I Didn't Go Solo

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Is it usual for the fire engines to be sent out when someone's doing a first solo, or did I get special treatment

[Fantome]

One definition of the well trained safety conscious pilot is one who has -

1. been receptive to instruction

2. understood inherently his limitations

3. accepted without question that there is no substitute for experience

4. as part of his self-education program made the firm resolve to study
closely each and every accident report relevant to his kind of flying
he can get his hands on

5. at least one good book he can come back to regularly to refresh his
knowledge and understanding of all key points. (Alan Bramson's
'Be a Better Pilot' is an excellent primer)

6. if not already a patient considerate type, acquired the strength of
character
to never be rushed
to never be coerced by people or circumstance into undertaking
a flight unless absolutely confident of a happy outcome . ...
as opposed to crashing and burning and dying

[foxmoth]

As an instructor I do not tell people they are going first solo until they are ready - if they are ready you get out, if not you do not know how much more it will take and certainly not if there may be other problems (weather) that may get in the way, I would not say from just this that the instructor is a bad instructor, but hopefully from the reaction he will learn not to preempt things in this way.

[ChickenHouse]

Why do these threads always meander through topics on the roadside?

Back to the topic. First, we have not enough information to really judge what happened the day the poster did not go solo. It would be interesting to have the FI opinion on it. We can speculate on a couple of things, though.

I find it unusual to have a student with an announced go-solo. I would not do that, but it might be part of the game. If there is an overconfident student, you have to ground that brain, so it may be a lesson to cancel go-solo for that pure reason. It may be bad weather, but why was the solo pre-announced? It may be deficits on handling stick&rudder. It may be just a bad day and the lesson to learn was to learn how to mentally cancel a flight? In my surrounding, go-solo is usually a normal pattern exercise lesson at which after at least three patterns FI is confident the student is ready, just leaves the plane to let the student make three pattern solo - no announcement. My personal case was a bit different, though. I had a normal check flight, couple of patterns in quite some bad weather, and after pattern exercise FI told me that he would have let me do solo, if the weather wasn't that bad (OVC006 15kts pure cross). So, he offered me to go solo the next day, which I happily excepted.

No, you are not per se a bad pilot upon canceling your first solo flight. Your instructor was just not feeling right to let you go and my advice is, trust his experience and intuition.

[CISTRS]

First Solo

It's just as hard for the instructor!

[BackPacker]

perhaps you may want to get a bit more proactive upon turning final and get your heels up off the floor and feet fully onto the pedals.

Be careful with this advice. With your feet fully on the pedals you may be hitting the toe brakes inadvertently. Which may cause you to "canvas" the tires (wear them away until you hit canvas) or worse.

Let your instructor show you the correct feet position for that particular type of aircraft. But if it's a conventional PA-28, C172 or similar, the proper position will most likely be with your heels on the floor.

Anyway, back to first solos. As with others, my instructor did not tell me before. We had done a few sorties away from the circuit already, and on this particular sortie we were back in the circuit for some touch and goes. Halfway through the lesson he had me do a full stop landing, hopped out and tell me to do three circuits on my own.

I taxied out, did the runup checks and got a massive mag drop on the left magneto. I tried to clear the engine with some increased power and aggressive leaning but it would not budge. So I taxied back, to a pretty surprised instructor. After he tried to clear the engine, and failed as well, he pointed me to another aircraft for a second try.

By the time I took off in that aircraft I was sufficiently annoyed with the whole thing that I was not even nervous anymore.

[Jan Olieslagers]

I was sufficiently annoyed with the whole thing that I was not even nervous anymore.

That was worth a warm, even abundant laugh of sympathy - cheers!

[hegemon88]

I find it unusual to have a student with an announced go-solo

As unusual as it may be, it has happened to me. I was a nervous student to start with and my instructor told me that, although it isn't normally done, we will plan 1 or 2 possible first solo dates in advance. I even managed to decline the first one that was finally offered and told the perplexed instructor to "stay with ships". Soloed 5 weeks later and what a great day it was!

[m.Berger]

One January day, late in the afternoon and overcast with nil wind, the instructor decided that the conditions were perfect. I am still here to tell the tale. It isn't just you, Mother Nature has the casting vote but when she does it will be worth the wait.
Then it just gets harder; your landings will go to pot for a bit and you will wonder why it is now so difficult. You need to raise your game every flight from there on in but once you have the solo under your belt you will not be able to stop. Good luck.

[alexbrown2005]

Thank you all for your responses! Perhaps it was the weather, because I went solo on the 10th! 0.3 command hours, and I'm waiting for the G20 in Brisbane to pass so I can go up again solo.

Also - I may be nuts for dropping a Law degree, but by the time I hold my CPL + MECIR, I'll also have a Bachelor of Arts to my name.

Sorry I didn't reply sooner - uni exams are upon me.

[9 lives]

Good job Alex, it all comes back around in a nice way. Your flying career will have a mixture of successes, and a few not quite as you planned. Keep the not quite as you planned to a safe minimum, but be patient, and learn from them.

And... appreciate an instructor who holds you to a high standard!

[Jan Olieslagers]

I went solo on the 10th!

Congratulations! Well done!

[bugged on the right]

Congratulations on the solo Alex. Now get back on your law course asap. Aviation has gone from being the best job in the world to being dead mediocre. If you want to fly, a successful lawyer can buy his own aircraft and the best way to fly the big ones is in first class while you guzzle champagne. Sorry, I had a ball but I'm afraid it just isn't fun any more.

[Pace]

have to agree : ) when I locked myself out of my flat and was charged £140 for five minutes work. When I took on a specialist Lawyer consultant for a tricky tax situation at £450 per hour and think what I get paid to fly business jets often with multi hour days I Have to agree.

Stick with Law and fly your own plane

[alexbrown2005]

Haha I did think this over, long and hard, before deciding to drop my Law degree. Keep in mind that I'll still hold *a* Bachelor's, as well as (eventually) my CPL, so if things do go pear-shaped, I can just as easily get a DipEd and teach, if it comes down to that. Surely someone holding a political science degree can teach the social sciences?

The way I see it, I don't want to be 95, on my deathbed and kicking myself because I didn't grasp an opportunity to live my childhood dream and become a pilot.

[mary meagher]

naa, law is boring. If you get to the top of that profession, you get to be a judge and sit in court all day with a black robe and a silly wig, and listen to all kinds of little people who get caught while the big crooks are running the banks! Its a terrible system in England, don't know about Scotland....could France be any better?

The idea of being a teacher could be more rewarding in every way. Learn to fly properly, and become a flying instructor, one to one, and no back chat, very satisfying as the student literally places his life in your hands!

[skyhawk_norway]

I dont know how things are around in the world, but in Norway - the national air sport union recommend first PPL solo after eighteen 75min lessions of dual instruction (22,5hrs).. I think I soloed at 27hrs or something, and I never would have thought of soloing after 13hrs..

But congratulations anyway! :-)

[glum]

My first solo was after 20 hours, and I declined to go the first time I was asked if I felt confident, as I knew I was a little tired from long working hours during the week and simply didn't feel confident that I could handle an emergency that day.

There is no shame in ever saying no to flying.

Killing yourself or others through bravado is however, incredibly shameful.

[EMayhew]

Dont Worry

Pilot training takes every person a different time for each stage. Some people will find the circuit pattern hard and the next will find navigation tricky. Personally i found that radio navigation like tracking VOR's very hard to get my head round. Im sure that soon the day will come and from my view its best not to know when your going solo, when i did mine i wasn't expecting it at all and when we got to the end of my flight , the instructor got out and told me to go again!!! This was the best possible this cause then you are to busy to worry about being alone.

Keep up the good work and i look forward to a Thread saying "Just been solo"

[DaveyC]

Forgive me, but

The second time I went first solo,

I've only just spotted this and feel that I've missed out as I only got one 'First' Solo, same as everyone else.