Originally Posted by
mad_jock
Nothing thats down on paper but....
What you find is that ppl pilots fall into 3 groups.
1. Good hand eye and solo quite quickly.
2. Methodical and think and can take long periods of repetative work cycles.
3. Can do both.
The 1st group go solo quickly but struggle with the nav.
2nd take a bit longer going solo but have zero issues with NAV
3rd are what the potential commercial pilots should be in.
Actually I would say the group in choice "2" would be best suited for commercial flying. As for the correlation between solo times and time to finish the license, my personal experience flying instructing leads me to believe that there is no correlation except for the exceptional outliers (ie the naturally extremely talented or the truly hopeless). There are too many variables at play with weather, time and aircraft availability/servicability, etc etc which influence the total time required. In any case the only things that matters is the fundamental question. When you are awarded the PPL do you have the judgement, skills, and knowledge to fly safely ?