I landed the plane, exited the runway, and taxied to the run-up area in front of the viewing pavilion. Bob asked me if I had any last questions, I said no, and he climbed out. Just before he closed the door, he told me "Good luck, and have fun!" then I was alone in the plane.

As I eased in the throttle to taxi back to the runway, I thought to myself "Why am I not scared right now? Why should I be? I want to do this!" I got to the holding area at the end of 19L, and waited, Bob had told me that I shouldn't have to ask for clearance, as the tower would be watching anyway, so I waited a bit more.

After about a minute, I decided heck with it, "Riverside Tower, Cessna 69212 is holding short of 19 Left for close pattern work" Maybe that was a part of the test, because I was immediately cleared onto the runway and given the go-ahead for a left pattern. I lined up on the runway centerline, gave everything a quick check, then pushed in the throttle. As I reached 50 knots I eased back on the controls, and the plane lifted off the runway.

"This is it," I thought, "now I Have to land."

Without Bob in the right seat, the plane climbed much faster, so I was at pattern altitude before I even made my turn on to the downwind leg. I ran through the after takeoff checklist, then I was abeam the numbers, so I got set for the descent. I came in high on the first landing, and landed a little long, but still had room to get slowed down before my runway exit came up.

"That's one of three done!" I thought to myself. The tower controller told me to exit the runway, taxi back to the start of 19 Left, and that I was cleared to take off.

As I was taxiing back to the runway, some small birds were flying around right in front of the plane, sometimes landing on the taxiway right in front of me, I was worried about running them over, but I guess they are used to the airplanes, so they stayed just barely out of the way. I got back to the runway, pushed in the throttle and took off again.

My second landing was a little low on the approach, so I waited before dropping in full flaps, and kept the engine RPMs up until I was back on the proper approach path, showed by the red and white lights next to the runway.The landing itself was pretty good, as I was starting to get used to the way the now lighter plane was flying without Bob next to me.

"Two down, one to go"

Again I was given clearance to taxi back around and immediately take off. I told myself that the third landing needed to be perfect, I had done high and low approaches, so this one should be the Goldilocks version, Just Right.

I made the turn from base to final just a little early, so I had to make a small correction to get lined up on the runway, but I was showing one red, and one white, so I was at the correct altitude. I dropped in full flaps, pitched the nose down to maintain 60 knots, and absolutely greased the landing, I was so pleased with myself.

I exited the runway and taxied back to the viewing pavilion, Melodie was grinning and waving, Bob and Mike came over to the plane and congratulated me on my first solo.

Bob climbed back in and as we were on the other side of the airport from our flight schools parking area, we took back off, did a right turn pattern, and Bob explained that we would try a "soft field landing" and walked me through it. The idea is to keep the plane airborne above the runway and ease it down, while keeping the nose high and holding the nose gear off the ground for as long as possible. When we touched down, it was a little rough when the main gears hit, but we still kept the nose up for practice on that part.

We got the plane tied down, and talked about the flight, now it's time to start thinking about Cross-Country trips, and more practice maneuvers.