[day dreamer]

Care to share?

[laminac]

when the wife gives the green light on a new glider

[day dreamer]

[flybop]

The day that I picked up the phone and called a hang gliding instructort after being out of aviation for almost 15 years.

Hopefully this will happen soon, but I am so looking forward to my first non-sledder flight.

[bisleybob]

there have been so many really. first solo aerotow, first crash. getting rid of ribbon and traning wheels, each following rating. first mountain holiday. new DS glider.

but think i can say the best thing of all was when i turned up at the hill and felt confidance instead of fear.

i made the choice to fly on my own and didnt need the coach to persuade me, i trusted my own judgement and was confidant the conditions were within my ability and was excited to fly. even when another pilot didnt want to fly, i knew it was fine and was right.
this was the first time i felt like a pilot and not a student after 2 years of flying.

[Eteamjack]

My training was a long drawn out experience. Considered quitting
multiple times. Training was much different back then and if you completed it
safely it was a milestone. First high altitude flight had it's own milestone as
all of the training only considered takeoff and landing. No turns.
When I got to the LZ I had two decisions keep flying straight and land in the
lake, or start doing 360's of which I had no clue whether I would die or not.
The first one was successful, so just kept them up until I lost the altitude.
Didn't bother to check the windsock just landed. Fortunately decided right.
Really have had a great experience over the 31 yr's.

[remmoore]

16 years ago - getting my shiny new H4 card in the mail, and heading straight for Diablo! I sold my soul to the Devil on the very first day.

RM

[UnTuckable]

My first altitude gain greater than 5280 feet.

[klh]

The biggest milestone for me would be when, in the early 90s, I flew 7 days in a row. I took my week vacation and didn't go anywhere - I just flew Crestline/Marshall Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, and Sat. On Sunday I went to El Mirage with High Adventure and did my first platform tows; got my first time over 10k MSL to boot.

That week was huge for me because my skills and confidence grew by at least an order of magnitude. I don't think going on a trip and flying 7 days at 3 or 4 different/unfamiliar sites would have had the same effect. By flying my home site every day the focus was on the flying and I didn't have all kinds of new peripheral inputs to integrate.

The second place milestone would be my first top landing at Marshall Peak - pulling that off meant I had a much much wider variety of terrain I could feel comfortable flying over and opened the door for easily getting multiple flights in a day, for landing and dealing with minor issues then continuing flying, and eliminating many time-consuming trips back up the hill to get my truck after flying.

[jjcote]

I've had a number of milestones, maybe I'll think about some of the more interesting ones later on. The most recent one was this past weekend, which was (I'm pretty sure) the first time I ever flew with no other HG pilots around.

[OSCAR]

I'd have to say my very first training hill flight , first mountain solo , Getting that H4 & Flying Torrey Pines , First XC flight Garlock to Trona Airport (40 miles), first Tandem launch as pilot in command.

[W89rnr]

First time to cloudbase (on my 4th mountain flight for over 3 hours!!), first solo aerotow, new rating, first mountain launch, first multiple hour flight, first time flying my own glider (F3170), soaring Jockey's Ridge, any lesson instructing at Kitty Hawk Kites

[laminac]

[Spitfire]

First solo (of course)

And my most recent (third) solo, where I had so much less fear in taking off that I spent way less time ground controlling and launched much quicker.

[skyshaddo]

My first 100 mile flight!

Still waiting to get into the "Century" club

I dream of it almost every night.

Blue Skies,

Shaddo

[bisleybob]

[day dreamer]

[flybop]

You guys are an inspiration!!!

bisleybob, you made a great point. For me I will always remember getting to the point that I had confidence in being able to exercise proper judgement, feeling the confidence begin to replace the uncertainty and launching from the Hog Back with no hesitation, even with my (slightly) worried wife there.

[ChattaroyMan]

The #1 will have to be getting back at it after 29 years and of the flights I've made since a 30 minute ridge soaring flight @ sunset from Steptoe Butte qualifies. Every minute of that flight my grin just got wider. It was soooo nice getting a feel for the air again - and dang hard to fly out of the lift and head to the LZ! Drooling for the next time I'm at a launch and the conditions favor staying up awhile! Life is good!

[relate2]

1. My first personal glory....you can imagine my shock seeing this circular rainbow as I didn't even know such a thing existed.



2. My first flight in orographic cloud.



This is me at 1,000 feet above Stanwell not 10,000 feet inland.


3. My first climb inland to over 8,500 feet.

4. The privilege of flying with the Stanwell Sea Eagles.

5. First day with my new Sonic.


and many many more......