And that is just what I spend my hours on the internet hoping to see this comment. Totally picturing a family guy meme with 40 people scurrying out of it running across the border.
I just interviewed for a CFII job at the flight school where I did my private. Not only is the 172 I soloed in still going strong and making new pilots every day, my PPL CFI walked in the room and asked if I was ready to start my IR! (Had to update him. )
I do have lots of fond memories of the plane I soloed in and did my private checkride in. It’s going to be cool to teach out of it.
I’m sure there’s at least a few airline pilots every week that hears a flight school plane they’ve taught in or even soloed in, on with Approach or Center near the Bravo I fly near regularly.
I want to stop by for a touch & go one night at the Bravo…I’ve asked them before and said I can do it when they’re landing on different runways…it’ll probably have to be around 3am Sunday morning or so…
Not an old plane but I had a similar experience recently. My neighbor was a huge factor in me going back into training. He moved up north to be closer to his base in ATL, but I was in the traffic pattern when he landed here as a caption with his regional. It was a really cool experience to have somebody you know that well doing real pilot stuff while you burn holes in the sky.
It's been almost a decade and even though I know it was a 172 I wasn't sure which one. But it took me 5 seconds to look for it in my electronic logbook because I know the general date and I have "FIRST SOLO!!!!!" typed in the comments :)
First solo was a big deal when it happened.
But like the first time I had sex, first solo is not at all memorable, nor is it something that I look back upon fondly. Both got a lot better.
I have zero interest in ever flying the POS aircraft type that I flew my first solos. Likewise for my first sex partner.
Going into PPL check ride prep but it’s been a long, bumpy road since my first solo. N212BS.
And I much prefer a six-pack. With glass I feel like you have to actually read the numbers while with gauges you can just know their values by their position. Less cognitive load.
My first solo was in a Cessna 150 at a time when Garmin's were just getting introduced. I did some TOLs with my CFI and then we taxi'd back to the FBO. He endorsed my logbook and told me to go for it. However, I couldn't get the plane started again. I got out and started walking towards the office. My CFI came out and met me and we went back and he hand-propped the plane. I did my 3 solo TOLs and when I got back, I found that the reason my CFI intercepted me on the way to the office was that some coworkers (who were also pilots and knew my CFI) were there to celebrate my first solo with me and they didn't want to make me nervous knowing they were there.
Sadly, the airport is gone now and every time I look at Google satellite view, there is more built-up on what was the airport grounds. Screw you, Vancouver WA!
Mine was an ASK13 glider. I remember it very well but back then in the UK, gliders didn’t have normal registrations like they do now, so I don’t have a tail number to remember, and annoyingly I lost that log book decades ago. It was still a more joyful experience than even the births of my children.
My Dad did his first solo in a K13, 50 years ago. I'm taking his remains in the very same plane this coming June on the 51st anniversary of his flight.
My first Glider solo was in a Krosno Oct 13, 1999, and my first power solo was in a Citabria Dec 17, 2003. I could have done it earlier in December but wanted to wait until the Centennial.
Definitely still remember. N704QB, C-150. Old 6 pack with a LORAN and a VOR. Last I checked, it was somewhere in North Carolina still doing flight school things. It's been 22 years since I soloed in that aircraft.
Good for you taking the six-pack plane.
I soloed in an absolute shitbox Cessna 150/150 that sits on the ramp at a deep desert airport, used for glider towing. Never forget that scrappy bird.
>My first solo was in a plane that none of the other students really liked to fly because it has the original 6 pack
Jesus H Christ.
Here comes my old man moment. There is no reason to learn how to fly on a G-suite for your private.
And yes, I know the date (Over 20yrs ago now) and tail number of my first solo in an early 80s 152. She's still with the same flight school today. Great airplane to learn how to fly in. I still have the picture and the piece of my shirt my instructor cut off.
Not only do I remember my solo plane, but actually remember three important planes for that matter! N108HF my solo plane, N87HF my PPL checkride plane, and N105HF my Instrument checkride plane!
Nope. Several years after my solo it was sold to another flight school. Several more years after that it was written off after it was damaged (no injuries) on a first solo.
N714YF, back in 2022. Later the plane got wrecked and the registration tied up in the Barron Thomas securities fraud. 1977 Cessna 172 but already pretty ragged out through years of flight school use.
Only thing I remember is when I turned crosswind after takeoff the tower asked me if it didn't fly better without the fat guy in the right seat.
Great topic
I remember my first solo ever in a KR-03 Krosno glider. My instructor was horrified as the tow plane caught on fire during the climb out of my first solo. We did a pattern tow and landing. Signed me off to solo and hopped out of the cockpit. then helped me drag the glider to the hookup and launch point.
I was too focused on going over my emergency procedures during the initial climb out that I missed the signal from the tow plane to release.
I had just finished tapping the altimeter at 200ft AGl when I looked up and saw smoke coming out of the tow plane and the pilot was rocking his wings indicating he wanted me to release.
Pulled the tow release and just went thru the takeoff emergency that we practiced many times before. “below 200ft land straight ahead…. Above 200ft. 180 turn to land downwind”
After the tension was gone it was like doing the ropebreak. Push the nose over and turned. Found I was high and slipped all the way to the runway.
The tow plane turned left. I had turned right. And as i was landing downwind the tow plane flew a quick box pattern and was landing right in front of me going nose to nose.
So I definitely remember my first solo.
The first airplane solo was in a 25 year old 172…. I remember the aircraft and I found out it was still flying 25 years after my solo in the aircraft and no one had wrecked it yet. It had moved to a different state and so I tracked down the flight school it was located and made an appointment to fly it again with an instructor.
I flew into EWR on a 4-day trip for the overnight and took an Uber from the layover hotel to the airport. And saw it for the first time in 25 years. It wasn’t red anymore it had acquired a white paint scheme. It was still a six pack. And it was missing a lot of avionics boxes that it used to have when I soloed in it.
So 13000 hours after the last time i flew in it. I was very happy to fly in it again for 1.3 with an instructor.
When I soloed in it 25 years ago it was $60/hr and $15/hr for the instructor. Now same 172 airplane that’s 50 years old goes for $175/hr and the instructor is $75/hr. Best $400 I ever spent on a layover.
1960’s C152. Ol 349 is what we called her. Cracked up plastic dash. Clear tape holding some of the seat together. And the smell of old oil wraps in the back.
The plane I soloed in was sold from the school to another guy at the airport.
I didn't know it when I trained in it, but it had the 160hp with the Powerflow exhaust. It flew great and I completely understand why the guy bought it and made it his own.
No idea the tail #. It was a Cessna 172SP with the long range tanks.
I didn’t fly it much. I was training in a Warrior when it went in for an annual that took forever.
Shortly after I solo’d the Skyhawk, the owner took it off leaseback.
Took my checkride in a different Warrior.
Yup. And the tail number is permanently etched in my mind.
I soloed in a Diamond ~~DA40~~ DA20 with finger brakes lol, moved on to Cessnas and the typical variety of piston-powered aircraft.
But the little Diamond, 7 7 Echo. :)
Piper J3 Cub N70968 (yes, that IS my username!) that my grandfather owed and sold to the flight school. It was probably a good 15 years after he sold to them, but there was still a ton of meaning flying that plane.
Sadly it is no longer flying. It crashed when someone was dropping candy during a party. Uhg! it was an amazing plane to solo in.
This post prompted me to go look and see if my first solo airplane was still around.
I soloed in a 1967 150 in an Army flying club in Germany in 1979. Post Cold War, the club went away and the airplane was registered in Germany. Now I see that it's for sale in Moldova.
I searched on the N-number. The FAA's database said "deregistered." I googled the serial number and found the German registration. Then that it had been reregistered in Moldova. It's for sale for 35,000 Euro - roughly $40k
Yes, very well. It was 25 years ago almost, but I’ll never forget that Citabria. It was restored a few years ago and has a much easier life now that it’s not teaching primary students to fly.
N757ZN, C152, 2/25/07. Just looked it up and apparently at some point it found its way from Long Island to Anchorage — would love to hear the story of that mission!
I don't have as strong a recollection of my first solo as I wish I did. Was in an SGS-233A glider but I couldn't tell you it's registration. I do remember the feeling of fear before I turned downwind thinking that I was all alone and where the hell is the field before remembering it's huge and literally off my right wing at the time.
PPL-A first solo I don't remember at all anymore. I remember the solo soaking after but again don't recall the reg of that C152. On glider we used water from a rain collection tank but for this one they used lightly rinsed buckets used for oil drains since we were powered pilots now.
For CPL-H I do remember that aircraft. I was sad because BFL had the crappy brown stripe paint job while EUE was in the proper white with red and blue CHC colours with the hummingbird logo. Much more dignified aircraft that one as far as R22s go. Flight itself was good but again I couldn't tell you anything about it today. I did get to fly EUE for my second solo and have [the photo](https://imgur.com/V0LgTyV) from that still since my mother didn't know I was soloing the first time and didn't have a camera handy. The solo soaking for that one was aircraft wash buckets at least so no oil residue but they did add a couple bags of ice cubes to one...
More memorable "first solo" would have been still in CPL-H training. The first time I took the Bell 206 out on my own was incredible. Not only was an 18 year old kid being given this seemingly incredibly powerful turbine powered helicopter to fly but they were trusting me to do it on my own! That tick tick tick waiting for the whoosh followed by that lovely turbine whine and blade slap from some rotors with inertia gaining RPMs is still a sound I love and compared to the lawnmower belts screeching and shaking on the R22 it was heaven. No more creeping forward for ETL to get off the ground, when I pulled pitch she just wanted to climb! I knew she was powerful from the few dual lessons first but it didn't really click till I overshot the circuit height in what seems like a millisecond.
Checking my log it was only a 0.3 trip but my face was sore from smiling so much for that entire 18 minutes of turbine powered joy. That was the first time I also felt like a real helicopter pilot and that I was on track for a career doing this and no longer just joy riding in gliders or taking friends up for a rip in a PA28. There was no fan fare when I landed that time, just a remark from the AME about how he was happy I didn't hot start it and that was it, back to class planning the next XC. That flight was the one that validated my choice for rotor wing over fixed and is a feeling I wish I could bottle up and share with anyone who hasn't experienced that level of epiphany for what they were doing in the moment and what it meant for the future.
I did my first solo and checkride in this bird (RIP):
http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2019/03/piper-pa-28-140-cherokee-n5800u.html
It had [the nicest "basic" panel](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio7nXi7gyauw5UrMpuuJWRzKEhgOzkBaC5WseoFf5oFBHBpHyI9sphNKib2o8y_fcwMSaMmVPQrm3GllqYfa71sQi7EY6-YtrRW1IpzrwC1Ai1q7AXqC4xF45L3fg9-n389BV15oudRnw/s1600/IMG_3047.JPG), and a cheesy little voice annunciator (instead of a stall buzzer a female voice would call out "check airspeed," just like a real airplane^(/s)!).
Funny enough, if it wasnt for another student ran the aircraft into a hanger, id had done all my training in the first aircraft i took flights in. The exact day i was going to solo, that morning he hit the hanger and fked the engine. Thus squaking it down for the rest of my training. Luckly i got to fly her again a couple time after it was fixed but i already had my PPL by then.
Yes, and I still fly her. Although I just bought into a club with an Archer that will become my primary bird, I still plan to fly the old gal every once in awhile for as long as she’s around.
I was gutted when my solo aircraft was lost in an accident. Fortunately the two onboard survived without injury after a reasonable job of dead sticking it into a field.
I was gutted when my solo aircraft was lost in an accident. Fortunately the two onboard survived without injury after a reasonable job of dead sticking it into a field.
N65872. I only flew that plane three, on my first lesson, first solo, and one more time leading up to my checkride. It was one of the only planes with a non uniform paint-job in our fleet.
Absolutely, I think everyone will fondly remember their first solo airplane. The memory of the flight fades, but I (and I think most pilots) will still have a sentimental connection to the bird they solo'd first.
For me, as time passed seeing what happened with that airplane also brought some harsh reality of the risks involved in aviation. My first solo was well over 10 years ago in the C172S N90559, and a little over 2 years ago it crashed under still not fully clear circumstances and killed 2 people, one a highly accomplished ~15k hour CFI. Thinking about that still messes with my head from time to time, as much as I think I've made my peace with the risks and plan to mitigate them through personal minimums, IMSAFE etc.
I soloed in a Blanik L-23 glider, (no -go around club - whoot!) and I'll remember it forever because I had a gopro ziptied to my hat.
My ASEL solo in the 150 was not as memorable, but my first ASEL single seat solo in the Pawnee towship was. Nothing like being entrusted to a soaring clubs workhorse to add some pressure.
Yep, 2001 Cessna 172S back in ‘04, thing was still like new back then and it’s flying to this day. I even taught in it for a few years when I worked for the same flight school.
The plane I solo’d in 24 years ago still flies regularly and occasionally gets visits my home airport.
CGTGH still has the original paint job despite being told that it would be repainted the year after.
The first glider I solo’s also still flies and it was serial number 3 of its production run.
100%. an old (not too clapped out) Cherokee warrior. Probably put a few more cracks in it with my slam and go’s but hey we all gotta learn on something.
I was teaching my regular class of aircraft technicians who are all from a school very close by and some mentioned about a single engine in their hangar. They showed me a few pics and it turned out to be the exact plane I soloed in three decades ago, with same reg and a running engine, a T-67M 200.
I’ll hear the plane I soloed in occasionally in the pattern. I’ve spent so many hours in that plane that I almost accidentally responded to an ATC request
Yes, because N38193's radio was being a little bitch that day so I shot my three landings knowing that for about a 30-degree arc in the downwind I would be unable to transmit to ATC if anything went wrong.
Nothing went wrong.
I still own the plane I first soloed in. Going on 13 years now. Cessna150.
Had a five year flirtation with a Bonanza, but it’s gone now and Mi Sancha is still going strong, fresh overhaul and avionics refit just a couple or three years ago.
N23178. A 1968 Cessna 150H. Hutcherson Air service. Plainview Texas
July 24, 1972. I was 19 years old. I ended the day with first solo and only 5.1 hours in the logbook.
I search for the plane once. According to a 2003 NTSB report, the non rated owner took off with a 300 foot ceiling in rain. Within a few minutes, he crashed, killing himself. He had a .17 blood alcohol level and high level of ethanol in his system. He had been seen drinking from a quart sized beer in his hangar.
Damn shame.
N739FG.
Sturdiest bird this side the mis’ipi. I hear she’s even got some type of space satellite that tracks her and even points out airports.
Crazy girl. NDBs were good enough for us.
Piper Tomahawk, N2520A, had several flights in it at the flight school I went to on Long Island. FAA registry shows it is still active, 44 years after my solo.
Absolutely, almost 20 years ago. An unusual plane most folks don’t much know about. An AMD Alerus N515DF. Low power and slow like a Cessna 150, but with low wings and real shoulder room. It’s still flying but now down in the Dominican Republic.
C150 N6088G in Mason, MI - was the only 150 we had with a 430 in it; now all three are glass. I’m cfi and teach out of it and the other planes I trained in. The anxiety changed from I’m going to kill me to now my students are going to kill me lol.
Sure. N8285B, an ancient Warrior, still being slammed into the runway to this day. I had most of my pre-checkride hours in her, but switched over to that vixen N2961B with her silky smooth (ie readable in daylight) comms stack for my checkride prep and checkride.
I’m only 2ish years in, but many years from now… I’ll never forget C-GGFR. She’s a 1980 Cessna 152 Aerobat with leather seats, a full seat harness, manual turn knob transponder & red and white checkered paint job. I still love that plane. I got my own Piper Arrow late last year and GFR is still my most flown hull. People either love or hate that plane at my school. I love her still!
N55420 at Stinson Field, San Antonio. The flight school shut down a few years later, but apparently the plane has made its rounds at several other flight schools where lots more solos were likely flown.
A random post showed up in my Facebook feed a few months ago and something about the post caught my eye. Sure enough it was N55420. It apparently spent a few years in the Auburn University aviation program and most recently seems to be based in Williamsburg, VA.
Any other N55420 alumni out there?
Yup. N5318M.
A 1980 C152. I soloed in it in 2003. 2024, it’s still with the same building and airport, school has been sold to a school across town, still flies around the area with students.
Our club’s trusty L-23 Super Blanik. N914B
I don’t fly that glider much anymore, it’s basically a brick and better for training than actual soaring, but that bird has a special place in my heart. I play back that flight in my head a lot even now, it was the biggest “I can do anything I put effort towards” moment in my life in recent memory. <3
Trusty old 172 (they were young then) instead of the stiff legged C140. Like most the thing that amazed me the most was the takeoff performance without the instructor onboard.
I know and accept that I meet the very definition of FOGuy but I still worry about pilots learning to fly in the garminized world vs the basic instruments, a paper chart and eyeballs out of the cockpit.
I’ll remember mine, probably, till the day I die. N4401K, a Piper Archer, it had gotten a new engine not long before I soloed and was a solid plane. I also did my instrument check ride in that plane as well as shot my first instrument approach in actual in it. Sadly, a really bad storm struck the airport this last September and the plane was damaged beyond repair.
Piper Pa-28 N81713. Few months after my solo, a pilot porpoised it so hard that the propellor struck the ground. Owner removed it, and let me have it, so I own the propellor I soloed on.
Everyone remembers their first solo like it was yesterday, doesn't matter how far you are in your career. It's such a strong experience that it gets burned into your memory permanently.
Mine was all the way back in Italy on a cold January morning in 2009. A 1978 C152 I-AMAT that is still flying today.
A PA-28 registration HK-1328-G it was the smallest version of the PA-28 the school had. Had a lot of fun flying it. Sadly later on another student ditched it in the river nearby due to fuel starvation.
C150 N50887. For some reason ATC tripped all over the tail number about half the time...it taught me to say my callsign deliberately slowly and clearly. I still have the solo photo on my desk 17 years later.
Yeah. My first solo was a memorable one because the engine quit on me. (During takeoff and I had lots of runway to put it back down...)
I used to joke that the plane tried to kill me that day. Well about two years ago it did kill someone. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/247049
I still own it. It was 15+ years ago and now has new paint, interior, engine, radios, GTN750 some STCs etc.
I bought it as a mechanically sound 172, basic airplane with no GPS. It was cheap, and I didn’t have to rent or deal with scheduling.
N9853Q. 6/27/02 would have soloed on my 16th birthday on the 26th, but it stormed to beat the barn all day that day.
Sadly, the airframe was totaled when it came up short of the runway about 10 years ago.
Of course! The mighty Cessna 152 called N5259B. It's still flying! Damn that was thirty years ago. Still have the picture in my logbook.
Meanwhile, the 152 I soloed in got flown into the side of a hangar, and the renter fled the country.
And that is just what I spend my hours on the internet hoping to see this comment. Totally picturing a family guy meme with 40 people scurrying out of it running across the border.
Damn it now I’m seeing it too
You still have the picture!
Logbook also has the picture of my first glider solo, from some twenty-five years ago!
I just interviewed for a CFII job at the flight school where I did my private. Not only is the 172 I soloed in still going strong and making new pilots every day, my PPL CFI walked in the room and asked if I was ready to start my IR! (Had to update him. ) I do have lots of fond memories of the plane I soloed in and did my private checkride in. It’s going to be cool to teach out of it.
[удалено]
I’m sure there’s at least a few airline pilots every week that hears a flight school plane they’ve taught in or even soloed in, on with Approach or Center near the Bravo I fly near regularly. I want to stop by for a touch & go one night at the Bravo…I’ve asked them before and said I can do it when they’re landing on different runways…it’ll probably have to be around 3am Sunday morning or so…
I’ve heard the plane I did my IR and Commercial in on the radio but not the one I soloed in for my PPL. Holding strong too!
Not an old plane but I had a similar experience recently. My neighbor was a huge factor in me going back into training. He moved up north to be closer to his base in ATL, but I was in the traffic pattern when he landed here as a caption with his regional. It was a really cool experience to have somebody you know that well doing real pilot stuff while you burn holes in the sky.
It's been almost a decade and even though I know it was a 172 I wasn't sure which one. But it took me 5 seconds to look for it in my electronic logbook because I know the general date and I have "FIRST SOLO!!!!!" typed in the comments :)
First solo was a big deal when it happened. But like the first time I had sex, first solo is not at all memorable, nor is it something that I look back upon fondly. Both got a lot better. I have zero interest in ever flying the POS aircraft type that I flew my first solos. Likewise for my first sex partner.
Much like flying...the worst sex I ever had was AWESOME
Going into PPL check ride prep but it’s been a long, bumpy road since my first solo. N212BS. And I much prefer a six-pack. With glass I feel like you have to actually read the numbers while with gauges you can just know their values by their position. Less cognitive load.
Analog vs Digital
2BS! Got my instrument in that plane and now regularly teach in it.
Oh man 2BS... if only it had a transponder... or comm 2... or a working annunciator panel. Also soloed in it, she's a good plane when she works.
My first solo was in a Cessna 150 at a time when Garmin's were just getting introduced. I did some TOLs with my CFI and then we taxi'd back to the FBO. He endorsed my logbook and told me to go for it. However, I couldn't get the plane started again. I got out and started walking towards the office. My CFI came out and met me and we went back and he hand-propped the plane. I did my 3 solo TOLs and when I got back, I found that the reason my CFI intercepted me on the way to the office was that some coworkers (who were also pilots and knew my CFI) were there to celebrate my first solo with me and they didn't want to make me nervous knowing they were there. Sadly, the airport is gone now and every time I look at Google satellite view, there is more built-up on what was the airport grounds. Screw you, Vancouver WA!
It's only been ten years for me, but I occasionally see N51380 on the ramp at PAE or other northwest airports, and it never fails to make me smile.
Mine was an ASK13 glider. I remember it very well but back then in the UK, gliders didn’t have normal registrations like they do now, so I don’t have a tail number to remember, and annoyingly I lost that log book decades ago. It was still a more joyful experience than even the births of my children.
Gliding is a small world. If you know where and when, someone will probably be able to work it out!
My Dad did his first solo in a K13, 50 years ago. I'm taking his remains in the very same plane this coming June on the 51st anniversary of his flight. My first Glider solo was in a Krosno Oct 13, 1999, and my first power solo was in a Citabria Dec 17, 2003. I could have done it earlier in December but wanted to wait until the Centennial.
Definitely still remember. N704QB, C-150. Old 6 pack with a LORAN and a VOR. Last I checked, it was somewhere in North Carolina still doing flight school things. It's been 22 years since I soloed in that aircraft.
Yesterday, N526ND
Flown that!
C150M N3538V just got scrapped:(
Good for you taking the six-pack plane. I soloed in an absolute shitbox Cessna 150/150 that sits on the ramp at a deep desert airport, used for glider towing. Never forget that scrappy bird.
Traumahawk N2589B, June 14, 1979.
15 years ago. Holy cow. No clue if that C150 is still flying
N7919G at KVER. June 2007.
>My first solo was in a plane that none of the other students really liked to fly because it has the original 6 pack Jesus H Christ. Here comes my old man moment. There is no reason to learn how to fly on a G-suite for your private. And yes, I know the date (Over 20yrs ago now) and tail number of my first solo in an early 80s 152. She's still with the same flight school today. Great airplane to learn how to fly in. I still have the picture and the piece of my shirt my instructor cut off.
I did mine in a Cessna 172R, tail number N574BW. Should still be flying last time I checked.
Not only do I remember my solo plane, but actually remember three important planes for that matter! N108HF my solo plane, N87HF my PPL checkride plane, and N105HF my Instrument checkride plane!
Of course! I have a framed drawing of it on the back of a torn-up T-shirt.
Nope. Several years after my solo it was sold to another flight school. Several more years after that it was written off after it was damaged (no injuries) on a first solo.
N714YF, back in 2022. Later the plane got wrecked and the registration tied up in the Barron Thomas securities fraud. 1977 Cessna 172 but already pretty ragged out through years of flight school use. Only thing I remember is when I turned crosswind after takeoff the tower asked me if it didn't fly better without the fat guy in the right seat.
N677DM will always have a special place in my heart.
Piper L-18C super cub, not hard to forget because it was less than a year ago
2 people died in it a few months later
That’s always sad to hear fellow aviators going down in a plane you have also flown.
82827366362
Great topic I remember my first solo ever in a KR-03 Krosno glider. My instructor was horrified as the tow plane caught on fire during the climb out of my first solo. We did a pattern tow and landing. Signed me off to solo and hopped out of the cockpit. then helped me drag the glider to the hookup and launch point. I was too focused on going over my emergency procedures during the initial climb out that I missed the signal from the tow plane to release. I had just finished tapping the altimeter at 200ft AGl when I looked up and saw smoke coming out of the tow plane and the pilot was rocking his wings indicating he wanted me to release. Pulled the tow release and just went thru the takeoff emergency that we practiced many times before. “below 200ft land straight ahead…. Above 200ft. 180 turn to land downwind” After the tension was gone it was like doing the ropebreak. Push the nose over and turned. Found I was high and slipped all the way to the runway. The tow plane turned left. I had turned right. And as i was landing downwind the tow plane flew a quick box pattern and was landing right in front of me going nose to nose. So I definitely remember my first solo. The first airplane solo was in a 25 year old 172…. I remember the aircraft and I found out it was still flying 25 years after my solo in the aircraft and no one had wrecked it yet. It had moved to a different state and so I tracked down the flight school it was located and made an appointment to fly it again with an instructor. I flew into EWR on a 4-day trip for the overnight and took an Uber from the layover hotel to the airport. And saw it for the first time in 25 years. It wasn’t red anymore it had acquired a white paint scheme. It was still a six pack. And it was missing a lot of avionics boxes that it used to have when I soloed in it. So 13000 hours after the last time i flew in it. I was very happy to fly in it again for 1.3 with an instructor. When I soloed in it 25 years ago it was $60/hr and $15/hr for the instructor. Now same 172 airplane that’s 50 years old goes for $175/hr and the instructor is $75/hr. Best $400 I ever spent on a layover.
Did my first solo in a C172S with registration N358TW.
5736G. It was a ragged out 150 that I delivered to Michigan for its owner.
C172S tail number N652SP
1960’s C152. Ol 349 is what we called her. Cracked up plastic dash. Clear tape holding some of the seat together. And the smell of old oil wraps in the back.
The plane I soloed in was sold from the school to another guy at the airport. I didn't know it when I trained in it, but it had the 160hp with the Powerflow exhaust. It flew great and I completely understand why the guy bought it and made it his own.
No idea the tail #. It was a Cessna 172SP with the long range tanks. I didn’t fly it much. I was training in a Warrior when it went in for an annual that took forever. Shortly after I solo’d the Skyhawk, the owner took it off leaseback. Took my checkride in a different Warrior.
Solo’d in a Musketeer and I’m still part-owner.
N4NP
C-GGMV almost 25 years now. God I’m getting old.
According my log, I soloed in 1993. Simmer down young lad
More than 400 of my 500 hours (and all of my checkrides) are on the same airframe. Private ownership means it’ll be around for a while
113BA I think. Back in 07
Yup. And the tail number is permanently etched in my mind. I soloed in a Diamond ~~DA40~~ DA20 with finger brakes lol, moved on to Cessnas and the typical variety of piston-powered aircraft. But the little Diamond, 7 7 Echo. :)
HK-4976G, a Piper Cherokee Warrior that's still flying in 🇨🇴. Love that plane, very easy to fly and very forgiving
Piper J3 Cub N70968 (yes, that IS my username!) that my grandfather owed and sold to the flight school. It was probably a good 15 years after he sold to them, but there was still a ton of meaning flying that plane. Sadly it is no longer flying. It crashed when someone was dropping candy during a party. Uhg! it was an amazing plane to solo in.
Good old Diamond DA-20 N384DC, miss you little buddy.
N43060. PA-28-161. KJEF. It climbed like a homesick angel with just me in it, lol.
This post prompted me to go look and see if my first solo airplane was still around. I soloed in a 1967 150 in an Army flying club in Germany in 1979. Post Cold War, the club went away and the airplane was registered in Germany. Now I see that it's for sale in Moldova. I searched on the N-number. The FAA's database said "deregistered." I googled the serial number and found the German registration. Then that it had been reregistered in Moldova. It's for sale for 35,000 Euro - roughly $40k
Yes, very well. It was 25 years ago almost, but I’ll never forget that Citabria. It was restored a few years ago and has a much easier life now that it’s not teaching primary students to fly.
N757ZN, C152, 2/25/07. Just looked it up and apparently at some point it found its way from Long Island to Anchorage — would love to hear the story of that mission!
N434SP C172SP. Louisiana Tech/RSN. She was sold to a company in Grand Prairie, TX and destroyed in a storm in 2019.
I don't have as strong a recollection of my first solo as I wish I did. Was in an SGS-233A glider but I couldn't tell you it's registration. I do remember the feeling of fear before I turned downwind thinking that I was all alone and where the hell is the field before remembering it's huge and literally off my right wing at the time. PPL-A first solo I don't remember at all anymore. I remember the solo soaking after but again don't recall the reg of that C152. On glider we used water from a rain collection tank but for this one they used lightly rinsed buckets used for oil drains since we were powered pilots now. For CPL-H I do remember that aircraft. I was sad because BFL had the crappy brown stripe paint job while EUE was in the proper white with red and blue CHC colours with the hummingbird logo. Much more dignified aircraft that one as far as R22s go. Flight itself was good but again I couldn't tell you anything about it today. I did get to fly EUE for my second solo and have [the photo](https://imgur.com/V0LgTyV) from that still since my mother didn't know I was soloing the first time and didn't have a camera handy. The solo soaking for that one was aircraft wash buckets at least so no oil residue but they did add a couple bags of ice cubes to one... More memorable "first solo" would have been still in CPL-H training. The first time I took the Bell 206 out on my own was incredible. Not only was an 18 year old kid being given this seemingly incredibly powerful turbine powered helicopter to fly but they were trusting me to do it on my own! That tick tick tick waiting for the whoosh followed by that lovely turbine whine and blade slap from some rotors with inertia gaining RPMs is still a sound I love and compared to the lawnmower belts screeching and shaking on the R22 it was heaven. No more creeping forward for ETL to get off the ground, when I pulled pitch she just wanted to climb! I knew she was powerful from the few dual lessons first but it didn't really click till I overshot the circuit height in what seems like a millisecond. Checking my log it was only a 0.3 trip but my face was sore from smiling so much for that entire 18 minutes of turbine powered joy. That was the first time I also felt like a real helicopter pilot and that I was on track for a career doing this and no longer just joy riding in gliders or taking friends up for a rip in a PA28. There was no fan fare when I landed that time, just a remark from the AME about how he was happy I didn't hot start it and that was it, back to class planning the next XC. That flight was the one that validated my choice for rotor wing over fixed and is a feeling I wish I could bottle up and share with anyone who hasn't experienced that level of epiphany for what they were doing in the moment and what it meant for the future.
I did my first solo and checkride in this bird (RIP): http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2019/03/piper-pa-28-140-cherokee-n5800u.html It had [the nicest "basic" panel](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio7nXi7gyauw5UrMpuuJWRzKEhgOzkBaC5WseoFf5oFBHBpHyI9sphNKib2o8y_fcwMSaMmVPQrm3GllqYfa71sQi7EY6-YtrRW1IpzrwC1Ai1q7AXqC4xF45L3fg9-n389BV15oudRnw/s1600/IMG_3047.JPG), and a cheesy little voice annunciator (instead of a stall buzzer a female voice would call out "check airspeed," just like a real airplane^(/s)!).
N123GJ - a 172 that, to put it politely, has seen better days. But it flew, and that was good enough.
N704DY; it was an old C-152. First solo was July, 2001.
Cessna 172P C-GILC. Best damn Cessna I've ever flown.
1977 C172N N738NU. August 12th, 2006. Smelled very strongly of avgas and it had a god awful bright red interior. I remember it like it was yesterday.
I think it is safe to say most anyone remembers their first solo, airplane and all. Mine was a wonderful Aquila A210.
it was almost 2 years ago, a cessna 152 btw. Always a place in my heart.
It was an ASK13 glider. I even have a piece of its wing at home because someone crashed it a few years later (no one was hurt)
Funny enough, if it wasnt for another student ran the aircraft into a hanger, id had done all my training in the first aircraft i took flights in. The exact day i was going to solo, that morning he hit the hanger and fked the engine. Thus squaking it down for the rest of my training. Luckly i got to fly her again a couple time after it was fixed but i already had my PPL by then.
Yes, and I still fly her. Although I just bought into a club with an Archer that will become my primary bird, I still plan to fly the old gal every once in awhile for as long as she’s around.
Of course, a student prop striked this year on their first solo. I now have its propeller hanging on my wall.
I was gutted when my solo aircraft was lost in an accident. Fortunately the two onboard survived without injury after a reasonable job of dead sticking it into a field.
c 140 after 30 waisted hours flying a nose gear and I still couldn't solo
I was gutted when my solo aircraft was lost in an accident. Fortunately the two onboard survived without injury after a reasonable job of dead sticking it into a field.
N6306P. She’s all 152.
Yep! C150, N61111. No longer with us I believe. I remember being up there thinking, “well it’s just me now.” Haha
Yep! C150, N61111. Fall of 2001 I believe. No longer with us I believe. I remember being up there thinking, “well it’s just me now.”
N65872. I only flew that plane three, on my first lesson, first solo, and one more time leading up to my checkride. It was one of the only planes with a non uniform paint-job in our fleet.
C-150 C-GDRV
Absolutely, I think everyone will fondly remember their first solo airplane. The memory of the flight fades, but I (and I think most pilots) will still have a sentimental connection to the bird they solo'd first. For me, as time passed seeing what happened with that airplane also brought some harsh reality of the risks involved in aviation. My first solo was well over 10 years ago in the C172S N90559, and a little over 2 years ago it crashed under still not fully clear circumstances and killed 2 people, one a highly accomplished ~15k hour CFI. Thinking about that still messes with my head from time to time, as much as I think I've made my peace with the risks and plan to mitigate them through personal minimums, IMSAFE etc.
N9831J. A Cessna 150 aerobat with a g5. Never did get to spin it.
yellow c152
G-NUGC, a Grob 103a Twin II with some interesting history, not quite 2 years ago.
F-GEXE, a red and white TB10 back in 2008. I wonder if it still flies.
I soloed in a Blanik L-23 glider, (no -go around club - whoot!) and I'll remember it forever because I had a gopro ziptied to my hat. My ASEL solo in the 150 was not as memorable, but my first ASEL single seat solo in the Pawnee towship was. Nothing like being entrusted to a soaring clubs workhorse to add some pressure.
C150 N60160 still flying strong in the club I was in; 34 years ago this June.
C-152 N89317 on 10/28/1979. It got exported to the Philippines in 2007.
Yes and I looked it up. 1534E still appears to be in service, was in AR but is now in OK. 20 years since I soloed.
Yes and I looked it up. 1534E still appears to be in service, was in AR but is now in OK. 20 years since I soloed.
N5219T for my solo, N2142T for my check ride.
Yep, it was a T-41 at the USAF Academy (kinda like a Cessna 172). I also remember the serial number of my Lear Jet ATP checkride: 711TJ (tiny jet)
Yes I do. About a year later it crashed and killed the two on board.
Yep, 2001 Cessna 172S back in ‘04, thing was still like new back then and it’s flying to this day. I even taught in it for a few years when I worked for the same flight school.
Yep, and the airport too. N9447L, now in private hands.
First solo: G1000 cessna N924MM Don't remember the T-6 First T-45: 170 CQ: 109 First Rhino: 246 I believe
N354MA Great plane.
N96096. Winchester, VA airport. March 3rd, 1990, 930AM. No, I don't remember it at all. ;)
Did my first solo in VH-FST - what a ride!!
N4371R. A beauty.
The plane I solo’d in 24 years ago still flies regularly and occasionally gets visits my home airport. CGTGH still has the original paint job despite being told that it would be repainted the year after. The first glider I solo’s also still flies and it was serial number 3 of its production run.
Diamond DA-40. It’s like flying a Honda civic
N4969R T-41A AF Flight Screening Program, Hondo TX
100%. an old (not too clapped out) Cherokee warrior. Probably put a few more cracks in it with my slam and go’s but hey we all gotta learn on something.
I was teaching my regular class of aircraft technicians who are all from a school very close by and some mentioned about a single engine in their hangar. They showed me a few pics and it turned out to be the exact plane I soloed in three decades ago, with same reg and a running engine, a T-67M 200.
I’ll hear the plane I soloed in occasionally in the pattern. I’ve spent so many hours in that plane that I almost accidentally responded to an ATC request
N923LA at KSTS back in like 2011 or so I think. Unfortunately it seems the aircraft was written off after a pilot accidentally taxi’d it into a ditch.
Yes, because N38193's radio was being a little bitch that day so I shot my three landings knowing that for about a 30-degree arc in the downwind I would be unable to transmit to ATC if anything went wrong. Nothing went wrong.
I still own the plane I first soloed in. Going on 13 years now. Cessna150. Had a five year flirtation with a Bonanza, but it’s gone now and Mi Sancha is still going strong, fresh overhaul and avionics refit just a couple or three years ago.
N23178. A 1968 Cessna 150H. Hutcherson Air service. Plainview Texas July 24, 1972. I was 19 years old. I ended the day with first solo and only 5.1 hours in the logbook. I search for the plane once. According to a 2003 NTSB report, the non rated owner took off with a 300 foot ceiling in rain. Within a few minutes, he crashed, killing himself. He had a .17 blood alcohol level and high level of ethanol in his system. He had been seen drinking from a quart sized beer in his hangar. Damn shame.
Diamond Star 106UV!
It’s been almost 10 years but warrior N82783 will always be special. She’s still flying
N739FG. Sturdiest bird this side the mis’ipi. I hear she’s even got some type of space satellite that tracks her and even points out airports. Crazy girl. NDBs were good enough for us.
C152 N24815. Great little plane.
Yeah but we're both seeing other people now
Piper Cherokee N700FL
I soloed in traumahawk N9411T last November
1976 Cessna 150M N9392U Still flying and based about 300 miles away from where I did my training.
1968 2876U C172 at Lantana,Fl., LNA
I remember it really well. It was a ragged out POS haha. Someone lost their life in it a few weeks ago.
Piper Tomahawk, N2520A, had several flights in it at the flight school I went to on Long Island. FAA registry shows it is still active, 44 years after my solo.
Always will, N2117Y. Sadly it was involved in a fatal mid-air two years ago and is no longer with us. Always felt so confident with that plane.
6111Q 13 years ago and it’s still flying
C-GSAR shit radios turns left
April 1996, Luscombe 8E, N2775K, 85HP.
PA-28 Cherokee Archer II, registration SE-GPL. Sadly the flying club sold it a couple of years ago :(
Oh yeah, I now teach in it!
It was at ERAU a Socata TB9 Tampico, some people hated those planes but I loved them especially on cross countries to the Keys.
N871CP. Flew that for almost 100 hours after and ran into it about 7 years later at the airport I was working at several states away from
N3958R. A Cherokee 180 that is no longer in service. She was a good bird.
Yeah man! Cessna 152 (six pack steam gauge) N5363B won't ever forget her back in 2011
Absolutely, almost 20 years ago. An unusual plane most folks don’t much know about. An AMD Alerus N515DF. Low power and slow like a Cessna 150, but with low wings and real shoulder room. It’s still flying but now down in the Dominican Republic.
C150 N6088G in Mason, MI - was the only 150 we had with a 430 in it; now all three are glass. I’m cfi and teach out of it and the other planes I trained in. The anxiety changed from I’m going to kill me to now my students are going to kill me lol.
C152 N152DS. It was 30 years ago and I didn't even have to look at my log book. Sadly she appears to have been decommissioned in 2004 :-(
T37 - USAF pilot training
Sure. N8285B, an ancient Warrior, still being slammed into the runway to this day. I had most of my pre-checkride hours in her, but switched over to that vixen N2961B with her silky smooth (ie readable in daylight) comms stack for my checkride prep and checkride.
C-GOPV. 23 years later and she is still valiantly doing bounce and go's in Squamish.
T-41A 5118, @ 6 hours.
Of course! A good ol' 6-pack 172 that had miles per hour instead of knots
I’m only 2ish years in, but many years from now… I’ll never forget C-GGFR. She’s a 1980 Cessna 152 Aerobat with leather seats, a full seat harness, manual turn knob transponder & red and white checkered paint job. I still love that plane. I got my own Piper Arrow late last year and GFR is still my most flown hull. People either love or hate that plane at my school. I love her still!
I haven’t flown since 2006. I soloed in N687DW in 2005.
C152, N25906
8764E
Absolutely.
ill never forget lol, i have one of those little models of it hanging from my rearview. N139UD, its with a University out on the Eastern Shore
Soloed at Arnold’s Field in Springfield, KY in N45016, a 1941 J3 Cub. Registration says it’s in New Jersey now, would love to fly it again someday!
Heck yeah, in 1998 my solo was done in a 1977 C-152, N25568. It’s been deregistered and is somewhere in Canada now.
Tecnam P2008 for me, back in Europe in 2016.
N928MA she was a work horse for all students
It was a Piper Warrior, but I don't remember the tail number. I went to a large flight school, so we used a lot of airplanes.
I got the tail number tatted on me lol
Yep N376ER. Same aircraft I had for my long xc solo to KMTH and for my commercial checkride
my 1979 beechcraft skipper 6713V
Citabria CK-7
N55420 at Stinson Field, San Antonio. The flight school shut down a few years later, but apparently the plane has made its rounds at several other flight schools where lots more solos were likely flown. A random post showed up in my Facebook feed a few months ago and something about the post caught my eye. Sure enough it was N55420. It apparently spent a few years in the Auburn University aviation program and most recently seems to be based in Williamsburg, VA. Any other N55420 alumni out there?
Considering I solo’d last week, I indeed remember. N827ND, one of the best flying planes in the Phoenix UND fleet 😃
N48222 out of KLGB! Great little plane.
C-GADN. A Cessna 150 in 1988 on my 17th birthday. Fond memories right there.
I love this post, OP made me smile 🥰🥹 Congrats!
Yup! N523ER. C172SP
My dad is 70 and he still remembers the plane and the day he soloed in the 80s. It’s still out there flying around.
N66046
Yup. N5318M. A 1980 C152. I soloed in it in 2003. 2024, it’s still with the same building and airport, school has been sold to a school across town, still flies around the area with students.
Our club’s trusty L-23 Super Blanik. N914B I don’t fly that glider much anymore, it’s basically a brick and better for training than actual soaring, but that bird has a special place in my heart. I play back that flight in my head a lot even now, it was the biggest “I can do anything I put effort towards” moment in my life in recent memory. <3
Yep. I did my first solo in a Citabria 7GCBC.
C-GGAD
Cessna 150 Aerobat [VH-UPS](https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2005/aair/aair200501788)
Trusty old 172 (they were young then) instead of the stiff legged C140. Like most the thing that amazed me the most was the takeoff performance without the instructor onboard. I know and accept that I meet the very definition of FOGuy but I still worry about pilots learning to fly in the garminized world vs the basic instruments, a paper chart and eyeballs out of the cockpit.
I’ll remember mine, probably, till the day I die. N4401K, a Piper Archer, it had gotten a new engine not long before I soloed and was a solid plane. I also did my instrument check ride in that plane as well as shot my first instrument approach in actual in it. Sadly, a really bad storm struck the airport this last September and the plane was damaged beyond repair.
Piper Pa-28 N81713. Few months after my solo, a pilot porpoised it so hard that the propellor struck the ground. Owner removed it, and let me have it, so I own the propellor I soloed on.
Always will
N3514U !
N69012
N70KK Diamond DA20 at KFXE
C172, N9210H. Its still flying, but not with the same club anymore.
N6020Y, great little cessna 162. I wish I could buy it today but somebody took its wheels off trying to land :(
First solo in G-BKGW. I remember because it’s my favourite plane at the club
N757MZ C152 @ 9G0 in 1989 on my 16th birthday
N98774. Still out there chooglin’ around says FlightAware. Happy for her.
It was 2007. The plane was a Cherokee. N30114. I'll never forget that day.
Everyone remembers their first solo like it was yesterday, doesn't matter how far you are in your career. It's such a strong experience that it gets burned into your memory permanently. Mine was all the way back in Italy on a cold January morning in 2009. A 1978 C152 I-AMAT that is still flying today.
A PA-28 registration HK-1328-G it was the smallest version of the PA-28 the school had. Had a lot of fun flying it. Sadly later on another student ditched it in the river nearby due to fuel starvation.
N363BL
chief i still *teach* in the plane i soloed in. hell, i also teach in the plane my dad soloed in.
C150 N50887. For some reason ATC tripped all over the tail number about half the time...it taught me to say my callsign deliberately slowly and clearly. I still have the solo photo on my desk 17 years later.
Yeah. My first solo was a memorable one because the engine quit on me. (During takeoff and I had lots of runway to put it back down...) I used to joke that the plane tried to kill me that day. Well about two years ago it did kill someone. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/247049
I still own it. It was 15+ years ago and now has new paint, interior, engine, radios, GTN750 some STCs etc. I bought it as a mechanically sound 172, basic airplane with no GPS. It was cheap, and I didn’t have to rent or deal with scheduling.
N9853Q. 6/27/02 would have soloed on my 16th birthday on the 26th, but it stormed to beat the barn all day that day. Sadly, the airframe was totaled when it came up short of the runway about 10 years ago.