By: Reagan Anderson
This series is a brand new one for the Paupack Press and it will be covering WASA (Wallenpaupack Aeronautical Science and Aviation) students’ first solo flights! A first solo flight is when a student pilot flies without their instructor for the first time. This is a huge milestone for all student pilots, and we would like to document that experience from our very own students.
The first WASA student we will be covering is, me, Reagan Anderson, and I went for my first solo flight on August 29th, 2026. I first started her flight training on November 29th, 2025, and continued through the tough winter where snowstorms caused many cancellations. All of these cancellations led to a 6-week delay in all my training. Moving towards the spring, I continued to fly once a week where I made progress. Summer turned out to be the turning point in my training where I was able to train two to three times a week and made immense amounts of progress and eventually became ready for my first solo.
The wind and weather had other plans for the day I was set to solo. At the airport, there was over an 8-knot crosswind that took soloing out of the question. The wind also canceled the second planned date for the solo. On the third set date, I went up with my instructor, brushed up on my takeoffs and landings, and then went up by myself. “It was so amazing I literally cannot believe that I have the opportunity to do that. I can’t wait to keep going that was so amazing,” I said after the flight. After landing the plane I felt this admiration and extreme gratification towards everyone that supported me through my journey so far. I am excited to continue my aviation journey and see where it takes me!
