Lifes milestones/1st Solo flight (parent brag)

[justason]

out of the blue (yonder) and without warning my son decided to become a Pilot......He was a passenger on a commercial flight once...when he was 10 !........then climbed into the pilot's seat his second week of college this past August....He turns 19 next week.

When we were looking into this I reached out to a few folks here for help/advice/pointers. As with any event on this forum Help/advice/pointers were received.. special thanks to @jawsf16 @txav8r @upperdeck there is zero history in our family for any of this...

Well, he is about 18 hours into his program...and after 8 days of rain and being grounded......The following is hot off the press !!...FIRST SOLO FLIGHT !!!

he may have his private pilots come Xmas.....at that time you'll see my face in that passenger seat....!!

The shirt-tail image stems from the bounty of deer and coyotes in the area of the runways, Alec is requesting a 50 cal wing mount...

I've had my share of proud moments from my kids,....this one hit me hard !!! wicked cool stuff !!
okay, need to go write a few more checks now....

 

[BoaterGuy]

Congrats to both of you! Now you guys can come visit for lunch

 

[Julian]

Very cool......would scare the crap out of me....LOL

 

[Bruce]

Congrats to both of you! Now you guys can come visit for lunch

I like this idea. Certainly a flight to Arkansas for lunch would help him rack up the hours!

 

[Freezer41]

ah nice, I remember my first solo back in 2003. Ended up getting my private pilot but stopped flying. I still enjoy it though, whenever a friend takes me up. 5 years later became an air traffic controller though sometimes I still wish I was flying an airliner

 

[justason]

Congrats to both of you! Now you guys can come visit for lunch

you are not kidding !!! the conversations are endless for possibilities...He even researched Bimini airspace and runway info the other day !!

 

[Peelz]

that's awesome!

I scored some lessons once, but only took one. not practical at the time. I will complete this goal one day.

tell your son "congrats from a random internet person"

 

[txav8r]

Congrats to both you and Alec! Nothing really is as remarkable as that first solo! Because it is a true testament to his newly acquired skill. He will now be adding to that foundation and lots of bookwork and additional skills to learn, but Dad will get to go flying with him soon enough. Just remember, a new pilot is like a new driver...easily distracted and not very peripheral in vision yet. But different than a new driver, he has a great deal of knowledge and skill practiced beyond the driver, taking dad for a quick hop ought to be a reward along the way, don't you think? Congrats again Eric!!!

 

[biglar155]

Congratulations! This is great. I'm hoping to get mine someday. Wish I had had the sense to do it when I was his age.

Tell him that a random 44 year old on the Internet is incredibly jealous!

 

[BigN8]

Wayyyyyyyy Cool!

 

[Skysurfer2010]

Congrats!! My very first passenger was also my dad maaaaaaany years ago. My parents are still my number one fans and I was also still able to put tears in parents eyes when I upgraded to captain at my airline a while back. Good stuff!!

 

[Seadeals]

Awesome! Congrats to you both. It brings back the memory of my solo. I had no idea it was going to happen and had on my favorite shirt (from a recent spring break). I begged and begged but the scissors prevailed. It was a small price to pay for the gift of flight.

 

[justason]

Congrats!! My very first passenger was also my dad maaaaaaany years ago. My parents are still my number one fans and I was also still able to put tears in parents eyes when I upgraded to captain at my airline a while back. Good stuff!!

Thanks all! He still has a road to travel ..but part of it is his flight instructor cert. I just might be a student of his someday!!!

Perhaps my retirement project will be building a plane !!!

 

[JROD]

out of the blue (yonder) and without warning my son decided to become a Pilot......He was a passenger on a commercial flight once...when he was 10 !........then climbed into the pilot's seat his second week of college this past August....He turns 19 next week.

When we were looking into this I reached out to a few folks here for help/advice/pointers. As with any event on this forum Help/advice/pointers were received.. special thanks to @jawsf16 @txav8r @upperdeck there is zero history in our family for any of this...

Well, he is about 18 hours into his program...and after 8 days of rain and being grounded......The following is hot off the press !!...FIRST SOLO FLIGHT !!!
View attachment 29762View attachment 29761View attachment 29760
he may have his private pilots come Xmas.....at that time you'll see my face in that passenger seat....!!

The shirt-tail image stems from the bounty of deer and coyotes in the area of the runways, Alec is requesting a 50 cal wing mount...

I've had my share of proud moments from my kids,....this one hit me hard !!! wicked cool stuff !!
okay, need to go write a few more checks now....

Bloody AWESOME! BIG congrats!

 

[Big Shasta]

That's awesome...So jealous. It's on my bucket list!

 

[Gym]

Congrats @justason. I still remember my solo date better than my anniversary. Still irratets my wife. Years later as a flight instructor I taught my daughter how to fly. It's a great bonding experience.

 

[Wayloncle]

A good friend of mine, I may have told you about him when you posted about it a long time ago, got his license when he was 17-18ish. He flies around to different places with his wife for lunch or dinner and does all kinds of cool stuff.
He has done very well for himself and owns a flight instruction school, has several planes himself, has several others that he co-owns that he rents out. It amazes me all the stuff he gets into.

Like others have said, it's one of those things I've always wanted to do as well!

 

[BigN8]

I started years ago. Got up to around 8 hours. I battled air sickness the whole time. Then it was a function of time. My kids were young and I just could not dedicate the time to do it.

 

[rkluck]

That is so great! I am sure he is proud as well!

 

[farrelltravis]

Awesome!! Sounds like he is living a dream!