Catastrophic Decompression; Small Place Solo

When I conducted my first solo flight, it was pretty much a non-event
except that I had the plane to myself. After about thirty minutes of
dual - read that as two of us in the airplane, student (me) and the
instructor - including several landings at a controlled (has a tower)
airport, the instructor had me taxi over to the base of the tower and
shut the airplane down. He then asked for my log book and scribbled an
endorsement in the back certifying that I was qualified for solo flight.
Mind you, I had already received ten hours of flight training up to that
point plus extensive text work as well. He then told me to keep the
airplane "in the pattern", i.e. don't leave the controlled airspace
surrounding the airport: approximately a five mile radius. I was then
to perform three "touch and goes" - landings in which you place the
airplane on the runway but do not come to a stop but rather retract the
flaps while still rolling, apply power, and takeoff again. Then I was
to land with a full stop and return to the tower. He said he would
watch with the controllers. Geez, now I had an audience. I contacted
the tower via radio and was given clearance to takeoff and stay in the
pattern. I remembered I was literally shaking, not with fear but with
exhilaration. "Don't screw this up, don't screw this up," was my
mantra. I advanced the throttle once I was positioned on the centerline
of the runway and, in my estimation, the little Cessna 152 leapt
forward, unencumbered by the weight of a second person. Reaching 50
knots, I gently pulled back on the yoke and the plane rotated and
departed the runway. "WOW! I was flying! Really flying! I was in
control! I am a pilot!"
It was all I could do to not start whistling the theme from "The High
and the Mighty." The rest is history. Many hundreds and hundreds of
flight hours (PIC or Pilot In Command) later and innummerable aircraft,
I find myself grounded due to diabetes. Nothing will ever quite compare
to that first solo flight. God I miss it. Jerry


Aviation wrote:
I have two questions inspired by Hollywood movies.

In the movies (Goldfinger, Executive Decision and so on),
when pressurized aircraft suffer catastrophic decompression
at high (25000+ feet) altitude (usually when the bad guy
shoots a bullet through a window) everything not tied down
gets sucked out of the plane and the aircraft goes into an
immediate, rapid nose dive and the pilots or the good guys
have to struggle to level it off or prevent a crash.

Is this an automatic "safety" feature of real, regular aircraft?
On the one hand, passengers need to get denser air to breathe
but large aircraft have oxygen masks that drop down. (I could
do some rough estimates that the average fat slob can hold
their breath for less than a minute so, without masks, the jet
would have to go from let's say 30000 feet to 5000 feet in
30-45 seconds. My ears would explode.)

I would think that a crash dive to a lower altitude could be
even more dangerous such as if it occurred in a crowded air
corridor. Maybe there are other dangers.

What REALLY happens (or is supposed to happen) in the event
of sudden decompression of real high flying aircraft?



The second Hollywood inspired question comes from Executive
Decision (1996). The main character is taking flying lessons
in a single prop 2-seater plane and lands. The plane is still
running (on the ground) and his instructor says, 'I think
you're ready to solo' and gets out. The main character starts
to taxi and then other non-flying plot developments happen.
I was wondering if taking your FIRST solo flight is that simple.

The location in the film in Washington, DC but I figure all
US flying is FAA regulated. Wouldn't the first time soloist
have to fill out some forms, file a flight plan with the
airport and maybe even do a complete pre-flight check on the
aircraft? Is the simplified movie solo flight completely
bogus or could it happen that way?


THANK YOU VERY MUCH.