My First Solo Flight

Warning: [M] you may not want to read this, it contains explicit details of me flying a glider.

For the past few months, Drew and I have been spending at least one weekend day with the Tucson Soaring Club at the El Tiro gliderport receiving instruction on piloting a glider. I have posted on this previously. Getting a pilot's license is not a small endeavor, there is a lot of information that you must know, in addition to acquiring the mechanical skills necessary to fly the glider safely. Anyway, the first rite of passage on one's way to getting their glider pilot license is the solo flight. As of last Saturday, I have taken about 50 flights all with an instructor in the back seat to help me out and give me pointers. This changed Saturday morning when I got cleared to fly the glider sans instructor. The Tucson Soaring club has several wonderful instructors and I have flown with most of them. The first instructor I flew with was Randy Acree. Therefore, I really wanted Randy to be the instructor to endorse me to solo. Randy was very patient with me while I was learning and I am very thankful for his instruction. I managed to break two tow ropes in the first month I was flying, both with Randy, and he was nice enough to claim that both rope breaks were not my fault. Although I am pretty sure that my inability to stay in the correct position behind the tow plane during my first month of gliding was the reason for the ropes breaking.

Saturday morning Drew and I drove out to El Tiro around 8:00 am. It was cold and windy. There was around a 6-7 knot wind coming out of the Northwest and I was a little concerned that the wind might keep me from getting to solo. However, I took one quick flight with Randy around 11am, after he had completed all of the necessary paperwork, and he said I was good to go. It is a really odd experience climbing into the glider and not waiting for your instructor to get in. Then I went through my pre-flight checklist, which was also odd because I am used to saying it out loud for the instructor to hear. I then waited for the tow plane to wiggle their rudder, I wiggled mine in reply and we were cleared for take off.

Here is a pic of my first solo takeoff. The glider always gets off the ground before the tow plane. As the glider pilot, you need to hold the glider just a little off the ground until the tow place can catch up. This is very important because if the glider gets too high it can pull up the tail of the tow plane, which is no fun for anyone. Once the tow place is off the ground both aircrafts can begin climbing together. At this point, if the tow rope breaks and there is little to no runway left the glider must make a desert landing. If the rope holds to 200 ft, however, the glider will have enough time to turn upwind and land back on the runway. For this reason, it is always important to make a 200ft call. I made my 200ft call out loud even though there was no one else in the plane with me. But the rope held and I stayed with the tow plane up to 3,000 ft above ground level (an altitude of 5,100 ft above sea level). Then, I looked to my right to make sure that there was no other traffic, released the tow rope, turned to the right and I was gliding solo.

I was only up in the air for 16 minutes although it felt like hours. I was giggling to myself most of the time because I could not believe that I was actually alone. Usually when I take a 3,000 ft tow I play around with some airwork and practice stalls and steep turns, which I love because you can really feel the G forces. But on this flight I did not really do much except look for lift. I did not find anything and when my altitude decreased to about 1100 ft above ground level I entered the pattern to land. The landing was the scariest part about my solo flight. I knew that there was at least 10 people on the ground waiting to watch me land, including Randy, and I really had to get this one right. Landing long, or bouncing my landing was not something I wanted to do with this particular audience.

Here is a pic of my final approach. You can barely see me in the distance. My glider is crabbed a bit to compensate for the wind. Also notice the wind sock, which is off to the right indicating the crosswind from the north. You can also see some of my spectators. Here is the picture of my touchdown. It was perfect! I was centered on the runway and landed almost exactly where I wanted to. What a relief!Here is a picture of me with Randy, the certified instructor on the ground for my solo. In addition to this being my first solo flight, I am the first student that Randy has endorsed to solo. After I touched down, I think we were both very relieved. You probably cannot tell from the picture but I was shaking from a combination of nerves and excitement. Thanks Randy, for hanging out on Saturday to endorse me to solo when you did not even have duty instruction!It is tradition that after your first solo flight, a piece of your T-shirt gets cut off so your instructor can sign and date it. It is then hung on the wall of fame in the El Tiro clubhouse. Here is a picture of Drew cutting my shirt to give to Randy.

So now I can fly a glider all alone, which is awesome to say the least.