I landed on the second half of the runway while my instructor stood, waiting at the first half. I pulled a U’ie, with tower permission, and wandered back to pick him up. We all had a laugh. The second one was easy.

This was in a Cessna 150 at Napa Ca. while attending Naval Nuclear Power School in Vallejo. I always had to hitchhike back and forth to the airfield as I didn’t own a car.

I vividly remember how different the aircraft felt with only one 145 lb sailer aboard.
Mike

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mcrimm,

Jim announced he was climbing out somewhat unexpectedly, gave me a couple words of encouragement, and closed the door. I took off and did a couple of touch and goes, before setting her down for the day. Adrenalin kicked in a bit when I reflected on what I had just done.

They hung a photo of Jim cutting off my shirt tail mounted with the piece of shirt on the wall of the FBO. Lost that keepsake when the county decided to kick the FBO out in favor of one more biz jet oriented. That killed the place as far as we were concerned.

Meacham Field, Fort Worth, Texas, 1983. N3313V, Cessna 150. Chet Bailor was my instructor. We had been doing touch-and-goes. He had me stop on the runway, he got out, waved and said “take ‘er up”. No celebration or cutting of clothes. Just a big “WooHoo!” on my part. I’ll never forget that moment!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: gocatgo,

Republic airport in Farmingdale, Long Island NY.
June of ‘93 or ‘94.
June 21, 1992
I did a few touch and go landings with my instructor.
We taxied back to the tie down and he jumped out and sent me back for a few more T&Gs.
I still have the Polaroid of me shaking my instructors hand.

It was early on a Sunday morning so no adult beverages.
I have fond memories of this experience.



Edit to correct date and add image.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Patrick-SP2022,

12-JUL 1991
LBX - Brazoria County Airport

Trained in an AA5A Grumman Cheetah...has a sliding canopy. Taxied onto the runway, powered up, and realized I had not closed and latched the canopy. Yeah...I was nervous. Cut the power, closed the canopy, poured the coals back to it, and took off. LBX has a looong, wiiiide runway...perfect for solo. Plus the wind is always predominantly out of the south and is perfect for runway 17/35 to solo.

Did my three touch and goes, taxied to the FBO to pick up my instructor, and flew back to Houston Hobby airport. Got a hand shake, good job, and went home to where my brother and S-I-L had bought a big chocolate chip cookie "cake" with an airplane painted on with icing. Mom still has the picture framed at her house.

Funny part is that if you would've told me that day I was going to be an airline pilot, I woulda laughed in your face. NEVER intended it to be a career. Kinda glad it turned out that way...

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

How did you memorialize your first solo?

I bicycled the 30 miles home and got chewed out by my mother (I was 16 at the time).

Got my tie cut by my on-wing, LCDR Salomon (USN) at the O'Club with a bunch of other VT-6 bubbas. Pretty sure I was the only Coastie to wing that week, club got pretty wild that night if I remember correctly.

quote:

Originally posted by Tailhook 84:

Civilian solo was simply a "Congratulations!" and a hand shake from my instructor. Being only 15 at the time probably had something to do with that.

How did you do that? Per FAR 61.83, 16 is the minimum age. Unless you did it in a glider or balloon, then 14 is the minimum.

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:

Trained in an AA5A Grumman Cheetah...has a sliding canopy. Taxied onto the runway, powered up, and realized I had not closed and latched the canopy.

There's one of those in my hangar. A friend said to me, "hey, L.R., if I buy an airplane will you teach me to fly it?" And the Cheetah is the result. Actually, it's OK to fly with the canopy slightly open, maybe 3 or 4 inches (there's a mark to indicate the limit), up to a speed which I forget, but which is on a placard in the airplane. Nature's air conditioning.

The Cheetah does have an endearing attribute. Most light airplanes with tricycle gear have steerable nosewheels. The Grumman does not, the nosewheel is free castering, so steering is accomplished via differential braking. This works fine until you have a hydraulic problem, like a failed o-ring, or a compromised hydraulic line that lets you piss brake fluid all over the runway. It's happened to me more than once. "Now, how do I get from here to the maintenance hangar, only making left turns?"

I got my shirttail cut and my picture taken with the Polaroid. Both my picture and shirttail were hung up in the FBO. I eventually got to keep the picture but someone threw away my shirttail at some point. I would have liked to have kept it. My instructor had written my name, date, aircraft registration number, and the runway on it.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Tailhook 84:

Civilian solo was simply a "Congratulations!" and a hand shake from my instructor. Being only 15 at the time probably had something to do with that.

How did you do that? Per FAR 61.83, 16 is the minimum age. Unless you did it in a glider or balloon, then 14 is the minimum.

You are correct V-tail. I dug out my civilian logbook and found that I actually soloed at 16. My bad for stating otherwise.

At 15 I started out as a line rat and fuel monkey at the old 6R4 (Birds Nest Airport) and traded washing airplanes for lessons. Since I couldn't legally drive she drove me there every day. But I distinctly remember her driving me home after my solo which is why I mistakenly made that assumption 41 years after the event.

Your question and my research brings back some great memories from a good time in my life.

I had my shirt tail cut then decorated by my two instructors (my first one got an airline gig a month after I started training).

The exciting bit was taking-off and then the tower suddenly telling me that they has lost all power, and that they were on battery reserve as their generator failed to kick-in.

They advised they were going to stay off the radios and for me to keep an eye out for light gun signals. They just told me to announce my positions as I went. I did my two touch-n-go's and a full stop without ever hearing another word from them.

Mine was fairly anticlimactic, after a regular lesson, my instructor told me to go out & give 3 full-stop T&Gs.

2003 iirc @ 45R. C-150 N63364

Edit: Would need to double check my logs, but IIRC I solo'd around 9-10 hours.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: P250UA5,

I wish I could find my first logbook, but it was sometime in 1975 at Brackett Field (KPOC) in SoCal in what must have been the rattiest 115 HP Champ that could still pass an annual. The sole com radio had range of less than 5 miles, as I always had to be inside the CZ to talk to the tower.

My instructor, an old AAC Stearman IP, got out & told me to do 3 landings: one 3 pt, one wheel and one my choice... and don't break it! I don't remember much else, except him smacking me in the head from the rear cockpit and yelling "Stick ALL THE WAY BACK!"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: aileron,

quote:

Originally posted by sleepla8er:
.

I also had the back of my shirt cut off and mounted on the wall with my name, solo date, AC tail Number & type written on it.

Same for me. My first military solo my instructor cut one of my uniform ties in half.

quote:

Originally posted by sleepla8er:
I also had the back of my shirt cut off and mounted on the wall with my name, solo date, AC tail Number & type written on it.

Yup, soloed in an old C150 - the first time flying without my 275# CFI was entertaining!

Flying the same power settings left me high, fast, and made the first 'landing' a bouncer.

"Flies a little different without me in there, eh? Hahahaha" he said on the radio.

quote:

Originally posted by aileron:

115 HP Champ . . . radio had range of less than 5 miles, as I always had to be inside the CZ to talk to the tower.

The lap of luxury, right there. 115 HP in a Champ, that had a radio! My first 6 hours or so were in a 65 HP Champ. No electrical system, no lights, no radio, no electric starter.

Flown out of Asbury Park NJ, an airport that is long gone. I guess "airport" is a pretty fancy word for that place. Turf runway, Ike (the owner) was old-timer retired Navy, he had flown for Admiral Byrd on an arctic (or was it antarctic?) flight. There was a small family of ducks that seemed to thing that Ike was their mother, followed him everywhere, nested in his office.

I miss the old days.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Ozarkwoods:

V-Tail, what did you do to celebrate your solo? Shake hands with Orville and Wilbur?

August 1964, Colts Neck NJ, C-150, N5990E.

It was sort of a non-event. A few of us in the Bell Labs Flying Club stopped at Molzone's after we left the airport. Nothing unusual about that.

Molzone's . . . A ramshackle wooden building that sort of leaned to the left. Concrete pads in front where the gas pumps used to be. Pool table with moguls. Faint odor of urine wafting through the place. Bartender with a hairy belly that stuck out through the hole in his T-shirt. Cheap beer and the best cheesburgers in Monmouth County! Good times.

My Dad used to fly his C=182 into Colts Neck when coming to see us (divorce) sometimes. He kept his plane out near Flemington somewhere. This would have been early 70's. I lived in Fair Haven up until 77, don't recall Molzone's though. Small world.

ETS, I solo'd in 78 at the Chatham Airport on Cape Cod. No tee shirt getting cut that I remember, although it was a thing.

quote:

Originally posted by fvyellowbird:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

Molzone's . . . A ramshackle wooden building that sort of leaned to the left. Concrete pads in front where the gas pumps used to be. Pool table with moguls. Faint odor of urine wafting through the place. Bartender with a hairy belly that stuck out through the hole in his T-shirt. Cheap beer and the best cheesburgers in Monmouth County! Good times.

My Dad used to fly his C=182 into Colts Neck when coming to see us (divorce) sometimes. He kept his plane out near Flemington somewhere. This would have been early 70's. I lived in Fair Haven up until 77, don't recall Molzone's though. Small world.

Molzone's was a local bar & grill on the west side of Rte 34, between Holmdel and Colt's Neck. Probably long gone now, I have not been back to that area for maybe 50 years. I worked for Bell Labs, I was in the first wave of employees that populated the new Holmdel facility in 1962, when our department was moved from NYC to Holmdel. I was there until early 1966, when I left to accept a job doing similar work at International Tel & Tel in Puerto Rico.

A bunch of us used to hit Molzone's for a beer and a burger after work. I played in a Dixieland group, once in a while we played at Molzone's on a Friday evening. No pay, other than free beer and burgers for the musicians and their dates. The cops would stop by to see what was going on, because on those Friday nights when we played, the place would be jammed to overflowing. The fun that I had in those days!

In my opinion, I wasn't ready to solo. My instructor labored through some 20 hrs. trying to teach me to land without taking out the undercarriage. The 58' TriPacer sinks like a brick when you pull the power. Anyhow, I think he just finally gave up and said lets go back to the hanger.

At the hanger, he said don't shut it down, got out and said I want to see three landings to a full stop. He closed the door I kept shaking my head no. He pointed and motioned for me to go. The rest is history.

I didn't wreck it and went on later to own and fly my own plane, get an instrument rating and a glider rating.