18 Minutes that Changed My Life

18 Minutes...more or less. Three clicks of the Hobbs Meter, 0.3 hours. If you look back in my logbook you'll find the entry made by my instructor on August 28th, 2007. There were actually two entries. The first shows Flight Instruction for 0.3 hours with three landings. Predictable if nothing else but short in duration. The dress rehearsal for The big moment. Many students back in the old days of flight instruction did not know when it would be their time to solo. With today's flight training it is no longer a surprise. I knew when it would be, in fact my instructor was ready to let me go and do it on the previous day after 1.5 hours and 10 landings. I balked and said that I wasn't ready. I went home and thought about it. I made the decision to do it on the next day. So I knew that it was show time if my instructor said so. After three times around the pattern with him, he decided that it was indeed the time.
Looking back on the day there is much I don't remember. I'll have to go back and read the entry to see what I've missed.

It's not very often that you can look back on something you did and realize just how much the experience changed your life. You become transformed the moment you suddenly realize that:
A. Your are ALONE in an airplane that has just left the ground and is flying.
B. The airplane will have to be landed safely.
C. It appears that you are the pilot and no one else is aboard that can land the plane. If there is any doubt about this, please refer to A.
D. You voluntarily put yourself in this position...dufus. Did I mention you were alone!

The transformation you undergo is required by the immediacy of your situation.
You took off, you must land.
The confidence boost you receive from landing is immeasurable.

Orville Wright got twelve seconds the first time he flew. The telegram he sent to his father started with the word "Success."

At the end of the day my success was a new logbook entry and a life changing experience. For the first time there were entries in the columns labeled "SOLO" and "PILOT IN COMMAND."

In the center of the entry my instructor wrote, "1st SOLO!" I flew solo, just like Orville Wright. We are simply separated by 192 nautical miles and 104 years.