SOLO!!!!! On November 2nd, my instructor finally turned me loose in Deland Municipal Airport and had me fly traffic patterns on my own. It was a beautiful Florida day, low 70s, very light wind, and not a cloud in the sky. My instructor and I took off in N477ER for Deland. After flying three traffic patterns, we parked the airplane and went to the restaurant at the airport and grabbed some breakfast. He signed off in my logbook endorsing me to solo. After breakfast, I went to the airplane, and started it up, and taxied over to runway 25 waiting to take off.
Another Embry-Riddle Cessna did a rejected landing and went around, so once he was clear of the runway, I made my way onto the centerline of the runway and started putting the throttle in. 800 feet later, I lifted off the ground in the airplane alone! My instructor watched me fly a traffic pattern over Deland on my own, and then watched me do a textbook landing. I’m currently waiting for him to give me the video of me flying so I can upload it to my Youtube channel.
November is also upon us! Florida weather has been beautiful as of late. For a guy who comes from the Northeast, the temperature of the low to mid 70s has been perfect. My friends who are from Florida keep saying its cold outside, but I have nothing to complain about.
Hurricane Sandy blew through Florida a few of weeks ago, and some of my friends and I went to the beach to look at the waves crashing onto the beach. Being from the northeast, I don’t get to go to the ocean too often, so I was amazed at the size of the waves hitting the beach.
Two weekends ago, the Sport Aviation Club held a drop what you brought contest at a grass airport called Pierson. Pierson is about a half hour drive north of campus. Some of the sport aviation club members went out a day early and had a campout at the airport. Where else besides Embry-Riddle would you have college students camping out at an airport for a night? That was a lot of fun, and will definitely be participating in again next year!
The next day, the Radio Control club hosted their indoor electric fly-in in the ICI center. I attended that, and flew one of my friend’s small electric planes. After spending a few hours at the fly-in, I decided it was time to head back to my dorm and begin my homework, which put an end to the awesome weekend.
This past weekend, I had a “buildathon” on my Control-line airplane hoping to get it done by the weekend so I could start flying it. Starting at 5:00pm, I worked on it until 3:15am, and had it completed. Two days later, I went to the Richard Petty soccer fields, and gave the plane its maiden voyage. I’ve only flown it one other time since then as of this date and I’m trimming it out little by little and it’s already had drastic improvements just after two flights.
Thanksgiving is fast approaching, with only a week before I board a JetBlue flight to get back home and enjoy some turkey and football with my family. Also this week, registration for classes next semester will start. I, for one, am planning on getting up early on that day so I can register as early as possible to get the classes I want!
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at colanm@my.erau.edu. You can also add me as a friend on Facebook or follow me on Twitter. If you do wish to add me as a friend on Facebook, send me a message to let me know that you read the student blog so that I know it is not spam. If you have a Youtube account, you can subscribe to my Youtube channel.
‘Till next time, aim high!
Matthew Colan
