2.1 First Solo
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5 minute read
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This page can contain a collection of personal notes, steps to remember, finished and unfinished content. Please excuse brevity.
Do not use specific information given like fuel flow, landing/take-off distances for your flights. Always refer to the POH of your exact plane for flight preparation. My information is just for references that I used.
Introduction
| Lesson number | Lesson name | Lesson date(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | First solo | 10-09-2026 |
Today was finally the day that my first solo flight took place on the Cessna 172 which is a very great experience after around 24 hours of being with a instructor at all times, you are the only one in control of the flight left.
The weather was great flying weather, with around 4 knots of wind and a beautiful blue sky filled with some cumulus clouds here and there but nothing to worry about. The temperature was around 18 degrees celcuis and the pressure around 1020 hPa.
We first did some circuits to warm up, shape things up and getting a feel for how a solo flight will go today. After that we did the actual solo flight.
Medical Class 2
Before this lesson, I did my medical examination to gain the EASA medical class 2 certificate which is required to be in an airplane on your own. This was an overview of checking ears, eyes heart, helthyness, blood pressure and such. I succeeded good, so no problems there.
The circuits
Before I was sent off to perform my first solo circuit, we did around 5 circuits with a landing as final action. The circuits went okay with some remarks about the checks and actions which I will later dive into.
The landings were really good and I finally got myself at landing the plane good for at least 4 times in a row. The first landing was okay but with some traversing motion, but was a warm up for me after around 2,5 weeks of no flying. The round-out and flair altitude were really good and the touchdowns also. Every landing is different, which may sound stupid but you get to experience this while doing, this is really true.
After 5 circuits my flight instructor wanted to call it a day and the suprised me with “Hey, great luck man I’m out of here.” Haha.
The solo circuit
So the 6th circuit I had to perform was the solo circuit. I went from the taxiway back to the beginning of the runway, then took of to turn a circuit around the aerodrome and then land again.
When becoming a pilot, flying solo and having a feeling of accountability is very important and you gain this in the lesson program. When learning to drive a car, you will drive solo after getting the exam which is really different from flying.
Cool. So I lined up on the runway, took off and made 4 left turns to land the aircraft back on the same runway. The circuit itself went okay, with some remarks which I will describe separately and made an error in the radio call on downwind but nothing to worry about. The tower/ATC knew I did my first solo so they do expect not a perfect pilot and were really humble. They applauded for the landing and made a joke that my instructor never made such a good landing. Great people, haha.
After landing and parking the plane, I was awarded some applause and congratulations and awarded a water douche just as every other pilot over the world to celebrate the first solo flight.
Remarks Circuits
The remarks of the circuits with instructor are:
- Remind the propellor slipstream, especially on final. When on high power, the nose goes to the left
- Descending turns must be done with some forward pressure on the yoke. The upgoing wing will produce some lift and can cause a climb of the plane
- So don’t climb in turns
- Keep the approach speed on at least 65 knots, better some knots more than too less as this gives you more energy for the round out and flare
- Try to keep back pressure longer during the flare to touch down at a lower vertical speed
- During final till touchdown, keep feet straight on pedals to have good control over the direction and brakes. During touching and go, switch to heels on the ground to not make accidental brake inputs
Remarks Solo
As the first solo flight is a bit thrilling, this is a good cause of some minor errors so I will not point out everything I did wrong but will mention some room for improvement.
- Think of the radio calls you make and make them sound right, I told ATC to make a touch and go instead of a full stop as we did around 40 touch and go’s at this moment, little bit of memory based
- At rotation, let the plane gain some speed and keep 65 knots for the rest of the climb till 200 feet. From there you can switch to 75 with flaps up
What I did good on my solo flight:
- Correcting the nose attitude during touch down, was a little too fast but corrected it with just the right amount of back pressure to make it buttery
- Speeds, RPM, pitch and flap settings
- The checks and restore actions
A great summary of this flight is is: great aviation and navigation, moderate communication.
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