Sport Pilot Talk

...probably of very limited interest to anybody but me, but...

With all these new fliers and training reports, I dug out my first logbook for comparison.

First flight: 11/15/74, .6 in C150 N66565 at Opa Locka, FL - "Introduction Ride" at the Opa Locka Flight Center, a Cessna Pilot Center.

First supervised solo: 12/11/74, at 12 hours in C150 N11539

Final Progress check (Part 141 school with pretty strict syllabus): 2/14/75 at 48.6 hours in C150 N66565 w/Katie Strehle

Passed Private Checkride: 2/17/75 at 51.2 hours in C150 N11539 w/Art Chestnut

Two days later checked out in a C172, and my first passengers were my parents, from Opa Locka to West Palm Beach and return. Still amazed at the trust they had in me considering how little I knew back then!

Great information Eddie. I agree your parents were very trusting!

Did you have any time in the 172 prior to the checkout? Was all training in the 150?

Cluemeister wrote:Great information Eddie. I agree your parents were very trusting!

Did you have any time in the 172 prior to the checkout? Was all training in the 150?

No prior time in a 172 that I can recall, so it was all C150 time. The C152 was not introduced until 1977 (I had to look that up).

I think at the time I thought the C172 felt very different - MASSIVE, in fact! I think pilots starting out focus on the differences between various plane types. With more experience, eventually they all start to feel pretty much the same, albeit with their own idiosyncrasies.

I bought a J3 to learn to fly a little over 50 years ago.. Shortly after I got my license, I took my grandmother up in it on her 80th birthday. We were flying over the Mississippi River Bridge and she commented on how high above the water it was and asked if there was room to fly under it. I'll end the story there.....

Solo in less than a month, and wrapped in all up in around 3 months - that's moving right along!