...and to think all of this used to reside in a little blue book
I still have my original Pub. 45 on the shelf.
Me too. Pub 45 was originally taken from the RAAF syllabus of another era. It was a concise straight forward document unencumbered with fuzzy nonsense mumbo jumbo like Threat and Error Management, NTS 1,2,3 etc. The word was Airmanship and everyone knew what that word meant.
The recommended syllabus of training to first solo covered each sequence and the time needed to cover that sequence from first dual flight to first solo. The first solo was based upon 8 hours of dual instruction.
Met a Metro pilot the other day who learnt to fly with in a well known Victorian Regional flying school, who was given 30 hours of dual before going on first solo.
Newly graduated instructors wanting the hours and the company ripping off the cadets?