Evening Ride Around St Augustine

Great evening for a quick flight around St Augustine ... Winds were favorable and light ... Departed on Runway 6 ... Wind was 030 at 8kts ... Quick Takeoff and Turn to the North ... Pretty night to see the coast from 1500 feet ...


Atlantic Ocean and Homes Along the Beach


Climbed to 2500 Feet and Turned to the West ... St Augustine is a Great Little Airport ... Continued Climbing 3500 Feet ...

St Augustine Airport

Flew by my neighborhood ... Murabella looking good from the air ... Never realized how close to the ocean we really are ... Need to spend more time at the beach this summer ...

Murabella

Quick flight this time ... Called the tower from the Outlet Mall ... Was cleared for the straight in landing on Runway 6 ... Landing into a headwind made putting the plane back down easy ... Taxied back to Florida Aviation and tied 65B down for the night ... Nice scenic flight in N5165B ...

First Solo Flight

Well tonight was the big night ... I have read several articles about students on their first solo flight ... I found every one to be true and then some ... Wasn't really sure if we would be flying when I arrived at the airport ... It had stormed that afternoon ... Still a few clouds sticking around in the earily evening ... Jay (Flight Instructor) showed up and we decided to fly the pattern and see how things went ... 3 Laps in the pattern and 3 pretty good landings ... Jay requested that we taxi to the overflow parking ... Jay jumped out and gave me a few final pointers ... I contacted Ground Control and they gave me taxi instructions to runway 13 and advised to hold short at Bravo 1 and contact the Tower when ready to depart ... St Augustine Tower ... Cessna 24499'er is Holding Short at Bravo 1 ready for Departure ... The Tower cleared me for takeoff ... Funny how many things run through your head the first time you zip down the runway solo ... Rotate and Lift Off at 50 kts ... Climb to 700' ... Left Turn and Climb to 1000' ... Left turn to down wind for Runway 13 ... Can't see Jay on the ground ... I know he is there on the radio listening ... Everything is going well ... Add Flaps and Turn Base, Pitch the Nose Down and hold 70 kts,  One more left turn and another notch of flaps and I'm at about 500' on Final for Runway 13 ... First landing solo ... Here We Go ... Pre Landing Checks Complete ... Butterflies - Yes, Attempting to Remember All of your Training in 5 Seconds - Yes,  A Couple Prayers ... Just to make sure everything is all squared up with the Big Guy - Yes, Yes, Yes ... First Landing was a little firm ... Second Lap around the Pattern ... Second Landing ... Right on the Money ... Third Lap around the Pattern ... Third Landing ... Same as the Second ... Cleared the runway and taxied back to Florida Aviation ... Jay is waiting with a big smile ...  His probably didn't compare to the one I was wearing ... Put the first solo flight in the log book ... Lots of fun and a huge sence of accomplishment ...

Flight training so far has exceded my expectations ... Great to spend time flying with Jay ... Awesome to scoot around North Florida and See the Sights ... Looking forward to the rest of my flight training ...