That reminds me. I don't know where my shirt tail is. Must go find it.

Love the last shot!

Hard to tell, did he used a knife?!  I thought scissors were a little safer tradition.  My instructor at solo didn't believe in ruining a good shirt, even though I made sure not to wear a good one.  I missed out.

DaveSims wrote on Jul 12^th, 2010 at 1:37pm:

Seems a very odd tradition. First I've heard of it. Not sure they do it on this side of the Pond.

Oh, almost forgot. Congratulations old chap.

Thank you all for the congratulations

The first two pictures are of a C152, in which I did about 25 hours before switching to a 172 (I soloed at 12 hours).

The last two are from a different flight in a 172R.

EDIT: My crazy instructor used a box cutter... LOL. and that shirt was bought by me on a trip to Greece 5 or so years ago. lol

Good evening all...

Here in Canada if you are at a bugsmasher field and have just done your solo flight not only do you loose your shirt tail but you also get picked up and turned upside down by your fellow aviators and dunked once in the 45 gallon rain barrel.   

Tradition here.   

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

Well here you are:   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_solo_flight

I am not sure why they say it is an American tradition because it has been going on here since the first flight in this country.

As for the snow thing...

I sure would like to know where they would get the snow here today with a temperature of thirty-six degrees C and a Humidity in the forties....              

Or if you prefer:

If you're unfamiliar with the shirt tail custom, it is thought that it stems from early days in aviation, when pilots wore a scarf with which to clean their goggles. Student pilots, however, were obligated to use their own shirt tails to clean their goggles. When a student became a pilot, the shirt tail was cut and handed to him to symbolize that he, too, was now entitled to wear the scarf of a pilot.

Cheers...Happy Landings...Doug

Flying Trucker wrote on Jul 12^th, 2010 at 7:41pm:


I had always heard the story behind the tradition was that in the old days of open cockpits and no intercoms, the instructor would reach up and grab the student by the back of the shirt to get their attention.  Thus when they soloed, they wouldn't need it anymore.

Well done
As a side line, when I did my solo in gliding, the first thing pressed into my hand was a 2 litre beer pot full to the brim. Once it touched your lip there it had to stay until it was empty. This was done for two reasons. Firstly, it prevented everyone else having to relive your moment in detail or hear it again and again after different people asked you about it. It also prevented the usual, "there I was at 1500 feet with nothing but 55 knots on the clock". The second reason was a little more mercenary......If the pot/glass left your lip before it was emplty, you had to by a round for everyone present..............I bought the round and then bored everyone stupid with "there I was at 1500..........................."

Matt

expat wrote on Jul 13^th, 2010 at 4:25am:

lmfao

ShaneG wrote on Jul 13^th, 2010 at 3:50pm:

he used a box cutter.. lol