Solo

The summer has flown by so fast it's hard to believe that the fall is coming once again here in Spokane. But, it is true, and the cool, rainy weather has perhaps been the biggest reminder that the colder seasons of the year are once again approaching. Meanwhile, we are busy attempting to work around the weather to get our new students the best conditions possible.

We have 15 new students who started flying with us this fall, 4 of which are mine. So, it is back to the basics; teaching them how to takeoff, land, navigate, and all of the other things they need to learn in order to earn their Private Pilot's license later this fall.

We've made it up to the time for them to do their first solo; that's right, after only 4 weeks of training, about 14 hours of flight time, and a week or two of 4:00 mornings to find the calm winds, they are going to go up and fly around all by themselves. It's always a time mixed with excitement and a little apprehension for both the students and myself as an instructor. They've shown me they are fully capable to safely handle the airplane by themselves but my heart rate always goes up a little when I watch them do their first takeoff alone. I suppose it's similar, in a very small way, to a parent sending their kid off on their first day of school, or out for their first drive in the car alone, or off to college their freshman year. You hope that they remember what you've taught them and that they will use it to keep afloat amidst all of the uncontrollable factors that will try and pull them down into a ball of flame. How enjoyable and rewarding it is to watch them succeed; to smoothly return the plane to the ground and taxi back up to the hangar with the biggest grin in the world!