By Jim Hargreaves
30th April 2003 – I got up very early this morning, I don’t know why, I just felt it wasn’t going to be an ordinary day. I had a booking at 0930 with James Feagan, my instructor at Rockcliffe Flying Club and I wanted to check the weather to see what the trend was. I logged on to the NAV Canada web site and went through my morning ritual of checking the met. Surface Analysis to get the big picture, Graphical Area Forecast for the regional information and then the METAR / TAF for CYOW and CYND. Things looked good. An area of high pressure was settled over the Ottawa Valley, there was no ceiling, visibility was 15SM and winds were north-easterly and light. My hopes began to rise. I had about twenty five hours of dual instruction under my belt at this point and had managed to get the PSTAR and Radio exams out of the way a couple of days beforehand. James had signed me off on all of the pre-solo requisites and I had been issued with my official Student’s Pilot Permit. Technically, I was ready to go solo but I still needed plenty of work on my cross wind skills and James was patiently schooling me before letting me loose. It looked like a perfect day out there so I was hoping that I could perform well enough to go it alone, but I really didn’t have any idea if today would be the day or not.
I was driving down the Rockcliffe Parkway by 0815 and was pleased to see the windsocks drooping listlessly at both ends of the runway. A slight diagonal cross wind from the north-east was evident, maybe five knots, and a few fair weather cumulus were visible in the distance. Looking good. The wind direction favored 09 as the active runway which also pleased me. Somehow those trees on the final approach to 27 always seemed to play dirty tricks on my landings, at least that’s my excuse, and I much preferred the idea of a clean approach without any bumps if I was going to be flying solo for the first time.
Soon the walkaround was complete and the only hint I had at this stage that there was any chance of going solo was that I had been told to make sure I was carrying all the legally required documents for a pilot in command – Student Licence, Medical Certificate and Radio Operator’s Licence. I carefully ran through the pre-flight list and then James instructed me to taxi down to 09 and complete my run up and pre-take-off checks. He was quieter than normal, leaving me to attend to the routine without comment. He was right, I should know it off by heart by now. I carefully scanned the circuit for traffic with an anti-clockwise, 360 degree turn and then taxied to the hold short point. We were ready to go. I made the radio call and then started the backtrack down 09 for take-off. I lined up the aircraft with the centre of the runway and then steadily applied full power keeping a close eye on the air speed indicator. Some gentle rudder work kept us reasonably straight and at 55 knots I rotated. We were airborne. Four circuits and four reasonable landings later I was on the runway in the middle of a touch and go when James took control. He steered the aircraft to the end of the taxi-way and left the runway stopping the required 200 feet from the active tarmac for the after landing checks. That was when he told me I could go it alone. I took control, taxied slowly to just opposite the club house and James got out.
I locked the door behind him and with a final wave he saw me off. I was a little numb in the brain. I rolled back down to 09, made the radio call again and then before I knew it I was staring down the runway again, throttle in hand. This was it. I eased in the throttle; power was alive, speed was alive and I watched ASI climb as I accelerated down the runway. I reached rotation speed long before our previous take-off points and realized that without James on board the aircraft was responding more lightly to the controls.
Take off was smooth and soon I was making the regulatory twenty degree turn to the north for noise abatement purposes. Over the river I straightened up and continued to climb eastwards. At about 900’ I turned onto the cross-wind leg and finally reached circuit height just before turning downwind. As I turned I made the downwind radio call for a full stop on 09 and completed my pre-landing checks. Once the checks were done I was nicely trimmed on the downwind at 1200’ and that was when I actually realized that I was alone in the sky for the first time.
There had been too much to do to think about it until now. Even though James had been deliberately keeping a low profile on our dual flights that morning it still seemed almost eerie to have the whole ‘plane to myself. As if something had gone missing. There wasn’t really time to spend missing James’ company, I was level with the end of the runway on the downwind and powered down to 1900 rpm. Nose up to compensate and trim. Nicely settled for the turn to base. I reduced the power again to 1200 and keeping the nose up to reduce speed I made a smooth twenty degree turn for the base leg. I waited until I was within five knots of the approach speed and dropped twenty degrees of flaps.
Before I knew where I was I was making the radio call on final and trimming the aircraft for the landing. I had overshot the turn slightly and banked to the left to get lined up with the runway again. Speed was good, height was OK but I was still right of centre and crooked as I crossed the fence. I didn’t like the look of it. I decided to overshoot and applied full power and pushed in the carb heat. I left the flaps alone. My attitude was a little nose up and my speed was a little slow and I remembered that I needed to accelerate to cruise in ground effect in an overshoot before starting to climb. I adjusted the nose forward firmly and the aircraft responded quickly and reasonably smoothly. Soon I was at a safe speed and I climbed out of the overshoot and made the radio call again, feeling slightly embarrassed but calm. There is nothing to be embarrassed about I told myself, it’s better to be safe if you’re not certain of your approach and James had made it very clear that an overshoot was far preferable to an uncomfortable landing at my stage of the game. I’ll do it right this time.
Soon I was turning onto final again and this time I was perfectly lined up with 09 again. The aircraft was trimmed for the approach at 65 knots and the throttle went to idle this time as I crossed the fence. I was very comfortable with the way everything looked and although the aircraft floated down the runway for longer than normal I made a very reasonable landing and taxied off.
I was absolutely delighted. I steadied myself and taxied down the yellow line to the pumps where James was waiting for me with a big grin. My hands were very sweaty as I shut the aircraft down but that was excitement rather than nerves. There hadn’t really been time to be nervous, even with an overshoot added in for good measure.
My thanks to James and Lianne for giving me the excellent instruction and the confidence I needed to take this first very big step in my flying career. It was made even more memorable because I had to exercise some judgment and although a flawless first-time landing would have been very satisfying, somehow that overshoot just added a little more spice to the experience.
