First solo: what if things go wrong...?

[knobbygb]

I see the point Mr Wolfie makes - and certainly agree that a low hours solo isn't right for everybody, probably not even the majority.

As someone who went solo after seven hours I would argue that it doesn't necessary take 10 hours to get used to primary and secondary effects of controls before circuits can begin.

Looking back at my log book, it goes roughly like this:

hours lesson

1.0 ... Familiarisation, taxiing, primary and further effects
- ... 1hr walk-round brief
1.2 ... Straight+level,climbing,decending,turning
- ... 1hr circuit brief
1.0 ... Circuits, go arounds
1.0 ... Slow flight and stalling, ATC - talking to local MATZ
0.8 ... Circuits, flapless approach, EFATO
0.7 ... Circuits, EFATO, glide appreach
- ... 1hr PFL brief
1.1 ... PFL's with and without power, real PFL onto home airfield
0.8 ... Circuits, poor weather circuits, EFATO
0.2 ... First solo

Now I know thats not an exhaustive list, perhaps double the time would have prepared me even better, but I do think I'd covered most of the major things that could go wrong on the first solo.

Don't forget also to take into account that at a small airfield, it is quite possible to do eight or 10 circuits per hour, and with no holding and a practice area really close by, this can nearly double the actual amount of 'learning' packed into those first hours.

My instructor did say afterwards that I was a 'natural', but I prefer to think that the real trick was doing LOADS of preparation for each lesson and spending time afterwards 'replaying' in my head what happened and where I could have improved. On the odd occasion I've been in a rush or turned up late for a lesson I have learnt a lot less than when I was fully prepared.

Yes, there's a certain risk involved in an early solo, but remember, I jump in my car and drive 110 miles round trip to the airfield - which is more dangerous? I'm sure no experienced instructor would send someone solo (and risk their license and livelyhood) just to score points in an 'early solo' sweep.

Although I wasn't particularly aiming to solo early, on the whole, I'm glad I did it how I did. It was a huge confidence builder for very little cost in terms of risk.