2024-11-28 Akery's First Solo Flight

Yesterday (11/27) Akery was supposed to take her first solo flight. Since Amber, to be known as Mom from here forward, had to be at work, she asked me to go witness and take pictures. While still in the hanger, Akery (and the instructor) did some maintenance and checks.
After they pulled the plane out of the hanger, I got a couple pictures. Here is a good one, you can just see her attitude oozing out of her. You can't help but smile. Then, after the preflight checks...

they pulled away from the hanger.

After they had been up for a little while, I got a text from Eric, the instructor, saying that they were coming back down. I met them back at the office.

There was a layer of clouds, seemingly invisible from the ground, that did not cooperate. Thinking that it might burn off, we sat in office chatting and Eric quized Akery with taxi instructions to draw out and radio calls to respond to. The didn't burn off, so they called it off and rescheduled for today (11/28).

Today (11/28) at 10:00 we met at the hanger. Mom and Terry, to be known as Grandpa from here forward, were both there. Akery did the maintenance checks before they pulled the plane out of the hanger. Eric needed to lock up the office before taking off, so we (Mom, Grandpa and I) got in Mom's car and drove over to Airport Park to watch the action.

We pulled up on the internet https://www.liveatc.net/search/?icao=klws (airport code KLWS), and were able to hear the radio chatter.

First, Eric went up with Akery and she did a handful of touch and go's, circleing the area. Then, they landed and Eric got out of the plane and she went back out for her first solo. As she started, we heard her tell ground/tower the required information to identify herself and then said, "for first solo flight". I have to tell you, it was a little emotional.

She followed ground instructions and taxied to the runway and took off, all very smooth.

There was one or two planes in the air with her during the flight. Eric said, after the flight, that the tower was very nice to her and routed planes around her for the majority of the time. She did a couple touch and go's and then called in for her final approach and landing. Her timing couldn't have been "better".

At the same time, a Delta (SkyWest) flight was coming in, as well as a Medevac plane. Just before she called in, they told another plane some instructions, so when she called in, they said "do the same thing we told the other plane" (paraphrased). Since she didn't catch what they had told the other plane, this threw her for a loop. That said, she stayed calm and did what Eric had told her, she responded, "unable" and asked for clarification. They repeated the instructions.

First, they switched her from runway 08, the one she had been using, to 26 if I recall correctly. This is actually the same runway, just coming in from the other direction. So, she had to circle around to the south of the runways. Then to give the Skywest plane time to get in and taxi off, she was told to do a turn right 360. Then was told to do another.

Now the Medevac plane was coming in on runway 08, and the tower switched the planes back to 08 to follow that plane in. By now, there are three planes behind the Medevac, Akery being number 1 with a Cessna at 2 and then something else behind that. During the whole ordeal, Mom and Grandpa were stressing. I was just so exited and happy watching and hearing her succeed. To be fair, Mom and Grandpa were also very happy for her.

Once landed, she pulled onto a taxiway and asked for taxi instructions back to the hanger. We then drove back over to the Instruction Office on the other side of the airport and Eric let us in so we could get back to the hanger. We talked about the experiance and got a few pictures.

We then headed back into the office where we participated in the tradition of cutting off the shirt tail. Here is a paragraph I pulled from this "Why do they cut your shirt tail off when you solo" article on the https://airplaneacademy.com/ site.

"Why do they cut your shirt tail off when you solo?

Most traditional training aircraft had tandem seating (one in front of the other, with the student in front), and before headset technology improved an instructor would commonly have to tug on the back of the student’s shirt to get their attention. Cutting your shirt tail off was a right of passage showing that there was no need for the instructor to tug on their shirt anymore, as the student now knows how to fly the airplane."

Eric had the honor of cutting the shirt.

We each signed it and here she is with the final product.

I was able to download and clip together the Radio chatter between Akery and the Tower and Ground.
Download from: Here

This was so fun, exciting and brought me so much joy and happiness to see Akery take this milestone step. I am so grateful that I was able to be part of this and so fitting on this Thanksgiving day.

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AJ's Crazy Biker Adventures