Today Is A Good Day To Solo

When a flight student comes to that day when they are ready to solo, it is a great day. There is a thrill when the student takes that aircraft off the ground without any instructor pilot sitting next to him (to be there in case something goes wrong). It is a real test of whether or not the student is truly ready to try it on his own.

I will never forget the day that I soloed in that Hughes TH55. (The above image is of a Huges TH55, but not the one I flew). I had somewhere between ten and fifteen hours of total flight time and had just started to feel like I might be able to win the wrestling contest with this flying machine. Learning to hover had been a big challenge and I had finally gotten that down. The second thing that a student had to have some proficiency for was landing the aircraft in case of an engine failure. That maneuver was called an autorotation.

When an engine fails in a helicopter the pilot must first quickly recognize that the engine has failed and then make the right corrective actions.
Those actions in the TH55 are:
1. Lower the collective (the lever in his left hand),
2. Add the correct amount of right pedal (right foot)
3. Maintain the aircraft in a fifty knot flight attitude (right hand)
4. Turn the aircraft into the wind (right hand and possibly both feet)
5. Find a suitable landing site (open field/ empty road/ etc) and make any adjustments necessary to make it into that area (look while doing other things)
6. Make a “Mayday” radio call telling where he is going down and what the problem is (talk while flying – like chewing gum and whistling at the same time)
7. At about twenty five feet above the ground start a deceleration which slows the aircraft to almost a stop just before getting to the ground (right hand and both feet required)
8. At three to five feet increase the collective to allow the aircraft to set gently on the ground (left hand and also adjust the pedals)
9. Level the aircraft to set on the ground (right hand and may require pedal adjustment)

On the day a student was to solo, he had to do three autorotations up to standards to demonstrate to the instructor pilot that he could handle the aircraft in case the engine failed. The instructor pilot, while flying with the student, also gave the student a surprise simulated engine failure outside of the traffic pattern to ensure that the student would respond properly if the engine failed at some time when he didn’t expect an engine to fail. My instructor and I did all of these on the day I was to solo. He thought I was ready.


The morning that I went to solo, the instructor and I took off from the heliport and headed to the stage field. All the way out to the stage field the instructor kept saying he didn’t like the way the engine was running. While at the stage field doing the practice maneuvers he kept saying that he was afraid that engine was going to quit. Several times he checked the magnetos and said the engine was marginal. While flying in the traffic pattern at the stage field we were supposed to maintain 2,900 RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) on the engine for part of the traffic pattern and on the other part we were to reduce the RPM to 2,700. Thus the standard procedure was to change the speed of the engine twice on each trip around the traffic pattern.

Every time we went around the traffic pattern my instructor said, “Keep the RPM at 2,900 because I think there is less chance of it quitting at 2,900.” That is not exactly what a student that is about to solo wants to hear. After we did the three autorotations and the simulated engine failure the instructor said, “You’re good at autorotations so I think you’ll be all right if the engine quits.” He then got out of the aircraft and said, “Fly three times around the pattern. Good luck.” And that was it. He got out and I took off and made my three traffic patterns solo. The engine didn’t quit! I have always wondered if the engine really was not running well or if my instructor wanted to see if I had the nerve to solo. I am glad I soloed!

There are times in life when we wonder if we are ready for what lies ahead. In those times we need to just step to the plate and do it! I think preparation and practice are important but at some point you have to solo! At some time you have to step to the plate and take a swing if you are ever going to score! I didn’t feel totally ready when I soloed but the instructor said I was ready and it was time. I trusted his judgment and he was right. I have seen people that were afraid to do something and so they never tried. If pilots were too afraid to solo they would never know the thrill of flying on their own. Flying all alone is worth the scary moment of the first solo! Prepare, practice and then “solo” in whatever you want to do!!