As you can guess, I soloed this past weekend. Okay, I actually soloed two weeks ago, but I had three guys standing around me ready to take the radio in case I got into trouble. Yesterday was my first time at the air field flying my plane with no one standing right there in case I screwed up.

I had a blast! For the record, I spent my three flights doing touch-and-go's and working on simulated dead-stick landings. I didn't do too bad either; I have a tendency to come in hot, so the dead sticks were easy.

Off the record, I did a few things just to see what would happen like taking the plane high, leveling off, and cutting the throttle to idol to see how the plane stalled. I also would go to full throttle and pull back to see how far up she would go before stalling (again, at a safe altitude). No one was at the field so I felt like I could goof off without worrying about a mid-air.

I know, kind of silly. During my training I was so concerned about learning to fly I didn't 'play' any (I soloed using less than a gallon of glow fuel -- less than half the average!). I guess I was making up for it. And there was no harm done. The only damage that the plane received was during my last landing of the day (before I landed I knew it was my last flight). A thunder storm was approaching so I decided to bring it in before the wind picked up. Right before touch down, a gut of wind hit the plane and landed a little hard and I broke the prop. Not a big deal, I have 3 extras in my field box.

Anyway, just wanted to brag a little and tell everyone thanks again for answering all of my dumb questions.