Video of 14 yr old kid first solo ...

iWantWings

iWantWings

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(Sorry if this is a duplicate post)

... in a Schweizer 2-33.

I really enjoyed watching this. She humms a melody while flying :D and does a forward-slip on final - on her first solo, on her 14th birthday :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMG1trzznHg

(the same youtube video page has a link to a video of her learning spins with an instructor on board a few years before her solo)

I know nothing about gliders and I do not know who the youg girl is, but I think she did a great job. Congrats to her and her parents. This is way cool.
 
Looked like she was trying to work some lift.

As I recall, for lighter pilots one may need to add ballast in the nose of a 2-33. Don't have the W&B info handy, so it might only be needed to reduce stick force.

And that singing - who does she think she is - John Wayne in The High and the Mighty?
:wink2:
 
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Uh oh, we have a young patty wagstaff on our hands here. Very cool!
 
There is a lot of stick movement without the plane responding. Is that normal for a glider? :confused:
 
Geico266 said:
There is a lot of stick movement without the plane responding. Is that normal for a glider? :confused:
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just feeling the air..

I've only flown with my dads glider and you fly that stick with two fingers as you feel the air.

Off to email fault line flyers.. been way too long since I've been soaring!
 
Jim Logajan said:
Looked like she was trying to work some lift.

As I recall, for lighter pilots one may need to add ballast in the nose of a 2-33. Don't have the W&B info handy, so it might only be needed to reduce stick force.

And that singing - who does she think she is - John Wayne in The High and the Mighty?
:wink2:
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Yeah I would bet she had ballast in. The ballast is to get to the minimum front seat weight and it does allow for more forward stick authority.

Geico266 said:
There is a lot of stick movement without the plane responding. Is that normal for a glider? :confused:
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In a 2-33 that is absolutely normal. That thing takes real big slow control movements to fly well.
 
Outstanding!!!

Good on her. I soloed in a 2-33, too. I've been flying powered so much this off-season that I forgot just how much feedback you get in a glider from the wind-noise.
 
I liked the daisies in her hair! What a cute and accomplished young lady
 
Jeanie said:
I liked the daisies in her hair! What a cute and accomplished young lady
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heh - I forgot to mention that. One of the ladies in our glider club always puts a flower in her hat when she flies.
 
The title should say "14 year old PILOT first solo"

I never much appreciated being called a kid. That implies you do not have responsibility.
 
DavidWhite said:
The title should say "14 year old PILOT first solo"

I never much appreciated being called a kid. That implies you do not have responsibility.
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14 year old girls, are still kids :)

Being a "kid" implies being young, free from the burden of responsibility us adults and parents have... doesn't imply you are irresponsible.

BTW, i'm a 36 year old kid with 2 kids of my own!
 
Geico266 said:
There is a lot of stick movement without the plane responding. Is that normal for a glider? :confused:
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In that one, yes. She was going pretty slowly so ailerons didn't have as much authority, just like slow flying a C150 and my guess is she was trying to stay right on as opposed to letting the glider slop around.

She did a pretty nice job of flying.
 
supernovae said:
14 year old girls, are still kids :)

Being a "kid" implies being young, free from the burden of responsibility us adults and parents have... doesn't imply you are irresponsible.

BTW, i'm a 36 year old kid with 2 kids of my own!
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That, and perspective. My GM (lived to just shy of 102) used to refer to the "boy behind her house"...he was in his late 60's :wink2:
 
I cried a little, and laughed a little, watching Lillymae. The humming just amazed me! Her calmness and evident ENJOYMENT of flying. For a second or five, I almost got how it could feel good to be up there, instead of terrifying. Obviously, she had been well trained and felt comfortable soloing.

I did notice she was looking around almost constantly, and I wonder if the humming was her way of occupying right brain while keeping left brain busy with pertinent information.
 
Becky said:
I cried a little, and laughed a little, watching Lillymae. The humming just amazed me! Her calmness and evident ENJOYMENT of flying. For a second or five, I almost got how it could feel good to be up there, instead of terrifying. Obviously, she had been well trained and felt comfortable soloing.

I did notice she was looking around almost constantly, and I wonder if the humming was her way of occupying right brain while keeping left brain busy with pertinent information.
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I think it is a way to calm her nerves alittle. It was like a kitten purring to me. I sing to myself sometimes. Good thing I have headphones on and I's at 2,000' agl. :lol:
 
I couldn't help but have a big grin on my face as I watch her. It was great to see you family (assuming that was her family) and instructor all there for the occasion. Certainly a memory that will live with her forever.
 
It's amazing what a young person can accomplish if you challenge them. Their brains are still wired for extreme learning and their reflexes are sharp as well.

She looked very confident and had good stick and rudder skills. She has a bright future indeed.
 
Geico266 said:
I think it is a way to calm her nerves alittle. It was like a kitten purring to me. I sing to myself sometimes. Good thing I have headphones on and I's at 2,000' agl. :lol:
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I remember singing to myself during my first solo. It would have been a very embarrassing time to have a stuck mic. :lol:
 
Congrats to her, very nice flying

MassPilot said:
I remember singing to myself during my first solo. It would have been a very embarrassing time to have a stuck mic. :lol:
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:lol: Right there with ya, remember saying something on the taxi out like "There's no way this is really happening...", stayed pretty silent on the first pattern, and then sang Pink Floyd's Learning to Fly for the next four. And all the way home. And for a good part of the rest of the week.
 
MassPilot said:
I remember singing to myself during my first solo. It would have been a very embarrassing time to have a stuck mic. :lol:
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Haha, yes. Congrats to her. That is quite an accomplishment at 14.
 
heh - last year I towed a buddy in his first glider solo (also a 2-33). He recorded it, then showed me the video later. His first words, when the wheel left the ground, "HOOOOLY SHHHH...!!!"
 
I watched the spins also, when she was 10. Liked her response after the first one: "that felt pretty good"
She was so small she had to strain to look out during the clearing turns.
 
Jim Logajan said:
Looked like she was trying to work some lift.

As I recall, for lighter pilots one may need to add ballast in the nose of a 2-33. Don't have the W&B info handy, so it might only be needed to reduce stick force.
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Minimum front seat pilot weight for our 2-33 is 124 lbs., so for some of these younger pilots a removable 19-lb. cast lead bar is used for ballast. It slides into a metal receiver between the rudder pedals, and is secured with a steel pin. At that station, it has the effect of adding a little over 30 lbs to the seat station itself. The point of this is obvious: to keep the CG away from the aft limit, to ensure good control when the nose is pitched up.
Doesn't do much for control forces so much as insuring that the pilot will easily be able to get out of a high A of A situation (like a stall, or in slow flight near the edge of a stall). The 2-33 should also drop the nose itself after a full stall, but only if the CG is not aft of the limit. These gliders fly OK with the CG near either limit, front or rear, but like any aircraft, it's safer and easier with the CG closer to the "sweet spot".
I think this young pilot did very well... except for the perfunctory control check. She probably flew it already that day, etc, etc, but it's a bad habit to just look at the stick for the control check (or rudder pedals). There's more to it than making sure the controls move properly... any glider pilot might someday hop in a ship that has just been reassembled, so it's wise to make sure control movement corresponds with control surface movement, including spoilers or flaps.
But in general I see she was trained well. Good checklists, good scan, nice yaw and speed control. All it takes is a little commitment to the discipline, and teens can do really well with stuff like this... they are sharp and full of energy and enthusiasm. I've been told that it's usually much easier to teach kids to fly gliders from scratch than to bring ASEL-rated adults up to speed.
 
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Seanaldinho said:
In a 2-33 that is absolutely normal. That thing takes real big slow control movements to fly well.
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I got yelled at a lot during my first season for all the small stick movements... they are pretty useless in a 2-33. She probably knows this, but was just a little nervous. She has a pretty firm grip on the stick, too, but mostly because her hands are small. Despite the sluggish feel, the control harmony is good. I also got reminded constantly "thumb and forefinger, and let me see that pinky sticking out!". The response of the ailerons seems heavy at first, but it's not heavy, it's just slow. Brute strength does not figure into it.
Even trickier than learning how to make smooth corrections in that glider is using opposite aileron to deal with the overbanking tendency... my Cessna-trained brain really struggled with that. :rolleyes:
But all it takes is practice, especially boxing the wake and making good steep turns.
 
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My favorite part:

"What's the first thing you're going to do?"
"Fly the airplane."

And singing the whole time. I wish we could have heard what she was saying on approach.


Congrats to her. Awesome accomplishment.
 
rottydaddy said:
I got yelled at a lot during my first season for all the small stick movements... they are pretty useless in a 2-33. She probably knows this, but was just a little nervous. She has a pretty firm grip on the stick, too, but mostly because her hands are small. Despite the sluggish feel, the control harmony is good. I also got reminded constantly "thumb and forefinger, and let me see that pinky sticking out!". The response of the ailerons seems heavy at first, but it's not heavy, it's just slow. Brute strength does not figure into it.
Even trickier than learning how to make smooth corrections in that glider is using opposite aileron to deal with the overbanking tendency... my Cessna-trained brain really struggled with that. :rolleyes:
But all it takes is practice, especially boxing the wake and making good steep turns.
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I agree. I learned in a Grob 103 which is much lighter on the stick. Ive only flown in our 2-33 two or three times however. Im thinking about getting checked out in it in the next few weeks though.
 

This video shows Lillymae doing 2 spins in a training glider.

I started giving Lillymae flight instruction in a Schweizer 2-33 shortly before she turned 10 years old. This video shows a 2 minute segment of her 25th instructional flight when she spins the plane. She was 10 at the time. The first part of the video shows my point of view, from inside the plane, as I sit in the back seat. The second part shows the same part of the flight, but as observed from the ground. I thank Ben Johnson for the ground shot.

At this point in Lillymae's training, I had little occasion to touch the controls, as by now Lillymae could perform most of the maneuvers required for the private pilot checkride, and then some, without any help from me, except for some verbal coaching. I do not touch the controls at anytime in this video segment. All flying is done by Lillymae.

If you'd like to see her first solo flight, 2 1/2 years later on her 14th birthday, you can at http://tinyurl.com/b9xt3of.

I appreciate the comments viewers are posting about this vid. If you would like to contact Lillymae, you'll find her YouTube channel at indiangirlLillymae and her blog at http://toflyalaska.blogspot.com.

UPDATE: On June 29, 2014, Lillymae passed her checkride and is now a private pilot ASEL (airplane, single engine land). She's 17 years old.
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