At one with the sky

The past few weeks have been getting me ready for today; ensuring that I can operate the machine in all stages of flight, that I could put it on the ground in the event of an engine failure, that I would know how to react if that light came on or if that gauge showed something erroneous, and of course to ensure that all of my written tests and questions in my student handbook have been completed and marked. With the massive checklist all signed off I was technically ready to go solo today and as such woke early with anticipation.

During normal flying procedures of circuits and hovering my instructor asked me to land the aircraft. He then proposed the question I've been wanting to hear my whole life; "are you happy to fly this machine solo?". Well, the photo's say it all - he sneakily took a few shots whilst I was busy doing a turn in the hover. The moment I took off into a hover the thought of "holy shit I literally have complete control over this and have to have complete control over this if I want to put it back on the ground in one piece" entered my head. This soon wore off as I did a clearing turn; literally a turn in the hover to ensure that there are no other aircraft around prior to taking off. 

I then went on to do about ten circuits in a row; a racetrack style course constituent of a take off, a 180 degree climbing turn, levelling off at about 700 feet above ground level, a 180 degree descending turn and landing back at the same place. Clearing turn, repeat. It was the first circuit when the reality of the situation hit me that I'm literally flying this completely without help. The instructor generally sits next to you with their hands near or on the controls and I've never been absolutely sure that they're not helping a bit with this descent or that turn. It's weird, I reflected with my instructor after the flight that it felt like I had much clearer thought and more time to think without an instructor telling you all of these stories the whole time whilst you're trying to remember what you have to do to fly. However it was by about the third circuit when I became aware of my own conscience coming in with an instructor-like voice "watch your speed Jonno, don't over-boost the engine, rate of descent is a little high, balance the aircraft, look at the windsock, this is a beautiful descent, stop waggling the cyclic!".

It's a very sobering thought when you go to look past your instructor in the left seat whilst on the lookout for other traffic and the seat's empty. It very quickly requires you to be absolutely aware of the aircraft (it's speed, height, attitude), the engine (temperatures, pressures, RPM, remaining fuel and therefore time in the air), other traffic (Jandakot is one of, if not the busiest, airports in Australia in terms of aircraft take offs and landings and a lot of them are other student pilots new to flying), radio traffic, birds, etc. It's been a very steep learning curve to date and I don't see it plateauing any time soon. Loads of fun though:) As can be seen in the photos below, the weather was on my side, mostly sunny day with a 10kt N/NE'ly breeze over the airport. Winds and inclement weather are set to increase over the next few days so the solo flying will be tested further yet.