2nd Solo
After waiting for a seemingly painfully long inteval, the wind finally died down to a manageable level and Brett cleared me to solo again. In contrast to my first solo, this time I allowed myself to get excited at the prospect of heading out on my own. Brett also extended my leash a bit to leave the pattern and work on manuevering to the south east of the city.
The pattern was quiet as I took off and I climbed out of the pattern on my downwind leg. The feeling of freedom was increadible. I think I had a ridiculous grin plastered to my face from the moment I left the bounds of the airport. My first solo felt like a significant landmark, but already I was enjoying this flight more.
There was weather building to the south and it looked like rain was beginning to fall in the distance. Seemed like this was going to be a short flight so I snapped out of my brief revelry and practiced maneuvering in slow flight. I didn’t get to practice for long before the weather had creeped to my border of comfort and I headed back to The Dalles.
Entering the pattern was a bit intimidating since the airport traffic had increased significantly. Once on the radio and in contact with the other pilots my anxiety eased and I could focus on pattern flight and landing. I considered doing a touch and go, then remebered weather bearing down and was unsure of how much time I would have before it arrived. I decided to come to a full stop and save the rain challenge for later. A short, yet enjoyable flight.
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