PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - How many circuits before solo?
View Single Post
Old 27th Aug 2008, 17:40
  #51 (permalink)  
pulse1
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: uk
Posts: 1,778
Received 22 Likes on 11 Posts
This thread motivated me to look at my 40 year old logbook. I originally started my PPL with about 70 hours of gliding and soloed the Tiger Moth after 2 hours 45 minutes of circuits (plus just over an initial hour covering the rest).

I gave up flying completely for 23 years (kids do that to you) with about 100 hrs total power flying.

When I took it up again I had to do the complete syllabus again and, this time, I took 2 hours 40 minutes of circuits in a C152, almost exactly the same as before. This was at a much bigger airport and circuits took somewhat longer so a lot fewer landings. This probably reflects the easier handling of the tricycle C152.

So, I would guess that 30 - 50 landings are a reasonable number to train for solo depending on the type of aircraft and runway. This would assume that basic handling is reasonably competent by then.
pulse1 is offline