Originally Posted by
POBJOY
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To be able to take a Cadet from a normal background without any aptitude selection or previous experience and get them off to a BGA A&B certificate standard of 3 solo's in under 1.5 Hrs actual flying says it all.
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I believe all that is flown is circuits, so if the average circuit is 5 minutes, that equates to 18 circuits. At a BGA club using winch launches even the most talented pilot would be struggling to get solo in that number of flights due to the number of winch launch failures which must be flown.
Even though they are young and therefore pick up flying much faster than the average middle-aged person, I would be surprised if most of them reached the Solo Endorsement (seems to have replaced A & B badges) level in that number of flights, or if they do the syllabus is smaller than the BGA one in which case they can't have achieved a standard equivalent to a BGA badge....
Solo Endorsement
The minimum age to qualify for the Solo Badge is 14.
Requirements
Minimum Experience;
a) Completion of the pre-solo elements of the training syllabus
b) One solo circuit in a glider or motor glider in unpowered flight after
the launch, followed by a satisfactory landing; and
c) An appropriate level of knowledge of rules of the air and local airspace restrictions must be demonstrated to the supervising instructor at the time of the first solo flight