First solo

What a morning.

My primary student did his first solo today, which I know for certain was more nerve-wracking for me than it was for him.

We'd gone through the pre-solo written exam yesterday then went flying. I wanted to solo him then but Crystal was incredibly busy and it was getting late so we decided to hold off and do it this morning.

When I showed up he was still pre-flighting the airplane so I grabbed his logbook and medical, made the required endorsements and had him take me around the pattern.

He made a nearly perfect approach and gentle landing so as we were taxiing back I asked him if he was ready to go it alone. He said he was, so I called tower and told them we'd be heading back to parking for a minute so I could get out.

Standing there on the grass half-frozen watching him taxi out was almost surreal. I knew he was well-prepared and would do a fine job, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking of the few hundred things that could go wrong.

Well, turned out I didn't need to worry. He took off on 14L, flew a perfect pattern and made a lovely landing. Tower then moved him over to 14R and I watched as he flew a right-hand pattern and made two more very nice approaches and landings.

After the first landing I started to relax and enjoy the moment. It was a beautiful morning, cold and calm and the air was smooth as could be. It was perfect flying weather. Traffic was light and it was fun to watch him ease down on final, round out and then hold the airplane off until it squeaked down on the mains.

He taxied back in and shut down, we shook hands and took a couple of pictures.

Then I borrowed his pocketknife, cut off his shirt-tail and signed it. It's a goofy old-school tradition, but I happen to like it.

It's days like today that make all the sweat and effort of becoming a CFI worth it.

Watching it come together

I drove home from the airport totally pumped up this morning.

As we were getting ready to taxi out I told my private student to take me for three trips around the pattern and that I wasn't going to say or do anything. He did, and I didn't.

So after that we worked on slips to landings and my guy absolutely nailed them. The last one in particular was a true thing of beauty.

He kept us high on final on purpose then did a fantastic job modulating the slip to adjust our rate of descent, straightened it out over the threshold and, in a moment of true brilliance, gently nudged the right rudder to correct a slight mis-alignment. All without my saying much beyond “beautiful, just beautiful.” We touched down gently and rolled to a stop.

There's also nothing prettier than watching an airplane slip down final to land. It's art, really, and shows mastery of the craft.

It's incredibly satisfying to watch somebody 'get it' and I'm pretty sure I get as much or even more enjoyment out of the moment than they do.

Two weeks ago it wouldn't have been possible for him to fly as well as he did today, even by mistake. I could tell he was getting frustrated with his landings so the last time we flew we went out to the practice area and reviewed steep turns, slow flight and stalls. Then I showed him forward slips, which we hadn't done in a while, and we spent some time slipping along roads and section lines.

I think once he realized just how far he could cross-control the airplane with nothing bad happening and still make it go exactly where he wanted everything just sort of clicked into place.

I hadn't placed too much emphasis on slips earlier because I wanted him to get used to 'normal' landings first and used to keeping the airplane coordinated. Looking back, I should have done more with slips earlier on because I think it would have made a difference, especially with his understanding of how to use the rudder.

Ah well, live and learn.

Next time we'll work on emergency procedures, engine-out landings and hopefully a few more crosswind landings. After that, it's solo time.