Thursday, July 14, 2005
Solo
"Quantico tower, this is 75 Lima, we're going to make that a full stop."
Doesn't mean much by itself, just a standard landing clearance call, but today, while approaching the runway for the fourth time that flight, it meant that I was about to take the first major step towards being a naval aviator; my first solo.
My instructor, Kurt Kaiser, was indicating to the tower at Quantico Marine Corps Air Station that instead of doing anohter touch and go landing, we were going to come to a full stop so that he could get out and send me on my solo. I would like to say that I was knee shakingly nervous, but I was suprisingly calm. We taxied to taxiway D and, he gave a last few words of advice, and hopped out. The plane was mine.
The cockpit is a very calm and soothing place when there is no instructor there. I'm sure it has to do with the fact that there is this incredibly complicated machine before me and I know what to do with it. I had just been thinking to myself earlier in the day how my confidence had been shot lately due to the difficulty I was having with landings and all of the sudden that changed.
I took a few seconds to look over my checklist before calling the tower to continue and when I looked over my left shoulder to check the pattern for traffic, something caught my eye. My baggage door was open. Crap. I called tower and requested clearance to return to the aero club to fix it, I can't just hop out on the taxiway and fix it with the engine running and traffic moving about. I got clearance to contact ground control and proceed when another plane came off the runway, blocking my turn to head back. He saw my baggage door and proceeded to signal me that it was open. I knew this and needed him to get out of the way, but couldn't convey this to him. Finally my instructor came over the radio and said that he was going to fix it. He ran over, slammed the door shut and I was off.
My flight was to be three take offs and landings, never leaving the pattern. It was the most fun I've ever had flying. I caught myself smiling in the cockpit for the first time in a while. Everything went as planned, but I also knew that if something went wrong that I could handle it. My landings were probably the three best I have ever done. The goal in landing a plane is to put it down "on the numbers" which refers to the number markers at the end of the runway, and I did it every time. Nice and smooth, uneventful landings. A good landing is one you can walk away from, but a great landing is one in which you can use the plane again.
Doesn't mean much by itself, just a standard landing clearance call, but today, while approaching the runway for the fourth time that flight, it meant that I was about to take the first major step towards being a naval aviator; my first solo.
My instructor, Kurt Kaiser, was indicating to the tower at Quantico Marine Corps Air Station that instead of doing anohter touch and go landing, we were going to come to a full stop so that he could get out and send me on my solo. I would like to say that I was knee shakingly nervous, but I was suprisingly calm. We taxied to taxiway D and, he gave a last few words of advice, and hopped out. The plane was mine.
The cockpit is a very calm and soothing place when there is no instructor there. I'm sure it has to do with the fact that there is this incredibly complicated machine before me and I know what to do with it. I had just been thinking to myself earlier in the day how my confidence had been shot lately due to the difficulty I was having with landings and all of the sudden that changed.
I took a few seconds to look over my checklist before calling the tower to continue and when I looked over my left shoulder to check the pattern for traffic, something caught my eye. My baggage door was open. Crap. I called tower and requested clearance to return to the aero club to fix it, I can't just hop out on the taxiway and fix it with the engine running and traffic moving about. I got clearance to contact ground control and proceed when another plane came off the runway, blocking my turn to head back. He saw my baggage door and proceeded to signal me that it was open. I knew this and needed him to get out of the way, but couldn't convey this to him. Finally my instructor came over the radio and said that he was going to fix it. He ran over, slammed the door shut and I was off.
My flight was to be three take offs and landings, never leaving the pattern. It was the most fun I've ever had flying. I caught myself smiling in the cockpit for the first time in a while. Everything went as planned, but I also knew that if something went wrong that I could handle it. My landings were probably the three best I have ever done. The goal in landing a plane is to put it down "on the numbers" which refers to the number markers at the end of the runway, and I did it every time. Nice and smooth, uneventful landings. A good landing is one you can walk away from, but a great landing is one in which you can use the plane again.
// posted by Josh @ 7/14/2005 10:43:00 PM 
