{"id":1734,"date":"2011-01-20T04:00:01","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T09:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=1734"},"modified":"2011-06-24T13:54:03","modified_gmt":"2011-06-24T17:54:03","slug":"solo-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=1734","title":{"rendered":"Solo! (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Excepts from Eagles Tales<\/a>,<\/em> a collection of essays by my colleagues in the Aeronautical Science Department of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University continues. Eagle Tales <\/em>is available for sale at 20 percent off with the coupon code ET2011 on checkout through the BluewaterPress website<\/a>. A portion of each sale goes toward the Jim Lewis Memorial Scholarship fund in the Aeronautical Science Department.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

Relaxing the backpressure on the stick, I allowed the airplane to accelerate to its climb speed of 55.\u00a0 Looking down, I saw the fenceline at the end of the runway pass beneath us.\u00a0 I looked over at the school bus stop along Highway 92.\u00a0 Back to the left, I watched the smoke blowing east from the stacks at the plant just southwest of Charlie\u2019s airstrip.\u00a0 I noticed the airplane was climbing a little better than 300 feet per minute according to the vertical speed indicator.\u00a0 Charlie was still quiet, not saying a word.\u00a0 An unusual feat for him, for usually, you could actually hear the old man yelling at his students over the noise of the Continental\u2013all the way from the downwind\u2013while you were on the ground!\u00a0 At 400 feet, I lowered the left wing and began my crosswind turn.<\/p>\n

I became completely engrossed in the mechanical aspects of flight and forgot all else.\u00a0 And of course, I was absolutely consumed by my happiness in flying on a day I thought there would be no chance to do so.<\/p>\n

Climbing out toward the pattern altitude of 700 feet, I was again amazed with joy I found in the controls of the airplane as they bumped and vibrated and responded to my every input.\u00a0 The airplane seemed so alive!\u00a0 So much an extension of my body, my mind\u2013it was a part of me!<\/p>\n

As I turned downwind, I eased the nose over slightly to maintain my 700-foot pattern altitude.\u00a0 At the same time, I pulled the power back until the tachometer settled on 2100 rpm.\u00a0 I always enjoyed pulling the power back as it eased the noise level in the cabin of the little yellow airplane.<\/p>\n

Looking down at the field, I made certain the airplane was tracking parallel to the runway.\u00a0 When I was directly abeam the approach end of the runway, I reached forward beyond Charlie\u2019s seat, eased on the carburetor heat, and idled the engine.<\/p>\n

As the power dropped off the 65?hp Continental, I let the nose fall through when the airspeed settled on 55.\u00a0 The next step was to control the glide until reaching the point of flare, finessing it until touchdown using pitch and skill, instead of power.\u00a0 Charlie taught us that way\u2013to land without the crutch of throttle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That was the real difference between pilots taught to fly by Charlie and others taught elsewhere.\u00a0 There was no doubt Charlie\u2019s pupils could successfully handle an airplane in any engine-out situation without having a serious accident.\u00a0 We were learning how to fly and survive at Charlie\u2019s long before we learned how to sound good on a radio.<\/p>\n

Now my concern was making the best of this half-hour God had given me between thunderstorms.\u00a0 Around and around and around.\u00a0 More touch and goes followed by more touch and goes.\u00a0 Time seemed endless and the landings improved.\u00a0 I had no idea of time for I was unconcerned.\u00a0 All that mattered was getting my landings just as smooth as possible.\u00a0 I did not notice the sun lowering in the western sky, nor did I notice the weather moving further away.\u00a0 The sky was now gloriously clear.\u00a0 None of this I noticed as any pilot of merit would.\u00a0 It would be a long time before I was to hear the term, \u201csituational awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n

I started to add power on about the fifth or sixth touch and go when the old man in the front seat pulled the power back to idle.\u00a0 He turned to me and said it was time.\u00a0 I looked at my watch and sure enough, we had been airborne the customary 30 minutes.\u00a0 Damn!\u00a0 It seemed as though we had just started!<\/p>\n

As I taxied the little J?3 toward the hangars, I slowed down a little too much.\u00a0 Giving the power a slight nudge forward to maneuver toward 69H\u2019s hangar, Charlie gripped the throttle in his left hand and stopped me from going any further.\u00a0 I had no idea why he would do it, as we were nowhere near the hangar; we were still out next to the runway.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, what do you think?\u201d he asked me over the chugging of the little Continental.\u00a0 \u201cDo you think you could take this airplane around the pattern by yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n

Instinctively, I said yes.\u00a0 As I did, I wondered why my mouth said that.\u00a0 I was also acutely aware my body was turning to gelatin!<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about the weather?\u201d\u00a0 I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry about it.\u00a0 It\u2019s perfect,\u201d Charlie reported.\u00a0 \u201cNow she is going to feel a little different and she\u2019ll fly a little better without my weight in here.\u201d\u00a0 He leaned in and adjusted the seatbelt of the seat he had just vacated\u2013and had always occupied while I was flying.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019ll have a tendency to climb quicker and fly faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he finished securing the belt, the old man looked at me and said, \u201cYou\u2019re on your own, now.\u00a0 Take it around once and bring it back to the hangar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlie closed the door to the plane and suddenly I was fully aware I was alone<\/em> in the airplane.\u00a0 He stepped away.\u00a0 I put a little forward stick pressure on the controls and gave the engine a little throttle to swing the tail around.\u00a0 Then I headed back to the runway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This was the day I had been waiting for all of my life and now I was scared!\u00a0 Scared beyond description!\u00a0 I was all too aware I had lost feeling in my legs.\u00a0 The taxi back to the end of runway 27 was a long one, 2,300 feet worth of long to be exact.<\/p>\n

As I taxied the airplane down the runway, I wondered if I would have enough strength left to run the rudders on take?off.\u00a0 In my mind\u2019s eye, I saw all those headlines!<\/p>\n

STUDENT PILOT<\/strong><\/p>\n

CRASHES ON FIRST SOLO<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

STUDENT PILOT CRASHES <\/strong><\/p>\n

INTO CHICKEN COOP,<\/strong><\/p>\n

KILLS HUNDREDS OF CHICKS <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

STUDENT PILOT LOST<\/strong><\/p>\n

ON FIRST SOLO,<\/strong><\/p>\n

ENDS UP IN CUBA<\/strong><\/p>\n

In my mind, I could hear the broadcast media: \u201cSee it here first on News Channel 8 at eleven!\u201d<\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2010 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excepts from Eagles Tales, a collection of essays by my colleagues in the Aeronautical Science Department of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University continues. Eagle Tales is available for sale at 20 percent off with the coupon code ET2011 on checkout through the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,6,8,9],"tags":[329,839,1157,1279,1422,1456,1468,1950,2055,2155,2795,3396,3439,4023],"class_list":["post-1734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation","category-flight-instructing","category-flying-2","category-life-in-general","category-personal","tag-airplanes","tag-cessnas","tag-discipline","tag-engine-failures","tag-first-solo","tag-florida","tag-flying","tag-inexperienced-pilots","tag-judgment","tag-learning-to-fly","tag-pilots","tag-student-pilots","tag-taildraggers","tag-training-aircraft"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1734"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3296,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1734\/revisions\/3296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}