Everyone who gains their wings (not drone pilots) will remember vividly the first time they were let lose in an aircraft on their own, going solo is a tick in the box as you progress through flying training that everyone talks about, worries about and is anxious about. Geoffrey Wellum describes his first solo as a trainee fighter pilot in his excellent book First Light so well you get the feeling of being with him, at least I felt my heart rate increase as he talks his way around his first circuit alone.
I think most people talk their way around that first solo circuit, coaching themselves as the altitude drifts either side of where it should be, as the checks are done and corrections need to be made to avoid falling out of the sky or missing the runway altogether or perhaps more embarrassing bouncing along the runway until the gear folds up and surviving. Spare a thought though for your instructor though, especially if they are quite new at the job because letting someone lose in an expensive piece of equipment (or even the dog of the fleet) is just as stressful for them! Certainly in the civilian world the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) are more likely to have a ‘pop’ at the instructor if it goes wrong than the student simply because until such time as the student holds a licence they are deemed to be incompetent. I was going to say the same could be said of some people who actually hold a licence, but I’m better than that.
At the grand old age of 17 I took to the skies alone for my first solo in a Slingsby Swallow. Now those of you who know what a Swallow is will know it is a single seat glider. So if you are keeping up you might be asking yourself why I didn’t do my first solo in the two seat glider I had learnt to fly in and was familiar with, after all that is the normal way of doing things. The instructor climbs out, on the ground, not in flight, obviously, maybe straps some ballast in the empty seat and gives the nervous student (who is often trying to climb out at this stage too) a bit of a pep talk along the lines of: its a bit lighter now, it will go up faster and float more on the landing. It is still the same glider though, the controls feel familiar, the cable release and speed brakes are still in the same place they were 15 minutes ago.
Well that isn’t how our club did it at that time. Apparently the two swallows we had weren’t worth much and the more expensive two seaters were too valuable to let a tyro pilot write them off on their first solo trip. So now not only did you have to get yourself up round and down without any support you were sat in a completely different aircraft, smaller wings, completely different attitude when going up the winch launch, cruise and landing attitude were also completely unknown to the student. The air brakes were vicious and its roll rate was fighter like. So the briefing was longer with lots of talk of speeds attitudes and explanations about how it ‘hung in the air like a brick’. All of which I forgot. Hardly surprising both of the Swallows eventually were broken.
At no point approaching my solo did I realise I was anywhere near ready to go it alone. There was a requirement to carry out spins before going solo which required an aerotow to get sufficient altitude to avoid auguring into the airfield whilst performing a couple of good recoveries. I wasn’t aware of any of these requirements and to be honest as much as I enjoyed gliding I think I enjoyed all the other activities that went along with the sport, such as drinking heavily, driving cars at stupid speeds around the grass airfield and sitting on a tyre towed behind a car at 60mph just as much! After all glider driving was something that lasted about 10 minutes at a time when I could afford a launch. Which wasn’t very often. Although with the benefit of hindsight and a good few years of experience, if I had cut back on the drinking I might of had a bit more money to spend on gliding, although at 40p a pint probably not much more.
When my mate Martin who had done a fair bit of my training said ‘do you want to have a go at an aerotow’ I didn’t think it was for my benefit I just presumed he was going for some practice and was kindly taking me along, so hopped in. We did some spins which were great fun! He then asked me if I had had ever sat in a Swallow, I said no, so he said put a parachute on and have a sit in it, see what you think. I really didn’t realise what was happening, even when he said do your harness up it never dawned on me for a moment he was getting me ready to go solo. He got someone to hold the tail plane up off the ground to simulate the level attitude and someone placed the canopy over my head and latched it. It wasn’t until he actually said to one of the bystanders “hook him up” and told me to pull the yellow ‘bung’ to fasten the cable on did I finally realise I was going off on my own! I kid you not! OK I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed.
The flight was fairly uneventful, other than pointing vertical shortly after take off, then almost stalling at the top of the launch because the Swallow had a much lower nose attitude in the cruise, before almost carrying out an aileron roll due to its much faster roll rate. I don’t remember the landing it was all a blur. In fact the rest of the afternoon and night was an even bigger blur due to the extra beer consumed. I didn’t have the money to pay for a round of beers for everyone in the bar as is tradition but my mates dad the CFI stood my round.
I have got where I am today thanks to the kindness and faith of a number of people and despite a couple of others. I didn’t have large sums of money to spend on flying unlike some and I guess for that reason it took longer than many to get where I am today but it has been a laugh! I have met and sat next to some pretty amazing people that I owe much to and most of all I have some very treasured memories.
Sadly some are no longer with us but looking back through logbooks spanning almost 40 years and counting I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to fly with them.
I have also had the great privilege to instruct people on their way to gaining their wings. In fact I am starting to feel older every time I bump into an airline Captain who was one of my students as an Air Cadet or from a flying club. Being able to share the magic of flight with others has been some of the most enjoyable flying I have done. I say the ‘magic’ of flight because lets face no one really knows what makes aircraft fly do they? I know money plays a big part and the more you have available the higher things fly, just ask Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos.
