“India Victor Tango, congratulations on your first solo…”

I’ve always heard that every pilot, even those who have been flying for many years, never forget their first solo. Now, having had the privilege of doing the same myself, I can see why pilots can never shut up about their first solo – it’s an experience that is hard to describe, or make an analogy of.

It’s an odd feeling when the instructor asks you if you feel ready to go out by yourself, finding yourself unable to refuse and then, the next thing you know, the instructor’s closed their hatch on the run-up bay. Silence. You taxi slowly, down the taxiway, towards runway 35L. You’re excited, but you can’t seem to keep the rudder pedals steady or get a steady pressure on the brakes while turning. They’re just trembling far too much. You find it hard to hit the brakes before running over the runway entrance. You take a deep breath.

“Moorabbin Tower, Cessna 152 India Victor Tango is runway 35L, for circuits, first solo, with Quebec, ready.”

And before you know it, you’re airborne.

And it’s then you realise. You’re on your own.

It’s a very different kind of experience when you’re airborne by yourself. Maybe it’s just me (or the lack of the instructor’s weight!), but the flying experience is so much more fun! It’s almost like this is the experience that I’ve been waiting for my whole life. I also kinda enjoyed the utter silence, for want of a better word, in the cockpit. And those nerves? I dunno. They just seemed to go away once I was airborne.

I then completed an uneventful circuit.

It was only after I had landed and made my ground call that I realised what I had just achieved. The tower congratulated me for having done my first solo, that slap of reality. I then picked up my instructor from the run-up; she proceeded to ask me how it was and congratulated me for having completed the solo whilst we taxied back to the school.

Looking back, now I can truly understand why you never forget your first solo. I know I won’t.