My wife’s first solo flight(s)
This Saturday K woke up early for a momentous occasion: her first solo flight. I stayed behind to sleep in a bit and, with that properly accomplished, to gather up the camera gear (including a tripod I bought special for the event).
I went out to the airport at 8:30 – just in time to see K and her instructor heading down the taxiway for their first practice takeoff of the day.
John was in his hangar repairing a wheel pant on his microlight so I stopped by and bugged him for a bit with idle chatter. I was nervous for K – I thought she was soloing a little early though later I’d realize she had more hours than my mental math gave her credit for. I also knew she was packing quite a few butterflies in her stomach – I had a concern that my video camera pointing at her every move wasn’t helping them go away.
I filmed a takeoff or two while her instructor was still with her as practice. I found a good spot near the taxiway to set up the tripod. After getting bored with that, I retired back to the hangar to continue bothering John and now Mike, who had just stopped by to change the oil in the SR-22.
I had the forethought to bring my radio scanner out to the airport so that I could listen in on K’s radio calls (and get them on the video recording). After 15-20 minutes though it started to get a little annoying – calls would interrupt our conversation every minute or so. I turned it down and just listened close to calls from 35388.
It became apparent that her and her instructor would be doing quite a bit of practice before she solo’d so the hangar talk continued. Mike and I were talking about GPS WAAS approaches and I was apparently so engrossed that I missed K say “...for my first solo” on the radio. A few minutes later I glanced out casually to the runway. My eyes fell upon a cloud of dust and grass clippings preceded by a Cessna. The Cessna had 35388 written on the side.
My first words were “Oh crap, that’s not good” as I watched ‘388 gradually get back on the runway and out of the grass. Still confident that she was still flying with her instructor I thought he was making the smooth correction to get the airplane back on the pavement. Then over the radio I barely made out K asking for her instructor to meet her at the FBO.
For a second I actually thought, “Why is she saying that, her instructor is right beside her?!” and then my thick skull let it soak in. I had missed her first flight alone. My heart sank two-fold - I had missed it and it obviously didn’t go perfectly.
I tore off across the ramp, tripod in tow, toward the FBO. I could feel just how out of shape I am. I wanted to confirm what I already knew – I had missed what I had waited a long time to see. I caught up with her parked in front of Charlie’s restaurant. Giving the turning propeller plenty of room I went up to her window and screamed “I missed it!”. She couldn’t care less.
Her instructor was walking around the airplane at K’s request. She felt a mean nose-wheel shimmy after doing the off-roading (off-runwaying?) and wanted to make sure the airplane was still airworthy. Her instructor checked it out and told her all was well. Thankfully there were no runway lights embedded in any part of the plane.
She was ready to make another go at it. She started taxiing away and I gave her a thumbs-up and a big smile – one that I hoped would lift her spirits a bit. I then tore back across the runway – somehow more out of shape than I was 3 minutes before – and set up my makeshift video studio beside the taxiway again.
She taxied by and headed back out to the approach end of 31. I prepped to film the takeoff and John came over to watch the show. K was performing a great takeoff as I finally started to notice how much the winds had picked up in the last hour. They were gusty (5-14 kts) and occasionally a crosswind. Hmm, K hasn’t learned crosswinds yet. That’s not good. Here's the takeoff:
She completed the pattern and started getting setup on final. I was filming and could tell she was having a bit of trouble staying lined up. I could see some significant banking back and forth. As she got over the runway threshold this banking back and forth was continuing. She started her flare a bit high and, with some excess speed, started to balloon up a good bit.
The right wing’s dropped. The nose is pointed WAY down. Too down. Now the left wing is going up, up, up. Ah, the nose is coming up now, just in time to avoid the pavement. Yikes. This isn’t good. She’s ballooning up again. The wings swap back and forth – one high, one low, one high again. The airplane’s getting slow. Ah, she’s figuring out the bank. The airplanes more level now. *Bounce* That’s one landing! *Bounce* there’s another! *plop* She’s down and on the runway!
It’s cool out - and all too breezy - but the sweat is dripping off my brow. I’m pretty freaked out at this point. K is taxiing off the runway and calmly radioing her location to the local traffic.
Another glance at the windsock makes me all the more unhappy. I can see that it’s getting shiftier and stronger. K starts taxiing back out to do another takeoff. I’m debating with John whether I should go talk to her and tell her I don’t like the winds. No doubt he can tell how freaked out I am – the incessant pacing and babbling is probably giving me away.
I walk out to the taxiway as 388 nears. Going to the window I say “The winds are really starting to pick up and it’s a crosswind – sure you should go again?”
She says “I’ll radio to see what my instructor thinks”. I debate using firmer words like “Get that damn plane parked right now!” but am worried that she’ll go no matter what I say and that tougher words would only hurt her confidence further. My feet take me back to my video camera but my gut is not happy with them.
Her instructor disagrees with my assessment of the winds and encourages her to go again. So off she goes. I again debate with John whether I should stop her but he’s not sure how to respond. He and I chat about how crazy a north wind gets down at the approach end of 31 (that craziness is termed “the swamp monster” at JGG).
She takes off and I film. I can see the winds affecting her climb out. She completes the pattern and gets setup on final. The winds pick up. Her approach is more stabilized this time and as she gets near the runway I am feeling OK. She gets into the flare but flares a bit high.
More ballooning. She’s pushing the nose down. Right above the pavement she pulls up. *BOUNCE* she’s up 10 feet again and the nose is coming back down – another hard flare and *BoUNCE* - 15 feet up this time – nose coming down – I’m uttering “No No No” and no longer filming - *BOUNCE* - dust comes up from the side of the runway – 20 feet up this time - “No No No” – I hear some engine power coming in – “thank god” – all of the sudden the airplane is stabilized and she’s settling on the runway. Down and rolling on the pavement! “YESSS!”
I had instant relief – her 3 arrivals were over and everything is still OK. John and I check that all the runway lights are still there after the 2 dirt bounces and find they are. I realized after the fact that what seemed like 15 and 20 feet bounces to me when it was happening were really only 4 or 5 feet.
K taxis over to park and I get the honor of cutting her shirt tail. Her instructor is pulling weeds from the wheel pants. She is pretty shook up but handling it really well. She talks about never flying again and being scared to death. I talk about how well she did handling those winds with no training for it and how I will kill her if she ever puts me through something like that again.
We spend the weekend alternating between talking about what happened and trying to forget about it for a while. She puts her thoughts in her own weblog entries [1st] [2nd].
-------------------------
Fast forward to today, Monday, and K has already gone back out to the airport for another lesson. This time she finished with another 3 solo landings. And these worked out just fine! Woo Hoo!!!!
I went out to the airport at 8:30 – just in time to see K and her instructor heading down the taxiway for their first practice takeoff of the day.
John was in his hangar repairing a wheel pant on his microlight so I stopped by and bugged him for a bit with idle chatter. I was nervous for K – I thought she was soloing a little early though later I’d realize she had more hours than my mental math gave her credit for. I also knew she was packing quite a few butterflies in her stomach – I had a concern that my video camera pointing at her every move wasn’t helping them go away.
I filmed a takeoff or two while her instructor was still with her as practice. I found a good spot near the taxiway to set up the tripod. After getting bored with that, I retired back to the hangar to continue bothering John and now Mike, who had just stopped by to change the oil in the SR-22.
I had the forethought to bring my radio scanner out to the airport so that I could listen in on K’s radio calls (and get them on the video recording). After 15-20 minutes though it started to get a little annoying – calls would interrupt our conversation every minute or so. I turned it down and just listened close to calls from 35388.
It became apparent that her and her instructor would be doing quite a bit of practice before she solo’d so the hangar talk continued. Mike and I were talking about GPS WAAS approaches and I was apparently so engrossed that I missed K say “...for my first solo” on the radio. A few minutes later I glanced out casually to the runway. My eyes fell upon a cloud of dust and grass clippings preceded by a Cessna. The Cessna had 35388 written on the side.
My first words were “Oh crap, that’s not good” as I watched ‘388 gradually get back on the runway and out of the grass. Still confident that she was still flying with her instructor I thought he was making the smooth correction to get the airplane back on the pavement. Then over the radio I barely made out K asking for her instructor to meet her at the FBO.
For a second I actually thought, “Why is she saying that, her instructor is right beside her?!” and then my thick skull let it soak in. I had missed her first flight alone. My heart sank two-fold - I had missed it and it obviously didn’t go perfectly.
I tore off across the ramp, tripod in tow, toward the FBO. I could feel just how out of shape I am. I wanted to confirm what I already knew – I had missed what I had waited a long time to see. I caught up with her parked in front of Charlie’s restaurant. Giving the turning propeller plenty of room I went up to her window and screamed “I missed it!”. She couldn’t care less.
Her instructor was walking around the airplane at K’s request. She felt a mean nose-wheel shimmy after doing the off-roading (off-runwaying?) and wanted to make sure the airplane was still airworthy. Her instructor checked it out and told her all was well. Thankfully there were no runway lights embedded in any part of the plane.
She was ready to make another go at it. She started taxiing away and I gave her a thumbs-up and a big smile – one that I hoped would lift her spirits a bit. I then tore back across the runway – somehow more out of shape than I was 3 minutes before – and set up my makeshift video studio beside the taxiway again.
She taxied by and headed back out to the approach end of 31. I prepped to film the takeoff and John came over to watch the show. K was performing a great takeoff as I finally started to notice how much the winds had picked up in the last hour. They were gusty (5-14 kts) and occasionally a crosswind. Hmm, K hasn’t learned crosswinds yet. That’s not good. Here's the takeoff:
She completed the pattern and started getting setup on final. I was filming and could tell she was having a bit of trouble staying lined up. I could see some significant banking back and forth. As she got over the runway threshold this banking back and forth was continuing. She started her flare a bit high and, with some excess speed, started to balloon up a good bit.
The right wing’s dropped. The nose is pointed WAY down. Too down. Now the left wing is going up, up, up. Ah, the nose is coming up now, just in time to avoid the pavement. Yikes. This isn’t good. She’s ballooning up again. The wings swap back and forth – one high, one low, one high again. The airplane’s getting slow. Ah, she’s figuring out the bank. The airplanes more level now. *Bounce* That’s one landing! *Bounce* there’s another! *plop* She’s down and on the runway!
It’s cool out - and all too breezy - but the sweat is dripping off my brow. I’m pretty freaked out at this point. K is taxiing off the runway and calmly radioing her location to the local traffic.
Another glance at the windsock makes me all the more unhappy. I can see that it’s getting shiftier and stronger. K starts taxiing back out to do another takeoff. I’m debating with John whether I should go talk to her and tell her I don’t like the winds. No doubt he can tell how freaked out I am – the incessant pacing and babbling is probably giving me away.
I walk out to the taxiway as 388 nears. Going to the window I say “The winds are really starting to pick up and it’s a crosswind – sure you should go again?”
She says “I’ll radio to see what my instructor thinks”. I debate using firmer words like “Get that damn plane parked right now!” but am worried that she’ll go no matter what I say and that tougher words would only hurt her confidence further. My feet take me back to my video camera but my gut is not happy with them.
Her instructor disagrees with my assessment of the winds and encourages her to go again. So off she goes. I again debate with John whether I should stop her but he’s not sure how to respond. He and I chat about how crazy a north wind gets down at the approach end of 31 (that craziness is termed “the swamp monster” at JGG).
She takes off and I film. I can see the winds affecting her climb out. She completes the pattern and gets setup on final. The winds pick up. Her approach is more stabilized this time and as she gets near the runway I am feeling OK. She gets into the flare but flares a bit high.
More ballooning. She’s pushing the nose down. Right above the pavement she pulls up. *BOUNCE* she’s up 10 feet again and the nose is coming back down – another hard flare and *BoUNCE* - 15 feet up this time – nose coming down – I’m uttering “No No No” and no longer filming - *BOUNCE* - dust comes up from the side of the runway – 20 feet up this time - “No No No” – I hear some engine power coming in – “thank god” – all of the sudden the airplane is stabilized and she’s settling on the runway. Down and rolling on the pavement! “YESSS!”
I had instant relief – her 3 arrivals were over and everything is still OK. John and I check that all the runway lights are still there after the 2 dirt bounces and find they are. I realized after the fact that what seemed like 15 and 20 feet bounces to me when it was happening were really only 4 or 5 feet.
K taxis over to park and I get the honor of cutting her shirt tail. Her instructor is pulling weeds from the wheel pants. She is pretty shook up but handling it really well. She talks about never flying again and being scared to death. I talk about how well she did handling those winds with no training for it and how I will kill her if she ever puts me through something like that again.
We spend the weekend alternating between talking about what happened and trying to forget about it for a while. She puts her thoughts in her own weblog entries [1st] [2nd].
-------------------------
Fast forward to today, Monday, and K has already gone back out to the airport for another lesson. This time she finished with another 3 solo landings. And these worked out just fine! Woo Hoo!!!!
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