While other planes overhead swooped and turned against the blue sky, they gave Kiwi his final instructions. Armbruster told him to take-off, go to at least five hundred feet before he made any turn, fly around until he felt perfectly comfortable, and then to shut off his motor and make his landing; that he ought to make at least five landings before they could pass on him as a finished pilot.
Then Dad said, “And don’t forget, Kiwi—don’t fly away and leave us, for we want you back here.”
“I’m ready to fly now,” replied Kiwi, very excited. “Is it all right, Dad?”
Permission was given, the engine was started, Kiwi’s cushions were patted into place and his belt buckled.
Armbruster called out, cheerily, “Don’t forget my instructions, Kiwi, and you’ll show them.”
As Kiwi taxied off by himself the little group cheered him on. Reaching the middle of the field, he turned into the wind and found a second in which to wave to those who were watching him. Then, without waiting further, he pushed forward the throttle and his first solo flight was on.
Cautiously but perfectly Kiwi took the plane off the ground. He felt a tremendous elation as he found himself alone in the air at last, in full command of a plane. Now no one was helping him. This bird of wood and fabric and metal was his to command.
While Kiwi had been learning to fly he had been watching the birds, which were present in great numbers, do their flying. Particularly he had noticed some large black birds, not unlike crows, wheeling and circling and coming to land amidst the gusty air close to the surface. They always swung around into the wind when landing, and one of them—his mind, no doubt, preoccupied by other matters—had flattened out too high up and came down on his feet with quite a bump, and looked as startled as Kiwi might have looked in a similar circumstance.
The little group on the ground saw Kiwi soar into the air, and each lived again his own first solo. They forgot, for the time being, that no harm could come to him, and hardly a word was spoken as they watched with bated breath while the plane circled and turned as Kiwi tried out his skill. No one in that group could help him now. He was “on his own.”
Then Kiwi decided that the time had come for him to attempt his first landing unaided. He throttled back his motor to make the attempt. Now was the test!