Hi, everyone. I just thought I'd drop in to share my excitement. Last evening
was my first solo in a C-152. I arrived at the FBO after work, and I was pretty
pooped from a hectic day. We looked at the weather, which was OK - 10 miles
vis, 4000 ceiling, and scattered showers. Winds were light. Right away, my
instructor said he wanted to solo me, so of course I got nervous. We went up
together and did 3 laps of the field with landings, including a simulated engine
out on downwind. None of the patterns were very good, and the landings were
not the best, either. The whole time he was in my face about airspeed, pattern,
radio work, headings, etc.
But regardless, after the third landing, we pulled up to the ramp and he signed
me off and got out. He said "give me three landings and then come on in". Ok,
boss. Away I went.
Well, I pulled off three very nice patterns and some darn good landings, with
the
last being a real squeeker. I surprised myself by being more relaxed flying
alone than with my instructor (and he's really good). It was just like being
out for a drive in the country. All the while, I could hear his voice in my
head - 'airspeed, pattern, radio calls.', etc.
Now it's off to start flying into controlled fields, cross country work, and the
rest of the program. Sure is a lot of fun!
It was also pretty neat how the performance of the plane increased after
unloading
my CFI. I was getting almost 1000 to 1200 fpm climb, whereas normally we
are doing 500 to 700. Giddyup. Not bad for a 152 spam can. I must say that
the West Bend, WI airport FBO (West Bend Air) has some of the finest
rental/training
planes I've ever seen. The 152's are all at least 20 years old, but have
fresh paint, nice interiors, and they keep extremely good maintenance on them.
I've seen some real deathtraps at other FBO's, so I consider myself lucky.
Besides the 3 152's, they have a pair of nice 172's and a really sharp Arrow.
But I digress...
Sure makes the thought of flying our Europa all the more tantalizing!
Chris
A159
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