Saturday October 18th.  The day I made my first solo flight.

I woke up at 7:15 am Saturday morning, just like every other morning for the past 6 days,  and headed out to the St. George Airport.  After doing my preflight check, I taxied out to the runway with my instructor sitting in the right seat.  After take off we flew 2 right and 4 left traffic patterns with touch and go takeoffs and landings.  On the 6th landing we brought the plane to a full stop and taxied off the runway.  I dropped my instructor off at the hangar and taxied back out to the runway.

‘This is it.  This is my first solo flight.  You can do it!’ I thought to myself.

“St. George Traffic, Cessna 19187 departing runway 19, St. George,” I said over the radio.  I then taxied onto the runway and took off.  I had to do 3 take offs and landings, two of which were touch and go’s and the third was to be a full stop.  Turning left 90 degrees I said “St. George Traffic, Cessna 19187 crosswind runway 19, St. George,” over the radio.  A short five seconds later I turned another 90 degrees to the left onto the downwind leg of the pattern.  Turning another two 90 degree left turns I was on my final approach to runway 19.

I landed the plane, once, twice, then three times!  After the first landing my nerves had completely disappeared and a smile was on my face.

After my solo flight my instructor congratulated me by cutting the back of my shirt off and marking the date of my flight on it!