Solo Shirt Pic Thread

SkyDog58

SkyDog58

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Canis Non Grata
Alright, those who have 'em, post 'em and include a short writeup to go with it.

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My CFI thought it was funny that my wife was always calling to see if I survived my lesson when it was about time for it to finish up and she would call a second time if I did not call her back right away. On the day I soloed, I had told her that I thought I would do so. She didn't want to come and watch but she called a few times before it was over. Sweet girl loves me for some odd reason. :) Anyway, that is the story behind the shirt.
 
I refused to have the shirt cut. The CFI looked at me and knew better than to even suggest it.
 
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My CFI never gave me my shirt after she cut and drew on it... I solo'd back in Nov. 2008. I think.

I still have the shirt I wore, though.
 
Here is my t-shirt:

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I soloed at Cecil Airport (KVQQ) in Florida and I was so excited that I told tower that I am cleared to land at the first solo traffic pattern... o_O:D:) My CFI probably had a heart attack. I 'allowed' tower to clear me to land in the following traffic patterns. :)
 
Kinda hard to read since I didn't wear a light colored shirt. Got it signed today after I got the idea from here, originally CFI said they don't do it anymore, took the short today to get it cut and signed. CFI said they used to do it, but when they started getting lot of female students ...they stopped . 20170731_174457.jpg

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Never did it. I think my CFI back then knew I was too broke to lose any articles of clothing.
 
My first solo shirt is probably still hanging on the board at Kadena Air Base Aero Club. But then again, that was back in 1988 so somebody probably figured out that I wasn't coming back for it and took it down and threw it away. :(

It was a maroon and gray REO Speedwagon 3/4 sleeve concert tee shirt.
 
Was doing my lesson on a lunch break from work and forgot about the instructor mentioning wearing a disposable t-shirt for the next few lessons. He ended up cutting the back of my yellow polo shirt. With 7.x hrs in the log book, he had me drop him off on the ramp and take it around for 3 laps. He took a few pics of my landings from the grass beside the runway as well. I'm glad I had my heavy coat along, because it was late November and a bit breezy, hence why my instructor has the stocking cap on. He is also fairly short, so I had to crouch down for the pic under the 172 wing after we got back to RVS. Wife framed it and put it in the office under the 6' wooden prop.

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Oh alright here's the real one. Surprised I could find it. I like the one my son and I did more though. I was his CFI.

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Ryanb said:
Wow, and here I thought you had actually soloed in 1903 @ Kittyhawk. You had me, but than again, the shirt looks too new.
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LOL yeah that shirt on the other side is a Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt. Must have been made poorly because there are holes in the damn thing already. So it was selected and sacrificed as the Wright Flyer 1st Solo shirt. And my wife pointed out I misspelled Flyer lol.
 
Hmm, I think mine is still hanging on the flight school wall along with a few hundred others. I'll have to see if it has been culled yet.
 
I don't get excited, I hardly show any emotion.

However, on my first solo, I was slightly excited and I forgot to stop and pick up my instructor....

And my shirt back is framed and somewhere in the pile of packed boxes getting ready to go to the new house.
 
I just remembered the other reason I didn't get it done. It was January and fricking freezing outside. LOL. That poor C-150 didn't have much of a heater.
 
Never got my shirt cut...mostly I'm not concerned with rituals like that, I have my memories (and video of 95% of the flight) and that's enough for me
 
pikespeakmtnman said:
Never got my shirt cut...mostly I'm not concerned with rituals like that, I have my memories (and video of 95% of the flight) and that's enough for me
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LOL. Video. If I had video it would have been from one of those shoulder mounted VHS cameras! ;)

(Actually we did later shoot some video with one, spins in the Skyhawk and some formation stuff with another Skyhawk. The video appears to have been lost.)
 
denverpilot said:
LOL. Video. If I had video it would have been from one of those shoulder mounted VHS cameras! ;)

(Actually we did later shoot some video with one, spins in the Skyhawk and some formation stuff with another Skyhawk. The video appears to have been lost.)
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A long time ago I had a student show up with one those big VHS recorders and a tripod. He worked at a video store fulltime. I asked what those were for and he says well, thought I might solo today. I laughed and said let's go and see about that. Did fine, I got out, he soloed and I recorded it for him. CUT HIS SHIRT TOO DAMNIT! :D
 
SoonerAviator said:
Quite the artist there. Look like a pic of "The Stig".
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Yessir, that was a nickname of mine. Figured that image fit the cocky pilot attitude I carried for a short time after piloting through the skies by myself. The ego got knocked down a few notches a few weeks later!
 
TFulwider said:
Yessir, that was a nickname of mine. Figured that image fit the cocky pilot attitude I carried for a short time after piloting through the skies by myself. The ego got knocked down a few notches a few weeks later!
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Funny, no one seems to remember that part....:lol::lol::lol:
 
I think we should all try going to flight schools and just pretending we've never flown before and want to take our first flight lesson and see how quickly they let us solo. The instructors going to be like man I had this guy solo on his second fight
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I think we should all try going to flight schools and just pretending we've never flown before and want to take our first flight lesson and see how quickly they let us solo. The instructors going to be like man I had this guy solo on his second fight
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I worked with a guy that did that just to meet the flight instructor. She was NOT impressed and they did not have a happily ever after experience...:frown2:
 
Zeldman said:
I worked with a guy that did that just to meet the flight instructor. She was NOT impressed and they did not have a happily ever after experience...:frown2:
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They are probably more happy than you know :)
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I think we should all try going to flight schools and just pretending we've never flown before and want to take our first flight lesson and see how quickly they let us solo. The instructors going to be like man I had this guy solo on his second fight
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Or in your case "this guy will never get it...keeps mumbling chute"
 
Clark1961 said:
Or in your case "this guy will never get it...keeps mumbling chute"
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That would suck... 400+ hours and the cfi is all "i may never be able to let you solo. maybe this isn't the right hobby for you"
 
Thankfully they didn't do that to me. The less things around to remind me of that day, the better.

Yeah, yeah, I know... that's supposed to be like the best day evah for a student pilot, but mine was a big hot mess that almost made me walk away from the whole thing!

It started out great. I wasn't even supposed to fly that day, but my CFI had been wanting to solo me, it was two days before Christmas and it was a day that the winds were actually calm. I went out to the airfield, made 4 or so of the most beautiful landings I've ever done, my CFI said "Oh yeah, you're ready," and hopped out. I then proceeded to make three of the worst landings I've ever done. :confused:

The first time around I ballooned and bounced my sorry ass down the runway. The second was a go around after coming in too high, but then I forgot to take out my flaps and couldn't figure out why I wasn't climbing. Finally the lightbulb went off, I cleaned up the plane, and tower - who I had forgot to tell I was a student pilot, proceeded to throw me into a right 360 followed by an extended downwind and then put me 4th in line. I really don't even remember the last landing, but I apparently survived it.

I can't even imagine what was going through my poor CFI's head. But, seeing how discouraged I looked when I was back on the ground, he thankfully had on his poker face and offered me a far too kind "congrats."

I went up the following day alone and "re-soloed" myself. Thankfully, I nailed every landing and got my confidence back.

So, yeah, no shirttails for me, thank you!!! :D
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I think we should all try going to flight schools and just pretending we've never flown before and want to take our first flight lesson and see how quickly they let us solo. The instructors going to be like man I had this guy solo on his second fight
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Bob Hoover used to tell a story about being sweet on a female flight instructor when he was young, and signing up for lessons. Apparently she was not impressed when he inverted the plane right after take-off on his "first solo", and that was the end of the budding romance.
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
Thankfully they didn't do that to me. The less things around to remind me of that day, the better.

Yeah, yeah, I know... that's supposed to be like the best day evah for a student pilot, but mine was a big hot mess that almost made me walk away from the whole thing!

It started out great. I wasn't even supposed to fly that day, but my CFI had been wanting to solo me, it was two days before Christmas and it was a day that the winds were actually calm. I went out to the airfield, made 4 or so of the most beautiful landings I've ever done, my CFI said "Oh yeah, you're ready," and hopped out. I then proceeded to make three of the worst landings I've ever done. :confused:

The first time around I ballooned and bounced my sorry ass down the runway. The second was a go around after coming in too high, but then I forgot to take out my flaps and couldn't figure out why I wasn't climbing. Finally the lightbulb went off, I cleaned up the plane, and tower - who I had forgot to tell I was a student pilot, proceeded to throw me into a right 360 followed by an extended downwind and then put me 4th in line. I really don't even remember the last landing, but I apparently survived it.

I can't even imagine what was going through my poor CFI's head. But, seeing how discouraged I looked when I was back on the ground, he thankfully had on his poker face and offered me a far too kind "congrats."

I went up the following day alone and "re-soloed" myself. Thankfully, I nailed every landing and got my confidence back.

So, yeah, no shirttails for me, thank you!!! :D
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Hey, you aren't alone in that experience.
I got to solo on a breezy, showery day. Never flown in rain before. On my last circuit with the instructor I did my first ever greaser touchdown. And I mean one of those baby soft "can't tell if the plane is on the ground" perfect landings. Worst possible thing that could have happened to me.

The instructor hops out and commands me to take 'er up. I'm so busy trying to figure out how to repeat that award winning landing I didn't do anything else at all well. The only measure of success is I kept the wings sort of level & upright, and didn't break anything on that poor 150 when I thudded it onto (into?) the runway. Felt like I dropped straight in from circuit altitude. My instructor was sympathetic, and went into some explanation about how rain on the windshield alters perception, etc.
 
I never realized solo shirt cutting was a thing until I joined POA.
 
A tradition Sac. Apparently falling out of favor by some.
 
CFI: "Congratulations...you want me to cut your shirt tail?"
Me: "No..."
CFI: "Didn't think so..."

He did have a flight school T Shirt that everyone signed which was way more cool in my book.
 
You guys got off easy. My CFI tries to kill all of his students after solo.

He's all: "Oh you think you are bad huh? You think you are a bad ass because you can fly? Try flying under water m-effer!!!"
I didn't get a photo of that part.

I did get this photo where after he tries to drown and demean you, he douses you with avgas and sets you on fire.
Just after this pic, I am rolling on the ground engulfed in flames screaming "OH GOD IT BURNS SO BAD!!!"

He just stands there and says "Oh it burns does it??? That's called being a pilot Bryan. Pilots are hot stuff! Enjoy the heat pilot! Look at you. You're a pilot. You're on fire my man!"

He says its all tradition.


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After I was released from the burn unit, he gave my my shirt tail which was pretty cool.


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