Flying solo

Well, I'm flying solo! It's quite exciting and quite boring at the same time. Ian's a bit disappointed that I'm not more excited, but oh well...that's just me. I have accumulated 3 hours solo time, but continue to get hosed by the afternoon thunderstorms. I'm on the schedule to do my dual cross country and both solo cross countries this weekend. I will be flying from Orlando Executive to Titusville back to Apopka then back to Orlando. I have to admit that it's all quite intimidating. It would totally suck to get lost and end up having to call Roar to come find my ass. Also, radio work at different airports is a bit of a challenge. I'm hoping to do my duel and solo back to back so that everything will be fresh in my mind.

Flying solo in our practice area is a tad boring. All I'm allowed to practice is normal take offs and normal landings and hovering. Not that I don't need the take off and landing practice, but after an hour it gets a bit monotonous. Another thing about flying solo is that I'm becoming more and more aware of what's on the ground. Before I didn't think too much about it because I knew that if we had an engine failure that Roar would be there to save us. Now, it's up to me and there aren't really a lot of outs on the east side of the practice area. God help me if I have an engine failure over there. It's all roof tops and power lines.

So, please help me pray to the weather Gods that I have decent cross country this weekend.

Who's gonna solo??

Me!! That's right, I'm going to solo tomorrow (weather permitting)!! I passed my pre-solo check ride with Keith as well as the oral. I did my best straight in autorotations ever! My hover autos sucked, but hey...I can work on that. I also landed the helicopter on a freakin' dolly! Keep in mind, my heli parking skills parallel that of my car parking skills. I about peed myself when Keith told me that I was going to land on this tiny little dolly without hurting the helicopter, tractor (which was attached to the dolly) or killing us. But, holy crap, I did it!! I may actually become a helicopter pilot yet!

YAY me!! :o)