The moment: Practice area solo The pilot: Ngierot Edwards-Smith The…

I thought I was finishing a regular lesson as I pulled off the runway to taxi back to the hangars but my flight instructor told me he was getting out and he wanted me to take the airplane for a lap around the pattern. He gave me a thumbs up and said, “you got this!”

I completed my first solo on December 8, 2018 at the age of 58.  Flying has been a life-long dream for me, starting around the age of 5.  During my teen years, my father (a very experienced Air Force pilot, CFI, and CFI-G) began giving me some formal flight lessons, but then I went off to college, got married, etc., and I had to be content with flying model aircraft for a lot of years.