SOLO

SOLO

Date: 2010-08-25 23:24:34

They let me fly a 4.5 million dollar plane by myself….

I was Wings 51. After doing the mandatory pattern checkout, we came back to the shelters and my IP jumped out. He said a few nervous “and don't forget” things. Then he gave me his name tag (which has his wings). I did three landings, one to a full stop. Three patterns, one of which I pulled closed on. While I was doing my pattern work, there was an aircraft in the high pattern because he over-speed the flaps. That was the only abnormal thing.

It was not as scary as you might think. One more step to being a professional military aviator.

After your solo, you're supposed to be thrown in the dunk tank. You're also supposed to try to make it back to the flight room without being caught. If you make it back, everyone in the flight owes you a case a beer (that's 14 cases of beer!). So, after I got back, I had the texan ops truck bring me to the front of the squadron and I blasted my way through the flight room doors. It was glorious. I still let them dunk me, though.

Dunk Video: