Made my first solo today and was quite a "basketcase" the whole time i was flying. lol. Is this the way it is for everyone who solos for the first time. Man i was shaking before i even took off. I have a Nexstar and have been flying on the sim for about a month and a half. I have flown with the sim so much now im pretty bored with it. I can do just about anything with the plane on the sim even with gusty varriable winds so i felt pretty confident about my skills compared to the first day i used the sim.

Today was the first solo and what an experience!!! The person who was going to be my instructor wasnt at the field today so i didnt really intend on flying. There was another capable pilot there who wanted to see this Nexstar fly. I agreed and told him to stay close just in case i needed to hand him the controls. So i start her up and take the plane to the runway. Grabbed the tx and was shaking like a leaf!!!! Took a deep breath lined her up and advanced the throttle. She was flying beautiful!!!! I must say i was doing ok for a newbie who felt like he was in a continuous 6.0 earthquake with the tx in my hands.lol

Then came time to land. Is it just me or does the airfield shrink to half its size once the plane is in the air???? Well thats the way it felt to me. I made a few attempts at landing, thought i was over the runway but was a little to the side, powered up and went around.
The whole time my dad calling out how long i have be up in the air, "9 minutes".(this only adds to my anxiety). Finally got her lined up, slight crosswind(it was calm until i came in to land, just my luck) and bounced her in. Not a great landing but she was in one piece which is all i could have hoped for.

Only flew once today it was all my nerves could handle, but gonna be at it again tomorrow morning. Hopefully with a steady hand and maybe even a smile on my face. To all you newbie pilots out there its not as easy as it looks!!! Im talkin pucker factor 10 the whole time. I hope i can get the pucker factor down to a 7 tomorrow, I WILL BE HAPPY WITH THAT!!!!

HAPPY FLYING, Y'ALL!!!!
Sean

That is great! What a rush! I can not wait to fly. Stories like these make me want to go out now!!! Good luck in the futur

Sean:

No matter how long a person has been flying, every time you take up a new plane, your knees will shake and have those butterflies. That's the rush of this hobby. Glad to hear you had fun and it was successful. All planes will crash, so don't quit out of frustration.

Congrats on your first flights,next time try it in front of a crowd if you really want a pucker factor. It only gets better now.

Thanks for the vote of confidence guys, I cant wait to fly without the "jitters". Im sure it will come with more experience.
I forgot to mention on my bounced landing i did take a small nick out of the prop blade at the tip. Im pretty sure it was the landing but one of the guys at the field says it sometimes happens when you throttle up and a rock gets sucked up from the dirt airstrip????
No big deal prop doesnt seem to be out of balance, gonna get a new one just in case.

Great flight. Man your first flight sounds so similar to my first NexStar.

If you have "obstaciles" near by...aka trees be careful and keep plenty of the blue stuff between the plane and the trees.

It is an unbelieveable rush though...Good luck on your future flights.

Well, I have been flying 30 years now and still have to constantly remind myself to stay calm, doesn't always work, but I try anyway. It will get better, but you will always need to stay "alert" and concentrate on your flying. But, a first flight of a new plane is always a "rush" and gets the old ticker going until you get it trimmed, but what a suprise when it doesn't need any trimming or very little!!~!..

Good luck and stay with it....

I have been doing this since Moses was a corporal in the Army and I still feel like a virgin on her honeymoon night![X(] When I take up a new model I am shaking like mad and if you were to step in front of me you would get beat to death by the Tx antenae so welcome to the wonderful world of R/C flying! If that nervousness ever goes away then you're doing something wrong and you need to check your pulse!

You gotta have a little bit of nervous in you. It keeps you from doing something stupid.

good job on your first flight. my first landing wasn't so pretty either. the nervouseness will subside, but will never go away completely. once you are used to flying, and are not so nervous, listen to instinct. i didn't a few months back and crashed my trainer. it was time to move up (again) n e way, but i would still rather have my alpha in one piece. i had a bad feeling about that day from the drive over, till the plane went crunch. i took one of my buddies out to show him the sport, and didn't want to let him down. now i wish i had let him down and just kept the plane on the ground that day. at least now i have a good excuse to buy a new plane. after all, my wife can't argue that i have a perfectly good plane and don't need another one!

Ahh, the jitters...
From personal observation, I feel the stress when I'm flying a really nice, (aka, expensive), plane and when I fly one of my beaters, (a Zagi for instance), I don't feel jittery at all. In fact, the planes that I don't worry too much about wrecking are the ones I have the most fun with.
I try and take one of each to the field so that I can fly the nice one and then take a break with the relaxing one. When I first learned, I can remember coming home from the field and actually feel soreness in the shoulders and neck! Talk about stressing out. But like it was mentioned above, that little nervous feeling will keep you on your toes and hopefully out of trouble.

Jesse

Great news Sean!

Others have already said that the feeling will always be with you to some extent, especially with a new plane.

I will recommend though, that you change the prop NOW. A knick in the prop could easily lead to a failure, either on the ground (very dangerous to you and others), or in th air, not good for your engine. For the cost of a prop it's not worth it!
Dennis-

How old are You Dewalt?

I agree with you Dennis. I will be stopping by the hobby shop on the way to the field. I think im going to use a 10x6 instead of the 11x5 provided with the nexstar. I think that little smaller diameter would have helped a bit. I just barely nicked the tip so maybe a 10x6 would have survived.

Sounds like when the jitters are gone gravity takes over and folks start crashing. Maybe its a good thing to have some anxiety.
If i keep telling myself that im sure i will start to believe it!!!

Happy Flying Y'ALL!!!!!!

Bobs im am 30 years young, a spring chicken, a young whipper snapper, punk kid, etc.......

I was the same, i was pysically sick before my first solo flight, it was the same when i first started doing semi solo flights in the full size but it was worth it.

I just got my trainer for Christmas. It is a MegaTech Nitro Capitol Flyer. Can't open it the rest of the way until spring, when I can finish it and get it ready to fly, with an instructor of course!!!.

Congrats on your solo. I still remember when I solo'ed in a real plane back in the early 70's. I had to change my shorts after I got back on the ground.

Larry

Dewalt,
I was nervous and had the shakes so bad I would be weak after flying. Finally I convinced myself that it is just some covered sticks glued together with an engine attached. If I crash, it ain't the end of the world... I'll stick the flight pack and engine in another plane and be flying again. You never want to wreck a plane but it is going to happen if you fly. Of course keep a healthy respect for the dangers associated with flying RC planes and a little bit of nerves keeps you on your toes. The jitters and shakes will pass as you get more confident in your ability and that will come after burning lots of fuel. Just fly safely and have fun with it. That's what it's all about.
WCB