Thanks BRL.
Gerhardt
Apologies for my ill-chosen flippant choice of words. It resulted in my post being taken the wrong way. Time to solo and PPL were in my case affected by the fact that I had a fair amount of gliding P1 time which qualified me for an hours reduction and helped reduce my time to solo. To put it in perspective, minimum hours to PPL at the time were 40 or 20 for the holder of a Bronze C. I did it in 32 Hr 40 which is 12 Hr 40 or over minimum or 163%. On todays minimum of 45 Hr that would be equivalent to doing it in over 73 Hr, hardly he-man stuff, and I had one less written exam and one less flying test than is required today.
Tacitus' question is remarkably difficult to answer other than on a superficial level. I think the point all of us have tried to make in our own way is that hours to solo or PPL are not an indicator of whether or not someone is a "good" pilot. How do you define "good" anyway? The nearest I can get is "A good pilot clearly understands the limitations of himself and his aeroplane and does not allow himself to get into a situation which might lead to them being exceeded." This has nothing to do with what machine he flies, what licenses and ratings he holds or how many hours he has amassed.
Mike