December 10, 1974, on a cold-by-'Vegas-standards morning at VGT, in 7ECA N9670S, the Citabria owned by the Clark County Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol. My instructor, the late great Don Roundy, announced the moment in his typical deadpan manner. He had me stop and taxi back after a couple of touch-and-goes. As he climbed out of the back he asked for my medical which he duly signed. With that he said, "You're scaring me" and walked away.
The subsequent three T&Gs were unmemorable but also quite unforgettable. The tower had me do a 360 on downwind for spacing on one of them. Later had my shirttail cut by Chuck Doty, Joe Mace, and Ken Maggleson (who soloed that week too), fellow cadets from the squadron and all winners in the CAP's solo flight scholarship program. They would have thrown me in the airport motel's swimming pool too had I not managed to "talk" my way out of it. They made up for it with a thorough drenching via buckets at the dinner party that Chuck's parents threw that night.
Ran out of money a few months later and had to stop flying. A few years later I was earning good enough money as a Las Vegas stagehand to start up again. I re-soloed on December 12, 1977, again at VGT, this time in N55DC, a Cessna 140A at Oasis Aviation, with the late great Dave Smith presiding. No shirttails or drenchings this time, but per the custom, I did buy Dave a bottle of his favorite adult libation.
Congratulations PolarTwins55! Here's to your future success and happiness!
