First flight is “by yourself.” A woman would say that. LOL
It is a thrill. We called it “solo.” My first flight in an F-84F was solo and my instructor took off as my wingman. All flights were solo, they never built a two seater.
A long time ago, I have to add. LOL
I had to read that “by yourself” sentence before it finally dawned on me that there are no two-seater F-35s. Duh.
Maybe she was just simplifying “solo” for the journalist writing the article. I suppose you could argue “solo” implies you’ve been in two-seater training.
F84-F — wow! That’s going way back. The first swept-wing version of the F84. If you can call that “swept.” Did you have the nose- or wing root-inlet?