My First Solo
Flying solo was something I dreamed about constantly, right from the day I started my ground school lessons. On January 27th, 2006, I had a checkout flight with a senior instructor to see if I was ready for my first solo. Boy, was I nervous to be flying with someone other than my trusted instructor! After a few landings the senior pilot said that I needed to have straighter circuits before he would let me go solo. For those of you who do not know what a circuit is, I will give you a brief explanation. It is a strict airway pattern used to separate aircraft that are landing. It allows you to have stable replicable landings and gives pilots ample time to do appropriate safety checks. This landing pattern is used by all single engine piston planes as well as the big jets landing at major city airports. It is important to get it right. Being told I was not quite ready to go solo was very disappointing news, but I was so determined to move forward and achieve this milestone. I kept my head held high and kept going.
March 29, 2006, after two months of sporadic lessons thanks to winter, I went up to do a few practice circuits with my instructor. After we were done, my instructor told me to park the plane near the terminal instead of tying it down on the apron. This was an odd request that I had never received before. As we arrived, I shut the engine off assuming that I was bringing the plane to the terminal for another student to jump in and go up with my instructor. To my surprise my instructor, Adam Baxter, quickly unhooked his seatbelt, opened the door and jumped out. The senior instructor I had flown with 2 months prior jumped in and off we went to complete a couple more circuits. Again, I parked the plane just in front of the terminal and the senior instructor departed the aircraft. Before I had time to think, Adam was back and said “Take the plane up, go do one circuit and have some fun”. He then quickly closed the door and walked away. My mother got her wish: she would not know ahead of time that I was about to fly my first solo that day.
As I taxied the plane the length of Runway 33 (approximately 4000 feet) I remember singing and feeling on top of the world. Oddly, I was not nervous at all. It felt right. I took off at 11:20 am and completed my first solo circuit. I was 200ft high in the pattern, but it was straight (200ft high was probably due to the fact that I was flying a Piper Archer instead of a Warrior which has another 20 HP and I only had a couple of hours in that type of plane)! The landing was smooth. Just after touchdown the air traffic controller (ATC) came on and said “Congratulations on your first solo”. I taxied the plane back to the tie-downs sporting the largest grin of my life. Adam came running with a camera and took a few photos (featured above). After it was all done, I had the pleasure of driving to my parents house and reciting the days exciting events.
Buttonville Airport…more than just a small airport!
I realise that most people who are not regular visitors to the airport probably know very little about Buttonville and its importance to the Greater Toronto Area. The general consensus is that Buttonville is as a small airport that is used by rich people for recreation. There is some truth to that (although flying for fun usually makes you poor), but the majority of the traffic comes from a wide variety of other sources. Below I have summarized some interesting facts about Buttonville taken from an article posted here by COPA(Canadian Owners and Pilots Association) and from my own knowledge.
– Opened as a grass airstrip in 1953
– Owned privately by the Sifton Family
– Has two paved runways
– 11th busiest airport in Canada in front of Edmonton, Winnipeg, Quebec City and Halifax. In 2008 there were approximately 164,000 aircraft take-offs or landings there. That amount of traffic can not be absorbed by the combined local airports. It is also the busiest General Aviation airport in Canada.
– 300+ aircraft are based there
– Used by some of the best flight schools in Canada(Toronto Airways, Seneca), Air ambulance(ORNGE), RCMP, Police, traffic planes/helicoptors, business, charter, movies productions, celebrities and recreational pilots
– Allows jet airplanes (city centre airport does not)
– creates approximately 550 full-time jobs (not to mention the benefit to surrounding business’ of the airport) and contributes $96 million to GDP
If you are interested in learning more click here or if you have a comment/question please comment below.
Fly Dan Air 