Student Solo at YIP and FAA man shows up

[dustrpilot]

I did it just over 39 years ago. Harvey Young airport. I was an airport kid and started taking lessons when I was 14. It wasn't as huge a thrill probably as most because I had something over 30 hours by then but still, looking over there and not seeing the instructor sitting there is something I never forgot. Good ole N18731.
To this day, I still like the sensation of a airplane leaving the ground and it'll be a sad day when I can't do it anymore.


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[tomgoodman]

I remember the cow tank full of slimy green water that UPT students were thrown into after their first solo. T-41, Howard County Airport, Big Spring, Texas, 1971.

 

[dustrpilot]

I remember the cow tank full of slimy green water that UPT students were thrown into after their first solo. T-41, Howard County Airport, Big Spring, Texas, 1971.

Aw hell, you win!


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[pilotyip]

Solo at KYIP 5-8-1965. Instructor "Firecan" Haddock, tells the tower he is going to turn this student loose on RW 14. He gets out and just stands in the grass at the side of RW 14. KYIP was a busy airline airport at that time. The airliners were using 23L, so I was working an opposite pattern for the bigger traffic. I got a land and hold short on my second landing because of UAL DC-8 taking off across my runway, I was then cleared for takeoff. We didn't know anything about that wing tip stuff. No problems encountered and three solo landings completed, then I picked up of instructor and went back to the ramp.

 

[Traderd]

Solo at KYIP 5-8-1965. Instructor "Firecan" Haddock, tells the tower he is going to turn this student loose on RW 14. He gets out and just stands in the grass at the side of RW 14. KYIP was a busy airline airport at that time. The airliners were using 23L, so I was working an opposite pattern for the bigger traffic. I got a land and hold short on my second landing because of UAL DC-8 taking off across my runway, I was then cleared for takeoff. We didn't know anything about that wing tip stuff. No problems encountered and three solo landings completed, then I picked up of instructor and went back to the ramp.

1979 GSO Piper Tomahawk. Knew about the wingtip stuff. Drilled into me by my ex AF IP or more correctly, CFI.

Landed 05, dropped him off and he too stood in the grass. Took off for three touch and goes. First pattern, turned final with a DC-10 rolling. An image forever in my mind, I could swear the damn thing was climbing out vertical. Felt nervous (mildly put) and I recalled being told I could request a three minute hold for wake turbulence. I did so and it was granted. No traffic I guess.

So I sit on the 10K foot runway just short of a taxiway intersection, engine ticking away at idle, when a Lear at the intersection asks tower what's going on. The guys in the front are looking at me with puzzled expressions. Tower tells them what's up and their reply I vividly recall. "We'll hold. He knows what he's doing" and flashed me a smile and a thumbs up. Made my f'ing day as I was beginning to feel the fool.

A CFI with student in a Beech Skipper are behind the Lear. That guy was not so sure I "knew what I was doing" and asked if he could pull around the Lear and go. Clearance granted, he went in the grass, took the runway and flew away. I dutifully followed and didn't get so much as a wing rock. Which of course make sense given physics and not emotion.

For some reason, I don't have a real memory of my first helicopter solo which was a couple of years later. Must have been pretty uneventful. I do recall my first solo trip in the TH-55 from Hanchey AAF to a stage field somewhere in southern Al. On the return we were following an IP (no formation) and had to start dodging storms. Doors off with a LOT of water coming in. Lucky for me I never lost sight of the guy and found 5 Points (obscure reference for the old Army types) and made my way in.

 

[pilotyip]

1979 GSO Piper Tomahawk. Knew about the wingtip stuff. Drilled into me by my ex AF IP or more correctly, CFI.

Landed 05, dropped him off and he too stood in the grass. Took off for three touch and goes. First pattern, turned final with a DC-10 rolling. An image forever in my mind, I could swear the damn thing was climbing out vertical. Felt nervous (mildly put) and I recalled being told I could request a three minute hold for wake turbulence. I did so and it was granted. No traffic I guess.

So I sit on the 10K foot runway just short of a taxiway intersection, engine ticking away at idle, when a Lear at the intersection asks tower what's going on. The guys in the front are looking at me with puzzled expressions. Tower tells them what's up and their reply I vividly recall. "We'll hold. He knows what he's doing" and flashed me a smile and a thumbs up. Made my f'ing day as I was beginning to feel the fool.

A CFI with student in a Beech Skipper are behind the Lear. That guy was not so sure I "knew what I was doing" and asked if he could pull around the Lear and go. Clearance granted, he went in the grass, took the runway and flew away. I dutifully followed and didn't get so much as a wing rock. Which of course make sense given physics and not emotion.

For some reason, I don't have a real memory of my first helicopter solo which was a couple of years later. Must have been pretty uneventful. I do recall my first solo trip in the TH-55 from Hanchey AAF to a stage field somewhere in southern Al. On the return we were following an IP (no formation) and had to start dodging storms. Doors off with a LOT of water coming in. Lucky for me I never lost sight of the guy and found 5 Points (obscure reference for the old Army types) and made my way in.

Great story, there has to be more of these out there.