ET's Info-Stew

Today Nick and I did three patterns, then I let him out and did my first circuit solo! Woo hoo! I wasn't really nervous, though to be honest, I could have been more organized. Watching from the compass rose area on the south part of the field, Nick watched my landing. In his words, I kinda "boned" the landing. It's true, I did land a bit hard. But it's still pretty good considering the sun shining through the haze and the dirty windshield made it difficult to look out and see how high I was. I had more problems than I let on, though. First, I was talking with the tower on the ground frequency. I had a bit of radio not giving the tower the right information. And on short final I got myself in and out of alignment with the centerline more than usual (the controls felt a little different).

Now that I've soloed Nick has given me the okay to do solo pattern work whenever I feel like it. I just need to give him a call so he can verify that the wind is within my limits. For the record I soloed after 12.1 hours of dual instruction. My shirt is still uncut, but maybe someday soon ;)