As an instructor i firmly believe that the current sylabus, which is virtualy a direct copy from the military sylabus, is not suited to the civil PPL market. My own opinion, and those of the other instructors in this school, believe that you should have completed a good chunk of the course - 25+ hours - before going solo. The reason, you have a better chance of coping with things if they go wrong.
How many pilots who went solo in a short time can put there hands on there heart and say categoricaly that they could have dealt competently with an emergency, not many i would imagine. Don't forget this is supposed to be fun, there is no point taking chances if you don't have to, if your doing it for a living you need to get home at the end of the day to enjoy your ill gotten gains.
