Blog – Solo on Type 19/08/2023
The time had finally arrived: solo on type!
We shut down the plane so my CFI could exit safely and I was briefed to do a circuit “just like you have been doing”
Once my CFI was out of the aircraft and a save distance away I started up the Tecnam. I was finally on my solo for this type.
I taxied to the holding point and went thru all the checks twice.
I then made the radio call and taxied onto the runway and lined up. Throttle to full power; right rudder to stay straight and at 50kts I was airborne!
I immediately shouted out to the naysayers how wrong they all were and how I was going to show them a great circuit. After all the hard work I was finally solo in this beautiful little sports car of an aircraft.
Climb out and crosswind flashed by as I had such a rapid climb rate without the CFI aboard. Man this little plane can go! Downwind, and I set up for base like a robot. Awesome, this is how you fly!
However at the last minute I hit a gust of wind and I was unstable. Time to do a go around!
I was a little disappointed but go around is always better than trying to land when you are unstable, so I put that on the “good call” list and set up for another circuit.
On base this time, I heard over the radio that 2 aircraft had joined the circuit. No worries I was number 1, they all had me in sight, so all good. I radioed that due to the grass taxiways being out of service, I would roll all the way down the runway and exit at Charlie.
Onn short final I had the speed and glideslope dialled in. I transitioned to flare and held off. I was warned that I might float and that was an understatement. I floated and floated, and floated, down the runway. Finally my wheels touched down and I applied some brakes to slow down. But these brakes are quite tricky and I locked up! At once I released them but I was now past the exit for Charlie and still moving rather faster than I liked. I finally got the plane under control and backtracked to Charlie to exit the runway. That was not the prettiest of landings!
After composing myself, I radioed that I was clear of the runway and commenced my post landing drills. With that all done I lined up on Charlie, checked that the runway and approaches were now all clear, radioed that I was entering and back tracking onto useable grass taxiways, and taxied back to the aero club. All along the taxi back I was thinking why I floated so far. I finally realised that I hadn’t fully pulled the throttle to idle so had a wee bit of power still on. Hmm ok next time I will pull that darn throttle out of the dash!
I am so happy that today I was determined to be competent to go solo on this type. It is always a compliment from your instructors when they allow you to do this. Next time I will need to repeat the plan to confirm that this was not a one off, and that the consistency gremlins have fully been exorcised. I can’t wait!
Aircraft: ZK-DOY (Tecnam P2002 Sierra)
Total Time: 0.3
Landings: 1
Go-arounds: 1
Visual Approaches: 2
Until next time….
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Blog – Solo on Type 19/08/2023