I received a professional ab initio training starting in 1972. First trainer was an (aerobatic) Saab Safir 91D, manually operated gear, constant speed prop, cowl flaps and full IFR. We were (selected) young chaps, aged btn 18 and 20, and everyone soloed btn 10 and 15 hours.
After PPL and CPL and IF rating (AND lots of acro in between for those who loved it) we progressed to a twin French 4-seat jet, which we "soloed" but as the plane was not certified for single pilot, the instructor's seat was occupied by one of the classmates. We had guys who got this type rating before they had a driver's license!
Final ATPL check on a 9 seat German bizz jet.
In all 250 hours. It was the good times, all paid by the government...... Nowadays getting the same training would be prohibitive in cost, unless Yr father would be a millionaire...
During the 2,5 Yr course I had myself checked out privately at another flight school in order to do some family flying. The first T/O in the C172 the whole climbout scared the living daylights out of me, constantly wondering what I had forgotten to do besides raising the flaps....