Actual date of solo: 11th February 2024.
A significant accomplishment that I have been working towards is a solo flight.
In May last year (2023), I committed to get back into learning how to fly — this time instead of flying microlights like I did back in 2016, I am going for my private pilot’s license.
A milestone to achieve is a solo flight. Building up to this, I have been flying circuits (and I’ve been doing this for almost a year, flying at least once or twice a week except for some breaks due to holidays and weather). A circuit usually involves taking off, performing a downwind run, landing and repeating this process. For me, the part I struggle with is approach and landing.
However on a calm Sunday morning, 11th of February, my instructor deemed me fit enough to navigate a circuit all alone in the Cessna 152.
Thankfully, I survived. I did make some mistakes. I took off without flaps, I flew downwind too high and too fast, and the landing was quite rough.
Even with my instructor’s confidence that I wasn’t going to die doing this, he told me that the solo was a cool milestone, but the craft of flying always requires improvement and refinement.
This is a good reminder to myself. Even if I achieved my goal, it doesn’t mean I am perfect at flying the circuit. As you can tell from my first solo mishaps, we still need to be self-critical and continually improve despite our achievements. The learning never stops.