There go the training wheels!

Well last Thursday was a big day for me. My flying lessons have been progressing quite nicely, if I do say so myself, and during my last lesson it was the first time that I flew SOLO!! I showed up for my normal lesson knowing that there was a good chance I would be doing my solo that day because we've been talking about it the last few weeks. Well the plan was that we would go up in the plane together, do a few touch and go landings, and if he felt that I was up to snuff he would get out and let me do the same thing (2 touch and goes and 1 final landing where I just parked by the hanger). Well, I'll tell you what, it was quite the nerve racking experience. The second you take off for the first time by yourself you think, "holy crap what did I just do! Now you have to land this thing!" I am happy to report that it all went very well. The only part that was scary was the traffic that showed up right after I took off. To name a few: I had to land right after another plane, I had to rush one of my touch and goes cause a 727 was about to land right behind me, and to top it all off the ground crew was painting lines on the runway so the tower kept chirping in and telling me to land past certain points. "LOOK GUYS, I JUST WANT TO LAND PERIOD!" Anyway again everything went great. here are a few photos of me after I landed my third time.




NO, you're seeing right. The tail of my shirt is gone. This is a time old tradition that takes place after your very first solo. The two stories that I've heard, as to why this tradition takes place go like this. 1)back in the olden times the planes you would train in were set up so the student and the teacher would sit tandem. When the student was doing something wrong or the teacher just needed to tell you something they would tug on the back of your shirt tail. After you solo for the first time you no longer need the back of your shirt because the teacher no longer needs to teach you anything. 2) After you solo for the first time you get out of the plane only to find that the tail of your shirt is soaked in sweat! They cut this part of the shirt off and stick it on the wall for all to see the stress you put into your first flight by yourself. (Its true though, my teacher does put all his students shirt tails that hes cut off onto his wall)