I can’t believe I didn’t think to write about this life event until now.  I was reminded by a discussion on the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) LinkedIn group asking for folks to submit aviation photos.  As I was looking through my “Flying” photos I remembered the shots I took at Livermore Municipal Airport (KVLK) on the beautifully clear day I was suppose to go on my very first solo.  I made it all the way to getting ready to take off when I was instructed to return to the parking area as I wouldn’t be taking off anytime soon.  Okay, before you think it was because I was a total noob and did something wrong, it wasn’t.  Unfortunately, it was because they were shutting down the airport while waiting for a plane that was in distress to make an emergency landing.

Here’s how the events unfolded.  I had just returned to the airplane parking area from a flight with my CFA (Certified Flight Instructor) when he turned to me and said, “Well, the wind is a little stronger than I would have liked but I think you are ready to head out for your first solo.”  Wow, this is it.  He wants to see if, without him in the plane slapping my hand or asking me what I’m doing, or should be doing, I can pilot the craft and bring the flight school’s plane back intact.  Okay, he’s experienced.  If he thinks I’m ready then I think I’m ready.  So, my instructor hopped out and I asked the ground controller for clearance to taxi.  Guess what?  He told me to head to the runway.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As I approached Runway 25R I flipped my radio to the tower frequency.  It was about this time that a Cessna 310N twin-engine plane passed overhead and I heard the tower say something to the effect that “No, your front gear does not seem to be fully down and locked.”  A short time later I called to the tower, mentioned I was a student pilot and doing my first solo, and was located at 25R.  The quick reply was, “I don’t think that’s happening.”  The delayed reply was, “zero-niner-quebec, you can head back to parking.”

I must say that I was disappointed, and though not a good situation at all, at least I didn’t screw up.  Also, I had brought my camera in anticipation that I would solo that day and wanted to get a picture.  So, I taxied back to the parking area and grabbed my camera from my truck as well as my scanner so that I could monitor the radio play between pilot and tower.

The conversation was pretty sparse and consisted of such things as stating he had two souls on board and would like to declare an emergency.  There is a fire department located on the airport grounds, a short distance from where I was.  They were on the ready.  It wasn’t too much longer before the plane was turning base to final on a very nice approach to 25R, the widest and longest runway at the Livermore general aviation airport.  I snapped away as the pilot expertly guided his craft over the end of the runway and then leveled out, settling down on his main gear while maintaining an attitude that kept his plane’s nose slightly up.  As he slowly lost speed the nose settled down onto the nose gear and continued to the pavement as the gear collapsed up toward the fuselage.

Cessna 310N - Nose Gear Failure

I was amazed at the great job this pilot did at smoothly flying down the runway and setting down his plane so soft and straight.  When the nose reached the asphalt the sound of grinding metal shot across the field as the plane continued sliding along the runway.  Not too much further and the plane came to rest with the tail pitched quite high.  Quite quickly the door opened and the two occupants exited the plane.  About the same time the fire truck rolled up along with some other airport vehicles.  Several individuals lingered about the plane, probably taking in the site just as I and my instructor were from my vantage point.

Wow, what a great ending to what could have been a terrifically bad situation.  Definitely calm and experienced piloting skills were present in the left seat that day.  Though the occupants of the plane were quite fortunate, I later found out that the plane wasn’t so fortunate as it had encounter prop strikes on both, just recently rebuilt, engines.

As a student pilot, ready to solo for the first time, watching this really left me quite humbled and impressed at the skill of the pilot in charge of that plane.  Did it put me off flying at all?  Definitely not!  In fact, the very next day, June 11, 2006, I was back at the airport and headed off on my own.  I completed my first solo flight consisting of three take-off and landings and about .4 hours of flight time.  It’s always good when the number of take-off’s match the number of landings.  Better yet, if you are able to finish your flight and fill out your log book that’s a good day flying.  The culmination of my solo was the traditional cutting off of the back of my shirt.  Such a proud moment.

If anyone is looking for someone to keep them company flying out of Livermore let me know by leaving a comment.  Unfortunately, time and money have required me to adjust my life such that I have not flown since August 2008, when I flew my Uncle, some cousins and their children on a few sightseeing trips around the East Bay.  Arghhhh!  I need to go get my biennial done so I can get current again and go get my $100 hamburgers.

I haven’t been running as much as I really would like to and, as such, have found I’m a little bit out of shape.  On the plus side, I’m pretty much injury free!  Well, after a third day in a row of a five mile run in the hills around my neighborhood, the 1,000 foot climbs over the distance finally did me in.  That last run yesterday totally wore my legs out and I was pretty much useless the rest of the day.  I also hadn’t been taking Sadie on my runs since it has been hot and she is out-of-shape for this long a run.  The last time I took her was the end of May and it was really hot.  I ended up having to call Ginny to pick her up at about the halfway point because she was beat and starting to go lame.  So, my plan now is to take Sadie for walks on my rest days and lug along a composition book and my camera so I can record thoughts and things to work on, get out of the house and get Sadie (and me) some exercise.

Sadie Heading Up Road Past Water Tanks

Today was the first day of this plan.  I decided to just head up the hill to the first set of water tanks and hang out there in the shade while Sadie roamed the area.  I didn’t want to go too far and I decided to stay off the trail I usually run as, for the past two days, I’ve had to ask to cross a creek that East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) crews were working on making more easy to ford.  In fact, yesterday after I asked to sneak by I told them I would head back using a different route as the day before I interrupted them twice.  That day they were nice enough to turn off the backhoe to let me pass the second time through.  Yesterday, even though my legs were spent, I decided to go down the steep single-track trail and head back up the hills to the ridge as opposed to taking the parkway back, which would have been much easier.  Going this way took me over another creek crossing where construction had already been completed.  In addition to the bridge, they also spread wood chips over quite a bit of the trail, which is nice as this is the section where I always land on my ass when it is wet as it is extremely slick.  The folks at EBRPD also are putting in a bridge over another creek where it exits from a pond and has cut a deep channel through the trail.  Think that section of trail has been detoured for about a month now while they work on it.

Sadie by the Bench at the Top of the Hill

So, back to today’s walk.  As is me, once I got started I decided to go ahead and hike to the top of the hill, past both sets of water tanks, to sit on the bench that is on the hilltop and affords a great view of the Bay, well, on clear days anyway.  The hike up to the bench is about two-thirds of a mile away and the climb is 400 feet.  Today the air quality was quite a bit better than yesterday but it still was quite hazy (aka, smoggy/foggy) on the Peninsula side of the bay.  Still, it was very nice.  The temperature was just right and there was a stiff cool breeze.  Think I got up there around 11:00 or so.  Sadie had a good time.  While I sat and wrote she roamed the area around me, being very good not to go too far or out of sight.  I actually beat her in that I was still writing when she decided to lay down by my feet.  Never thought I could outlast her genetic, hound nose’s need to sniff everything.

Sadie Waiting for Me to Catch Up

When I finished writing I decided to not head back down the same path but to continue walking on the ridge trail, following it back down past a pond and into the upper part of our neighborhood.  From there I would just walk back down the streets to our house.  This is probably a mile and a half and is really nice.  It was so great to be able to just let Sadie roam off leash.  I didn’t see anyone else walking on this whole trek.  It was so wonderful!  I was even quite shocked to find there were some mallards swimming about in the pond. (Don’t tell my duck hunting brother.)

Sadie and I made it back home right about noon.  She collapsed on the cool, wood laminate floor after getting a drink of water and I made myself some lunch, a glorious peanut butter and banana sandwich.  Life is precious and I really enjoyed getting out with Sadie.  It reminded me of taking Harrison and Madison for walks.  Of course, today they were in school so they weren’t able to tag along and Ginny had headed over to the high school to help Harrison set up a booth to promote a video club that he started this year.  Harrison really likes making videos, while Madison is currently busy playing tennis on her school’s “A” team.

For more photographs from today’s hike check out my Flickr stream.