SP aviation school goes viral with students' reaction to their first solo flight The first solo flight is an unforgettable milestone in the life of any pilot. It is the first time that the student takes off and lands alone, with the sky in front of them and the certainty that they are prepared to take control of the aircraft. An aviation school in Itápolis, which also has a unit in Jundiaí, in the interior of São Paulo, decided to record these moments and publish the videos on social media. ? Join the g1 Bauru and Marília channel on WhatsApp The videos showing the students' reactions the moment they take off and land alone for the first time have gone viral and have already accumulated almost 10 million views. READ ALSO: Brazilian woman fulfills her professional dream of flying a plane in the United Arab Emirates: 'I want to be a commander' Brazilian woman fulfills her dream of flying the largest passenger aircraft in the world: 'Unique experience' One of the students who appears in the images is Adhemar Sierpinski Júnior. He is 38 years old, lives in the capital of São Paulo and went to Itápolis in search of a dream he had cultivated since childhood. "The feeling was one of complete accomplishment and profound freedom, as if it were a real bird flying. Seeing the instructor's chair empty, the feeling is of a great weight being lifted from your shoulders and of a mission accomplished," Adhemar told g1. Preparation requires months of in-person theoretical study, passing the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) test and hours of practical training with an instructor, including dozens of landings before reaching the big moment. Adhemar Sierpinski performed the first solo flight in Itápolis (SP) Reproduction/EJ Civil Aviation School What is the first solo flight? The first solo flight is the moment in which the student takes off and lands without the presence of the instructor for the first time, as the sole occupant of the aircraft. According to Leonardo Andrade, coordinator of the school, it usually happens around the 15th hour of the private pilot course flight. "Although this first flight normally only consists of a takeoff followed by a landing, it represents one of the most important milestones in a pilot's training," explains Leonardo. The decision to release the student to fly alone is not made subjectively. Aviation school in the interior of SP goes viral when recording students' first solo flight Reproduction/EJ Civil Aviation School According to the coordinator, performance is recorded for each flight with standardized criteria that evaluate altitude, heading, speed, coordination and other parameters. Before the first solo flight, the student already needs to demonstrate that they are capable of taking off, landing and performing all maneuvers without any intervention from the instructor. For instructor Rafael Peixoto Pontes Martins, the moment also has a special weight for those following the flight from outside the aircraft. "It gives you butterflies in your stomach, but at the same time, it gives you enormous pride. We remember all the mistakes, successes and his evolution until he reached that moment", he says. After the first solo flight, the tradition continues on the ground. Students are "baptized" by instructors with a bucket of water, in a symbolic ritual that marks their achievement and entry into a new stage of training as pilots. See the photo below. Aviation school in the interior of SP goes viral after recording students' first solo flight Reproduction/EJ Civil Aviation School The success of the videos surprised the school. Leonardo believes that the repercussion breaks the bubble of the aviation universe, because it awakens a feeling of identification with stories of overcoming. "People put themselves in the shoes of the students because they see in this moment the realization of a dream. Even though the vast majority of those watching do not have the goal of becoming a pilot, the identification is not in the profession itself, but in the feeling of achieving something for which they fought for a long time", concludes the coordinator. Instructors monitor students' development until their first solo flight Reproduction/EJ Civil Aviation School