My First Solo Flight
In April 1993 Rick, David Leong and myself had switched from flying the “Sky walker tandem-seat to a dual-seat micro-light Mx II at Tanjong Laboh. We had bought it from Perlis and had
it trucked down to us. By now I had already done some 13 hours of flying and I felt confident enough to go solo. I then informed my instructor Mr.Tay about my readiness and he later happily fixed the date of my solo to the 15th of May for early morning, normally a calm period.
On the 14th as night fell I was high with excitement and tried to retire to bed early, however I
could not sleep. I felt restless rolling and tossing in bed even tried the old fable of counting sheep but it did not work. It was probably a long time after midnight that I finally caught up with some sleep. A morning call from our neighbour’s roaster woke me up on time and eagerly rushed to airfield.
I opened the hanger, rolled out my darling Mx II microlight and indulged in a thorough preflight check before taking the aircraft up. The Mx II is a 2-place side-by-side trainer most suitable for
beginners as it is comfortably slow. It was a forgiving machine and you would have enough time to correct any mistakes; it was built for idiots like me to learn to fly. The side-by-side seating arrangement with a central control stick has it’s advantages. The instructor can smack off the student's hand and take over control instantly should the student pilot fumbles or simply freezes. The maximum speed of the Mx is about 45 mph and cruising at 36 mph. At that time speed was not a concern as we were not going anywhere in a hurry. We were merely enjoying flying around the circuit and having fun in our own playground.
That morning I wanted to do some practice known as “crow hops” that is you take off from
one end of the runway and put her down at the other. I did a few crow hops to loosen up the tension before Mr. Tay appeared. On returning to the hanger I topped up the fuel and did another preflight check by walking around the aircraft, making assessment taking safety into account. It involved eyeing for loose bolts, nuts, cracks, dents, fractured fuel-lines, torn fabrics and so on… I had made sure that I had carefully covered everything; this practice is a must and ceremoniously carried out as part of our aviation ritual.
Tay appeared at the scene shortly, he was quite a character, of medium built, soft-spoken
and very patient. I got into the pilot’s seat, traditionally on the left and settled down securing
the safety belt across my waist. Meantime he pulled start the engine as it did not have an electric starter. It instantly burst into life roaring loudly.
Tay took up the other seat as I performed my cockpit and instrument checks. I taxied slowly
for the runway-in-use that was at the threshold #33 turned into wind direction and paused. A final look around to ensure the runway is clear. I pushed the throttle a little forward and the
aircraft began to roll slowly. Then applied full throttle the acceleration gathered momentum, the aircraft raced down the runway before a slight jolt confirmed that we were air-borned.
I held the stick back and went for the best angle of climb gaining height quickly. I remember that he had always stressed that gaining height is like putting money in a bank. In the event of
an emergency you would have sufficient height to put her down safely. I did a left bank into cross-wind, still climbing to circuit height of 200 ft and another left bank took me into down-wind leg. I eased the control stick for a straight-and-level flight, flying parallel to the runway.
On passing Jon’s hanger I headed for the cape, a small hilly piece of land protruding out to
sea. The top of the hill was densely forested, but at the base it was barren and rocky. There was a broken down kelong erected just off shore. A “kelong” is a fisherman’s hut built on stilts just above the water with a fish trap set below and 2 rows of stakes forked out to lure the school of fish into it. Passing it I banked left for the base-leg heading for the tiny island. I was flying a left hand circuit which was a standard practice for Batu Pahat.
At that moment the instructor indicated to land so I reduced power and bank to the left again
led me into finals. The aircraft was losing height as I glided in, however I could control air
speed by manipulating the pitch, nose-up to decrease the speed and nose-down to increase it.
In April 1993 Rick, David Leong and myself had switched from flying the “Sky walker tandem-seat to a dual-seat micro-light Mx II at Tanjong Laboh. We had bought it from Perlis and had
it trucked down to us. By now I had already done some 13 hours of flying and I felt confident enough to go solo. I then informed my instructor Mr.Tay about my readiness and he later happily fixed the date of my solo to the 15th of May for early morning, normally a calm period.
On the 14th as night fell I was high with excitement and tried to retire to bed early, however I
could not sleep. I felt restless rolling and tossing in bed even tried the old fable of counting sheep but it did not work. It was probably a long time after midnight that I finally caught up with some sleep. A morning call from our neighbour’s roaster woke me up on time and eagerly rushed to airfield.
I opened the hanger, rolled out my darling Mx II microlight and indulged in a thorough preflight check before taking the aircraft up. The Mx II is a 2-place side-by-side trainer most suitable for
beginners as it is comfortably slow. It was a forgiving machine and you would have enough time to correct any mistakes; it was built for idiots like me to learn to fly. The side-by-side seating arrangement with a central control stick has it’s advantages. The instructor can smack off the student's hand and take over control instantly should the student pilot fumbles or simply freezes. The maximum speed of the Mx is about 45 mph and cruising at 36 mph. At that time speed was not a concern as we were not going anywhere in a hurry. We were merely enjoying flying around the circuit and having fun in our own playground.
That morning I wanted to do some practice known as “crow hops” that is you take off from
one end of the runway and put her down at the other. I did a few crow hops to loosen up the tension before Mr. Tay appeared. On returning to the hanger I topped up the fuel and did another preflight check by walking around the aircraft, making assessment taking safety into account. It involved eyeing for loose bolts, nuts, cracks, dents, fractured fuel-lines, torn fabrics and so on… I had made sure that I had carefully covered everything; this practice is a must and ceremoniously carried out as part of our aviation ritual.
Tay appeared at the scene shortly, he was quite a character, of medium built, soft-spoken
and very patient. I got into the pilot’s seat, traditionally on the left and settled down securing
the safety belt across my waist. Meantime he pulled start the engine as it did not have an electric starter. It instantly burst into life roaring loudly.
Tay took up the other seat as I performed my cockpit and instrument checks. I taxied slowly
for the runway-in-use that was at the threshold #33 turned into wind direction and paused. A final look around to ensure the runway is clear. I pushed the throttle a little forward and the
aircraft began to roll slowly. Then applied full throttle the acceleration gathered momentum, the aircraft raced down the runway before a slight jolt confirmed that we were air-borned.
I held the stick back and went for the best angle of climb gaining height quickly. I remember that he had always stressed that gaining height is like putting money in a bank. In the event of
an emergency you would have sufficient height to put her down safely. I did a left bank into cross-wind, still climbing to circuit height of 200 ft and another left bank took me into down-wind leg. I eased the control stick for a straight-and-level flight, flying parallel to the runway.
On passing Jon’s hanger I headed for the cape, a small hilly piece of land protruding out to
sea. The top of the hill was densely forested, but at the base it was barren and rocky. There was a broken down kelong erected just off shore. A “kelong” is a fisherman’s hut built on stilts just above the water with a fish trap set below and 2 rows of stakes forked out to lure the school of fish into it. Passing it I banked left for the base-leg heading for the tiny island. I was flying a left hand circuit which was a standard practice for Batu Pahat.
At that moment the instructor indicated to land so I reduced power and bank to the left again
led me into finals. The aircraft was losing height as I glided in, however I could control air
speed by manipulating the pitch, nose-up to decrease the speed and nose-down to increase it.
Open-cockpit Quick Silver Mx II in flight
in their red/white/red quartering being position on either side of the runway. Then descending over the oil palm trees, the ground came rushing towards me as we got lower. I kept cool, steady and just about a few feet above the ground, I leveled off at the same time reducing power. I eased back the control stick and the Mx touched down with a slight bump. As we came to a stop Tay got out of his seat and said to take her up. It was time to go on my first solo, I was terribly excited and nodded my head in acknowledgement.
I took a deep breath, uttered a short prayer before shoving the throttle to full power. The
Rotax engine screamed out loudly in protest as the Mx surged forward forcefully before lifting in no time. The ground run was shorter as it was now lighter minus the extra weight of my
instructor. I felt nervous as I realized that the seat next to me was empty, my guardian angel was missing and that I was left on my own. My heart kept pounding faster and louder and my fear factor shot up a few notches higher. I began to crack my brain trying to figure out all those things that that had been drummed into me during my training: the effects of control,
power management, flight maneuvers and so on. My crosswind leg was a bit shaky and the
down-wind was even worse with my pair of hands trembling and as cold as ice.
Experience the exhilarating feeling of an open-cockpit
However I managed to fly parallel to the runway and maintained a straight-and-level flight.
A quick glance at the threshold of runway # 33 and around confirmed that it was clear and that I was the only one flying. Obviously I had the whole sky to myself and gladly turned to the left into base-leg and into the finals.
To slow down I bled off some power for descend and took her into a graceful glide. My aim
point was for the center of the runway between the two markers of the threshold #33. I experienced the same sensation, the ground rushing madly before me injecting fear into my system almost with paralyzing effects. Then steady, steady, level up for the flare and bled off power .Meantime applied slight back-pressure to maintain nose up and allow the main wheels to touch down gently to mother earth. As she rolled out I immediately vacated the runway and pulled her aside. And as the engine coughed out to a stop, a great sense of relief overcame me. For a moment I just sat there motionlessly and looking dumb; almost unbelievable I had done it. It had been a wonderful experience, a challenge filled with fright and excitement; a memorable moment. The long awaited childhood dream of flying which I had always wanted to do has been finally fulfilled. There was this feeling of complete sense of achievement and a great satisfaction within.
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