INSANEDADDY 0 #1 May 2, 2005 I just made my beer flight today. They tackled me down and cut the back out of my shirt. (aviation tradition) My CFI said you will always remember your first solo flight. I thought back to my first skydive. I will never forget that. Flying planes is almost as fun as jumping out of them. You dont't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when.......You can only decide how you're going to live........NOW. -BASE 1605 Night BASE 227 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #2 May 2, 2005 Congrats! You know the history about cutting off the back of the shirt, right?--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beerlight 0 #3 May 2, 2005 Congrats..... who are you taking instruction from? Snap roll it on takeoff.......impress your CFI. just kiddin....... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
INSANEDADDY 0 #4 May 2, 2005 No, not sure of the history of the tradition. I am taking instruction at Harvey & Rihn in Laporte. They teach aerobatics also. I am going to take a ride in a Pitts one of these days and feel what G's really feel like. You dont't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when.......You can only decide how you're going to live........NOW. -BASE 1605 Night BASE 227 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cocheese 0 #5 May 2, 2005 Congratulations.Keep flyin. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
antifnsocial 0 #6 May 2, 2005 That's AWESOME!!! You rock. Congratulations!! Please feel free to reply to my posts and pm's, but only if you're smart enough to understand what they really mean. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #7 May 3, 2005 Basically, the short version is before radios were used, instructors sitting in tandem (behind the student) would pull on the back of the student's shirt to give them direction. Once they soloed, they no longer needed an instructor tugging on the shirt and the back of the shirt was cut off.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
INSANEDADDY 0 #8 May 3, 2005 I never knew that. Thats pretty cool. The first plane I started flying was a Decathalon. It has the tandem seating. You dont't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when.......You can only decide how you're going to live........NOW. -BASE 1605 Night BASE 227 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tweak 0 #9 May 3, 2005 Congrats Dude!!! Did your instructor give you any warning you were gonna solo? Mine told me to pull over in front of the FBO one day, hopped out and said "you're ready, go do some touch-n-go's. See ya' when you get back". A complete surprise! You're lucky if you only got the back of your shirt cut out. They surprised me with about 50 gallons of ice water. Almost took out a perfectly good cell phone. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peacefuljeffrey 0 #10 May 3, 2005 Congratulations! I think I still have my cut shirt somewhere... I definitely remember my first solo -- more about the way it happened than the actual flying itself, though. And I remember being in the plane on upwind, sorta singing out loud to myself, "I'm flyinnng! I'm flyyyyinnnnng!" Did you do that? -Jeffrey-Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
INSANEDADDY 0 #11 May 3, 2005 Yep, pretty much the same scenario. We pulled over to one of the taxiways and he just got out and said your ready. I knew it was coming, just not sure when. It was a surprise. You dont't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when.......You can only decide how you're going to live........NOW. -BASE 1605 Night BASE 227 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PsychoBob 0 #12 May 3, 2005 Congrats. Welcome to our wonderful world of aviation. "I'm not a gynecologist but I will take a look at it" RB #1295, Smokey Sister #1, HellFish #658, Dirty Sanchez #194, Muff Brothers #3834, POPS #9614, Orfun Foster-Parent?" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peacefuljeffrey 0 #13 May 3, 2005 QuoteCongrats Dude!!! Did your instructor give you any warning you were gonna solo? Mine told me to pull over in front of the FBO one day, hopped out and said "you're ready, go do some touch-n-go's. See ya' when you get back". A complete surprise! That's cool. Mine did it similarly. We had been up for about an hour, with him talking me through the pattern work. He looked at me and (in his French-German accent) asked me, "Do you think you can do it without me?" I said yes, but all I thought he meant was that he would shut up and not talk me through it! So we landed and he told me to pull to the side of the taxiway. That's when he told me that he would get out and I should do one full-stop landing and come back around! I was so suprised, but elated; and since I didn't want to blow it by seeming underconfident, I had to seamlessly pretend that I had known what he meant all along. So I dropped him off, and each time I flew the pattern and landed, he had me go back around and do another, until I had done 3-5 landings. He just stood there on the grass beside the taxiway at Brookhaven Airport (on L.I.). Solo flying was one of the best feelings in my life! (Well, still is.) -Jeffrey-Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tweak 0 #14 May 3, 2005 Quote but all I thought he meant was that he would shut up and not talk me through it! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peacefuljeffrey 0 #15 May 3, 2005 QuoteQuote but all I thought he meant was that he would shut up and not talk me through it! Yeah... I was pretty pleased with myself that I didn't fuck it all up and tip my hand, and maybe make him rethink my readiness. The flight went fine! (And this was the instructor I almost crashed on final with one time. Needless to say I'm a bit more conscientious about my airspeed on final ever since then! We bounced pretty freakin' hard, despite him ramming in the throttle when he realized we were prolly gonna stall from 100 feet or so!) -Jeffrey-Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tweak 0 #16 May 3, 2005 Ooooooops! Glad that turned out ok! My cousin had an incident like that when he was still a student. He pulled back too much on landing and left the tailhook on the runway. Needless to say, they razzed him pretty good for a while on that one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amanduh 0 #17 May 3, 2005 Congrats sweetie!!! That is awesome!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites INSANEDADDY 0 #18 May 3, 2005 Thanks for all the positive feedback. So far I havent had any scary moments. Not to say that I wont have one. Its been pretty smooth and straight forward. I think my background in skydiving has helped me along a lot. Flying is VERY challenging just like skydiving. When we first took off today there 4 other planes in the pattern. The radio chatter was a little distracting. I have really learned to focus, and multi task. I never really knew how busy pilots were taking off and landing. You dont't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when.......You can only decide how you're going to live........NOW. -BASE 1605 Night BASE 227 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. Display as a link instead × Your previous content has been restored. Clear editor × You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL. Insert image from URL × Desktop Tablet Phone Submit Reply 0
INSANEDADDY 0 #18 May 3, 2005 Thanks for all the positive feedback. So far I havent had any scary moments. Not to say that I wont have one. Its been pretty smooth and straight forward. I think my background in skydiving has helped me along a lot. Flying is VERY challenging just like skydiving. When we first took off today there 4 other planes in the pattern. The radio chatter was a little distracting. I have really learned to focus, and multi task. I never really knew how busy pilots were taking off and landing. You dont't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when.......You can only decide how you're going to live........NOW. -BASE 1605 Night BASE 227 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
