First solo - prior warning
I've done several first solos, my first microlight solo, another one a few years later when the money came together again, my first group A solo (belt up BEagle), first flexwing solo, night solo, my first student-crew solo in a fast jet, first invitation to fly a single seater and so on.
With the exception of the FJ which was necessarily timetabled about a fortnight in advance (and neither of us were beginners at that point), each of those was to a large extent unexpected - I knew I was getting there, but each time it ultimately came down to an FI stopping me and saying something like "now go and do it on your own".
I suppose that I've just come from my own experience - which is that you don't build up an anticipation of first solo, it just comes when your instructor feels you are ready.
But, various recent threads have been along the lines of "I'm expecting to do my first solo on date XXXX". Has this become the norm now? Has it become standard to tell a student "if you do well next lesson, I'll send you solo"?
If so, is this a good thing or a bad thing I wonder?
Purely curious?
G