Final supervised solo!

Weather this morning was dismal – 800 foot ceilings – so I figured the last supervised solo would have to wait. Turns out Richard’s schedule was wide open, so if it cleared we could go. By noon it was marginal (according to his minimums for my soloing), but we decided to meet at 1:30. It was just at his minimums (5 miles visibility, 3000 ft ceilings, wind 12 knots or less) so we went. Same as yesterday – 3 touch and goes, full stop, kick him out. Then two touch and goes and a full stop by myself. Today everything worked great. The approaches were all stabilized, the landings smooth. I felt so comfortable up there, I could have flown all day.

When we were done, Richard signed me off to do solos whenever I want, but he still wants to assign exactly WHAT I’ll be doing. Still in the pattern at the moment, but soon he’ll clear me out to the practice area for maneuvers. We also talked a bit more about the planning for my first cross country (to Big Bear) and doing some night flying next week.

This is really the major milestone of learning to fly. Not that the rest – navigation, planning, performance – are unimportant. It’s just that the hardest part – learning to fly the plane – is mostly done.

1.2 hours/36.8 total/.4 solo/1.3 total solo