First Solo

[qwerty]

So I'm reaching my 20 hour point and I have to solo pretty soon here. I'm really nervous about it though. I'm pretty confident I can fly just fine, but I'm use to someone there to put inputs on all the things I still need work on, for example approaches (still coming in too steep or too shallow). Any advice for my first solo on staying relaxed or just flying in general?

[Goldy]

So I'm reaching my 20 hour point and I have to solo pretty soon here. I'm really nervous about it though. I'm pretty confident I can fly just fine, but I'm use to someone there to put inputs on all the things I still need work on, for example approaches (still coming in too steep or too shallow). Any advice for my first solo on staying relaxed or just flying in general?

 

 

When I ride motorcycles in the dunes I notice I drive to whatever I am looking at. If I think, oh crap there is a fencepost..guess what...I run right into it. The lesson learned is look at the spot you want to land at.....pick a spot, dont just fly and end up wherever. The numbers are usually a pretty shallow approach...so maybe its mid field....or abeam the tower...or next to the windsock, but pick a spot on the runway and fly to it.

 

Relax and fly the helo. Watch those power changes at the end...when you start pulling power to come to a hover, bring it in gradually and anticipate that extra pedal requirement. Most students focus so much on the radio stuff....scared to talk and embarass yourself in front of 3 or 4 people..You'll look a lot more foolish balling the thing up, so while you try not to bust any ATC rules, when it comes down to it, focus on flying the ship first.

 

With that have a great time..enjoy it. It gets just a little bit easier every time.

 

Goldy

[fast03cobra]

When I soloed for my private ASEL I did it at an uncontrolled field with a few people I know watching. The uncontrolled field I flew at is usually not busy, so I could screw up on the radios and I knew nobody would be listening. I knew that I just needed to fly the plane and be happy.. So that's what I did.... If you are receiving your solo endorsement, then I'm sure you can be confident in yourself to handle any situation. I don't know any instructor that is going to sign somebody's endorsement if they aren't ready.... Go have fun and enjoy!

[Wally]

First, fly the helicopter. Next, fly the helicopter. Sometime after that, and only when it's appropriate, talk on the radio (It's really pretty easy once you figure out that it's all formulaic.). And, fly the helicopter at the expense of talking on the radio, if you have to.

You have an expert opinion that should be convincing- you CAN (Or, will be able to, at that point) fly well enough that you're a reasonable bet. Biggest tip to make life easy is to do things as slowly as you can, and only when you're ready to do whatever. That does more for control touch and safety than any other single thing I can think of. Beware of the urge to do things quickly to "get it done, now" unless you're on fire. Oh yeah, go around- or stop what you're doing- if you don't like it.

Finally, fly the helicopter, until you walk away from it.

Edited September 4, 2007 by Wally

[qwerty]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I'm at 15 hours now and my instructor says I'm just about ready. At this point I think I need to build up my confidence and just go out there and do what I've learned. I just have really bad habits of letting things go wrong. I'm so use to my instructors input that sometimes I don't even bother putting in the input myself, and a lot of that has to do with my confidence in my flying.

 

One week away, oh I'm so nervous. =\

[Hovergirl]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I'm at 15 hours now and my instructor says I'm just about ready. At this point I think I need to build up my confidence and just go out there and do what I've learned. I just have really bad habits of letting things go wrong. I'm so use to my instructors input that sometimes I don't even bother putting in the input myself, and a lot of that has to do with my confidence in my flying.

 

One week away, oh I'm so nervous. =\

 

I just had my first solo and I think the reason I was not that nervous was because I have 50+ hours. I'm flying part 141 and had to pass a stage check before my solo and just could NOT set up the landings. So nervous and just couldn't see it. Go around, go around, go around...time to practice some more. Needless to say I had a couple of lessons after that that were nothing but normal landings in the pattern, and when I passed the second try (much less nervous) and had my solo it felt so much better.

 

My point is, your instructor may think you are ready but if you want more confidence in something just say "I want to practice LOTS of landings, and do some without you giving me any cues." Even the best instructor can't tell what's going on in your head and if you want more practice in a more controlled situation definitely ask for it point blank.

 

Good luck, have fun, and let us know how it goes.

 

HVG

[Goldy]

I just had my first solo

 

HVG

 

 

HVG- CONGRATULATIONS...Huge first step in building confidence in your abilities....good luck, Goldy

[qwerty]

Just had my first solo! It went awesome.

 

Almost didn't go out because of the winds, they were around 10ish KTS when we left. When we got to the airport I was going to solo at the winds were calm. Flew around a bit with my instructor, did a couple autorotations, approaches, set downs, and what not just to see if I can execute them safely. Gave me some last minute advice and hopped out. I lifted up and took off. I did a total of 4 traffic patterns, and only had to do ONE go around.

 

It was a blast overall, I couldn't have asked for anything to go any smoother. I was giggling the whole time like a little kid who just got a new toy.

 

PPL is next!

[Copterpilot213]

Cool! Glad you had fun and got past the nerves. Remember that lesson, it's very important to do the same thing on your checkride! It's easier said than done, but if you relax for your checkride it will go much smoother.

 

Congrats!