Originally Posted by
Mach E Avelli
And if the instructor even vaguely thinks it will be necessary then the student is not ready for solo, so that calls into question the instructor’s judgment.
Although in the video above it seems that the student had a panic attack. It would be interesting to know what someone in that situation would do if there was no radio contact available. Would survival instinct eventually prevail?
No radio contact at all is one thing, but when you're able to contact tower (as was the case in this topic), that's something entirely different. Camden is essentially a training airport, and I have no doubt if there was anything even remotely amiss on a first solo, the student pilot would have no qualms in contacting tower for advice. The pilot in this case didn't do that, and all communications with tower were normal, so I think it's safe to assume that had the instructor been in radio contact with the pilot (or watching events unfold from the tarmac with a set of binoculars), it would have made absolutely no difference whatsoever. Whatever went wrong, did so quickly.