Daniel's T-6 Solo (Drama)

Friday was a big day for Daniel: his first T-6 solo flight! We were both really excited for it. A solo flight is when the student pilot is the only person in the plane. Normally he flies with an instructor pilot (IP) in the back seat. The first solo flight is called a "Pattern Solo." It's typically about 30 minutes long and the student pilot practices various types of landings and flying procedures close to the runway. One of the perks of solo flights is that the spouse of the pilot is allowed to come to the squadron to listen to radio calls and watch from near the locker room on the ground.

I arrived at the squadron and found a few of Daniel's buddies who showed me where to go, set up the radio for me to listen to and to translate the radio calls. Based on the radio calls they were able to tell where Daniel was and pointed out his plane to me each time he was in sight. It was great and I was so grateful to have their help. They also explained to me what he was doing as he was flying. It was fun for me to hear Daniel's voice over the radio saying things I'd practiced with him at home. I just had to wave at him each time he flew overhead even though I knew he wouldn't see me. I just couldn't help it!

The dot in the center of the picture above the white canopy thing is Daniel right after take-off.

As Daniel's flight progressed, more and more of his classmates came outside to wait with us (it's part of a tradition) so there was a group of about 10 pilots and Daniel's IP. The flight was just about over and we heard Daniel radio in for landing and "full stop." I was so proud of him! He'd had a great first solo flight! I was watching for him to land and heard a call on the radio but I didn't catch what was said and figured it was a landing confirmation or something.

I was still looking at the sky and when I turned around I saw all the pilots gathered around the radio with serious looks on their faces. I was just about to ask what was going on when I heard, "Roger that Wings 48. Uh, just stay in the pattern and we'll get a checklist and read it off to you." My immediate thought was, 'Hmmm, he has to do something that requires a checklist that he doesn't know and doesn't have in the aircraft with him? That doesn't sound good.' I didn't feel worried because I didn't know what was going on and knew that worrying wouldn't do any good. So I asked the guys, "What's going on?" They all looked up at me and one of the guys said, "He has a stick shaker that won't turn off. But it's no big deal." (Note: "stick shaker" is the stall warning system. When the aircraft is approaching a stall the control stick violently vibrates to let the pilot know that he is approaching a stall. A stall is also known as fall out of the sky.) Then the radio said, "Wings 48, we'll send a chase ship up and have you do a straight in." What I heard that time was, "Wings 48, blah blah, chase ship, blah blah blah blah." Then I started to worry a little bit, but tried to keep cool. Well, we didn't hear anything on the radio for a while and one of the pilots said, "Don't worry Julie, he's in the best ejection seat in the world up there." Gee, thanks for the comforting words, Lieutenant!

The next radio call was, "We have Wings 48 down." That's when I inwardly freaked out. I thought, 'DOWN?! What kind of down?! Good down or bad down?!' One of the guys said, "I don't see any smoke or hear any sirens. I guess he landed." That's when I felt better. We saw him from a distance taxi in and park the plane. Leave it to Daniel to have a dramatic first solo flight!

When he made it back to the squadron (after taking pictures and reporting the malfunctioning stick shaker to the maintainance people) his classmates forced him to empty his pockets and remove his boots. They picked him up and threw him into the solo dunk tank full of freezing cold water on a chilly December morning. It's tradition to do so after one solos. I guess you could say it's a baptism of sorts into pilot-dom. I'm so proud of him!

 Taxiing in after the flight.

 Going through his post-flight checklist.

 Putting his helmet and mask in his helmet bag. Notice the checklists and papers he has strapped to his legs.

 Posing by the tail of the jet.

After getting dunked. His class painted the dunk tank to look like penguins and iceburgs. The penguin is their class mascot.

What actually happened: When Daniel made his final touch down for his "full stop" landing, he had been going too fast and the landing gear hit the ground really hard. That's when the stick shaker turned on and wouldn't stop. It was a malfunction caused by the hard landing. Daniel just took off again and started flying. He's been trained that in an emergency his number one priority is to maintain aircraft control. He did so, and radioed to traffic control what his issue was. Apparently this emergency has never happened before and there is no checklist for dealing with it. Daniel went around again for another landing but didn't hear the transmission from tower about the chase ship and straight in approach (which approach is prohibited for all first time solo students because it is quite dangerous.) He landed the plane anyway with the stick shaker and taxied home. In the de-brief with the traffic control people, he was told that he did the safest thing by landing the aircraft the way he did instead of doing what they told him to do. My hero!!!

Classic thumbs-up pic. I love this man!