I took my PT-60 out Sunday. Had a couple of good flights on the buddy box. My instructor and I talked for a while and I decided to try a solo flight. Takeoff was shaky but I got through it and flew around for several minutes. I felt offline on approach and went aound, then tried to come in again. I thought the plane was drifting too close to me and tried to go around again. I guess I pulled up before the throttle responded. It sort of stalled/rolled and went over my head. I think I got disoriented, and I lost grip on the stick, and crashed beyond the parking area. The damage is not too bad:

Prop broken.
Engine ate some dirt.
Fuselage cheeks crunched a bit. I'll probably just cut off cheek material until I'm at solid wood again. I probably won't replace the cheeks since they're not functional.
Nose gear bent some.
Wing bolts sheared, hooray, so the only visible damage to the wing is to the balsa leading edge. I'll know more when I strip the covering off the center.
Windshield broke off.
F2 former, where the wing dowel goes, broke out.
Fuselage sides and doublers were damaged by leading edge of wing.

It will take me a while to do the repairs, but I'm pretty sure I can do everything it needs.

I do think I was ready, but stuff happens. When I get it fixed, I want to strictly practice landing for a while before I try another solo flight.

Carrell, it doesn't sound like it did too much damage to the plane. Sounds like minor work. Leading edge isn't too difficult to repair. Glad to hear that you are jumping back on the horse. Some fall off the horse and stay off.

You will do fine. Keep us posted on your progress.

DTB

First let me say, I'm glad you or somebody else didn't get hurt.

It's part of the game. You WILL lose a few. Try NOT to fly directly overhead for a while until you get to where you can "see" the plane , and know what it is doing at all times.

Good luck with the repairs. And next time remember to line up with the runway...use your rudder to stay on track...use the ailerons to keep the wings level...use the throttle to control descent...elevator to control the speed and to flare. It really is easy once you break it down. Next time you go out, try flying only approaches...shoot for the center of the runway...pass at about ten feet up. After you have that down, just ease off the throttle and let it settle down, and hold just a bit of up elevator, until the plane is about to touch down. Nothing to it.

Also when your plane is flying slow on the aproach and you feel the sticks getting "mushy" and you are about to stall, try to fight the natural tendancy to pull the nose up, in case you need to go around. It's better to try and gain airspeed by pushing the nose down a little. I hope you have many happy landings.

Jim

I've had about a dozen flights so far after my solo last week. I've also experienced 2 dead stick landings (ran out of fuel). Its not the landing that I am not 100% confident, its the final approach/turn. I've done what you have a couple of times. Didn't turn sharp enough
and had to give it some throttle and pull up. I however have been flying for 3 years with electric and know all about stalls!!! I know not
to jack the stick in an effort to pull up quickly especially if you don't have the airspeed to do it.
At our club field, just about all the time the wind will blow in from the west/north. So, we generally land coming from the eastern end.
Its not often where we land from the western end. All depends on which way the wind is blowing.

Dave...

Just continue practicing. Don't try to rush your solo. Just do it when you are sick of the buddy box and there is nothing more to learn. When your instructor is just someone to talk to while you are flying, then you are ready to solo.

Carrell,
Glad nothing more serious happened, but from the sound of your resposnse to the situation, I'm not so sure you were ready.

Also, Aeronaut said "try not to fly overhead for awhile..." I'd say, don't EVER fly overhead. That tells me you're too close to flying over the pits, or at the least, you're flying over other pilots.

I agree with Geistware, don't rush the solo. Learn all you can from the more experienced guy teaching you.
Dennis-

I didn't fly overhead on purpose. When it stalled/rolled, that's the way it went. If it had gone away from me, there's a 'chance' I could have saved it. My instructor was standing beside me but everything happened pretty fast, and I was turning trying to follow the plane, so he couldn't grab the stick and try to prevent the crash. We were the only ones at the field, and I'm thankful for that. The crash site was beyond where any of us park, but it would have been more scary if there were a lot of others around.

Maybe I did try the solo flight too soon. Once the plane is fixed I will really practice landings.

In the air I'm pretty good. I can do a loop, roll, immelman, split s, cuban 8, limited inverted flight, and a few other maneuvers that I can't think of the names. A few people in the club think it's wrong to learn any aerobatics before you can land on your own. Bill says he likes to teach the aerobatics for two reasons. It keeps training fun, and it puts the plane in a lot of attitudes that you'll get in (maybe not on purpose) once you're flying solo.

The landing seems to be the hardest part for me as well... take off seems ok.. and i can do some acrobatics... but getting lined up is still pretty hard... i end up alittle farther over in the grass than i want it to be..

Carrell,
My only real point was that I think your instructor is letting you attempt to solo before you've learned how to land. I think it's great that he likes to teach aerobatics, and there's truth in what he says about them putting the plane in situations, and helping you learn to get out of them. But as you just learned, landing can be one of the most dangerous manuevers we do with these things, simply because it's when you're closest to the ground and people, and you have very little time to recover from a small mishap. (Unlike when flying aerobatics a couple hundred feet up. )
Dennis-

On some nose down landings, you can see where the cheeks provide protection to the engine. I think they are ugly, but I left them just in case.

Bill and I have been exchanging emails since Sunday. We've come to a lot of the same conclusions; I need a lot more practice on landings. I've had several good landings, along with some that were not so good. I need repeatable good landings before I try another solo.

We all loose planes ... its about flying more and then it becomes second nature, that helps when you are in a tight spot. I just splashed my new Extra 300 (60), the plane's engine quit on take off and I was already committed and I cannot abort ... the plane just snapped to one side after loosing air speed. I can fly inverted like a foot off the field all day long but who cares ... I still splashed a nice new plane ... lasted me only 10 secs.

Moral: always let your engine warm up really good before you fly!!!

The thing about landings, especially when you're learning, is to go ahead and plan on making two or three passes to get the approach right. If the approach isn't right, you're better off going around.

Good luck, happens to all.

Regards.