If the setting sun shining off that awesome thunder-storm doesn't do it, maybe Dave will.
Dave is 63 years old, and he flew an airplane by himself for the first time today.
That's right, he "soloed" for the first time today. Dave is the first flight student I have ever trained for their first solo. We began the day with a few trips around the traffic pattern which helped confirm my suspicion that I was ready to let him go for it. So I asked him to head back to the hangar and drop me off. He got a grin a mile wide. And the only person as excited and jittery as him around was myself! Of course I didn't let Dave catch wind of how my heart was pounding in my chest with nervous excitement. No it wasn't because I had any doubts that Dave could do it. I was just hit with the gravity of the whole thing! I could honestly say I was more nervous than I was for my own first solo years ago. My friends who are flight instructors have told me about similar feelings the first time or two they had a person solo. I remember one of them saying he was so nervous he almost got sick. Well fortunately I didn't. And as Dave taxied back to the end of the runway and took to the sky, my nerves turned into a calm excitement as I watched his three landings and congratulated him on the radio after each one. And when he was done, he was floating on cloud nine! He espoused the "kid in a candy store" kind of excitement.
