First solo - prior warning

[Genghis the Engineer]

I've done several first solos, my first microlight solo, another one a few years later when the money came together again, my first group A solo (belt up BEagle), first flexwing solo, night solo, my first student-crew solo in a fast jet, first invitation to fly a single seater and so on.

With the exception of the FJ which was necessarily timetabled about a fortnight in advance (and neither of us were beginners at that point), each of those was to a large extent unexpected - I knew I was getting there, but each time it ultimately came down to an FI stopping me and saying something like "now go and do it on your own".

I suppose that I've just come from my own experience - which is that you don't build up an anticipation of first solo, it just comes when your instructor feels you are ready.

But, various recent threads have been along the lines of "I'm expecting to do my first solo on date XXXX". Has this become the norm now? Has it become standard to tell a student "if you do well next lesson, I'll send you solo"?

If so, is this a good thing or a bad thing I wonder?

Purely curious?

G

[Halfbaked_Boy]

Hey Genghis,

I don't believe it's the norm now so to speak - it was that case with me, but was perhaps different seeing as I was told by my instructor I could have soloed had I been 6 months older - In which case date 'xxxx' was party day!

But from various people I've spoken to over the past few years they've usually given the reply you mentioned above - i.e. a pleasant surprise/sudden feeling of dread, however you wish to interpret it...

Hope that helps calm any displaced peace of minds :E

Cheers, Jack.

[BEagle]

But have you soloed a SEP Class aircraft yet Ghenghis? :E

I never tell a student when they're going off on their own - the first they know is when I tell Air Traffic.

I've only ever had one student say that he didn't want to go on his own - a strange character he was though.

What do you say to the student? Well, that depends. Some will respond well to a bit of humour e.g. "You've scared me so much that you can darn well go off and scare yourself"; others need a more formal instruction. But the main thing is not to let them have enought time to worry - and there's no way I'd tell anyone that they'll be going solo on a particular trip in advance of the event.

[Whirlybird]

I was told a couple of times during my PPL(A) that I'd probably be going solo soon; in both cases I then started messing up my landings. It was probably nerves; on the other hand, I'd been at it a lot of hours (relatively speaking!), everyone else was asking me if I'd gone solo yet, and I suspect any instructor would have felt I needed some encouragement along those lines. And if the instructor is an FI(R), the students needs to do a check ride with an FI anyway. Yes, the instructor can say: "I'd just like you to fly with the CFI now", but students aren't stupid; they KNOW why!

Now, when it came to my PPL(H), I broke all the unwritten rules! My instructor, who believed in making his students confident (to too great an extent IMHO) told me I'd just done really, really, really well. And I, definitely OVER confident by now, said: "Thanks; when do I get to go solo then?" I think his jaw literally dropped. And the next week, I went flying with the CFI....and messed up my takeoffs and landings. :(

OTOH, if an instructor had just told me to go solo, I might have refused, out of sheer cussedness; I don't like being kept in the dark about my progress, or ordered around. I like being in some sort of control. I wasn't a 17 year old any more. Did they know this, I now wonder.

The point I think I'm making, a bit longwindedly, is that there are different types of instructors, and different types of students, with different personalities and abilities and needs, and why should there be any absolute rules about this?

As I've said before, complicated business, life. :confused:

[PickyPerkins]

The airfield I soloed at had a 36 ft wide, 01-19 runway, and predominantly westerly winds, which meant that the instructors generally waited for a calm evening and maybe soloed more than one person in a session. This resulted in everybody usually being more than ready to solo when the time came.

So nobody knew a date in advance, but everybody knew that a calm evening made it a possibility.

In my case the student before me got off the ground and turned downwind but then overflew the airport and disappeared into the gathering twilight. I can still see the instructor running into the office to shepherd the student back home again by radio. Had a good effect on me, waiting for my turn to solo, thinking, well I can probably do better than that. However, so much time had passed that I only did one circuit and landed with the disc of the sun sitting on the horizon. A great experience, but I was glad that I didn’t have to land looking into the sun.

Cheers, http://pickyperkins.home.infionline.net/pi.gif

[TheKentishFledgling]

Like HBB, I was ready a few months prior to being able to, and so I was hoping that it would be on day X. However, both my instructor, CFI and many flying friends drummed into me that the chances would be that it wouldn't happen.

I think for the younger pilots who are aiming to soloing on their 16th bday, it's becoming more of the norm, but I don't think it should be.

I'm sure we've all had days where our flying isn't as good as other days, and so what happens if you have one of those days on "solo day"? 99% of instructors would simply say no, while a think a few would be pressured into letting you go.

I managed it on my birthday, but that's another story...;)

tKF

[High Wing Drifter]

BEagle,
I've only ever had one student say that he didn't want to go on his own - a strange character he was though.
I refused my first offer. No hair on my palms though ;) I was however a little anxious about only having done a couple of EFATO drills. Looking back I think it was a combination of suprise (I really wasn't expecting it!) and a fundemental lack of confidence. The following weekend remains unforgetable, once I had time to concentrate my thoughts that is :O

[Flik Roll]

All mine were sprung on me!
None of this date stuff :}

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

I was taken completely by surprise. I'd had one lesson with the wonderful 'Mr Aviation' Tom Dugdale from Barton, and an hour or so later we found another aeroplane had come free after a cancelleation, so we went up again (I was at about the 10 hour stage of my training).

After we landed Tom said "I think you're ready. Just drop me off by the Tower". I couldn't believe it as Tom folded his seat belt, slammed the door shut, turned, and strode away from the blattering C150. I remebering lining up and thinking "once I take this thing up, I'll have to get it down again" - and I wasn't that sure I could!

But of course I did - with no problems at all. I didn't come down off the ceiling for weeks!

And a few months later Tom conducted my GFT. After we landed he simply said in his inimatable gentlemanly style "thank's very much. Very nice ride". And walked away.

"But did I pass?" I spluttered. "Oh yes. Of course", said Tom. What a wonderful instructor. Still our club president at his very advanced age now, still our aeros comp judge, but long ceased instucting.

SSD

[Chequeredflag]

I was half anticipating mine, 'cos there had been a couple of hints that I was ready. However, after three weeks of bad weather ruling out my first flight alone, I overheard my instructor quietly asking ATC "if we can book into the circuits, and if all is well, send a student on his first solo". I had a mixed reaction really - he did not know I had overheard, and whilst I was really keen to do it, I guess like many, I had nagging doubts in the back of my mind - "what if I mess it up" etc.

Strangely, once we were in the aircraft I was fine, though I did feel some pressure to prove that I was ready during first three dual right hand circuits (in which I had a PFL on take off at 300', a flapless landing and a three stage of flap landing), and I guess I was a bit tense. Nevertheless, it was going reasonably well, but when he told me to land and taxi back to the school it was still a bit of a shock, 'cos I knew what was coming!!

On alighting he smiled reassuringly and said "Have fun, and don't crash!" I didn't need telling!! Having cleared with 'Ground' to taxi, I had to wait at the holding point for some 12 minutes, whilst three commercial jets came and went, and was then cleared to take off for a LEFT hand circuit, which initially threw me - at EMA we ALWAYS do right hand circuits!! I was then held in orbit at the end on the downwind leg for some 10/12 minutes, again for commercial traffic, before being called in as number 2 to a PA34 on final. All in all, I was away for 35 minutes, and ATC even telephoned the School to tell them I was OK, and being held in orbit!!

Sorry if some of you have read this on another thread, but I still get a buzz out of rewriting it some 3 weeks after the event.

Now, having had the glory of that first solo, the certificate to prove it to the world (well my family anyway), and completing it with the best landing I have ever done, it's all gone to the dogs!!

Weather has prevented me from flying until last Tuesday, when it was too windy to consolidate my solo hours, so I was circuit bashing with the 'Boss', and I was absolute rubbish!! Of four landings, three were crap, and one just about acceptable.....

On top of that, I have just failed my Met exam (first attempt 70%), as a result of completely misreading two simple questions, and making a stupid mistake on another!!

So, perhaps, a blinding and never forgettable first solo has been put totally into perspective by this weeks effort!! I'm evidently not superhuman after all!!

So, I'm back Tuesday for another lesson and to resit the exam - any complacency I had following my solo has completely evaporated!!!

[AerBabe]

No warning whatsoever. Although, when you start doing one circuit after another, each with a different mock emergency, you get suspicious! Genghis - you might want to ask the two Robs about a potential future 'first solo' they have in mind for me too.... :suspect:

[Genghis the Engineer]

They aren't allowed to send you solo in a flexwing, neither of them is a current instructor and that's been mandatory for the last couple of years.

If it's the X'Air or MW6, best of luck - in my opinion you shouldn't have any trouble with either and it'd be quite legal. (Personally I think that the X'Air is much nicer, the MW6T that Rob flies is, like all of the breed, largely lacking in directional stability and not as much fun).

G

[revilo_rehsif]

I had no idea that i was going to fly solo, and looking back on it i would prefer it like that rather than being told in advance, the first thing i knew about was my instructor asking the tower if they would except a first solo as we were taxiing back.

i think if students are not told in advance then in my opinion they will perform better(nerves??) , and it will also be a more memorable event.

[Marian]

I had no advance warning either - we were just taxying back to the clubhouse at the end of a lesson when my instructor casually said "I'll hop out and you can do a circuit on your own". My mind thought "who me? - no, wait! I'm not ready!" but somehow I said "OK then" in a croaky dry mouthed sort of way.

I panicked a bit when my instructor radioed ops to tell them that I was going solo, and one of the girls said "OK, I'll put the fire trucks on standby" - standard procedure as I found out afterwards - but a bit of a confidence shaker at the time!!

It was fan flaming tastic!!! - I think I held my breath all the way round. What a rush!

[Captainkarl]

I had a slot booked for the day on my 16th birthday, with my airlaw and medical under my belt and enough hours plus the words if you were 16 now I could have sent you solo, the was a chance i could solo on my 16th birthday, all I had to do was prove I was ready and competent to my instructor, like sum1 else mentioned about messing up, when he said make this to land, cause I want to get out, I messed up that landing cause of nerves! But after the go around and next approache everything was A-OK and we stopped by the edge of the runway and he got out! I had to wait 4 hours for the wind to die down and change direction, although in the end there was a slight x wind:D

[FlyingForFun]

Sometimes, the instructor doesn't know.

I had one student whose circuits and landings were consistently ok, but not good. We'd completed all the emergencies - the "must do" things before first solo. One of the few things we hadn't done was short-field techniques. We briefed for short-field techniques, and went out to learn them.

First landing, we nominated a point to be the start of our "short" runway, and the student did an absolutely perfect landing - except he landed before the "start" of the runway. Not to worry - let's have another go. Same again. I now had a choice. Other than those aspects which are specific to short-field, everything the student did was up to solo standard. Do I carry on teaching short-field? Or do I turn the flight into a solo checkout? I decided to turn it into a solo checkout - threw in a couple of emergencies, and one or two "normal" landings. Landed, sent him solo, and carried on with short-field landings another day.

FFF
------------

[airborne_artist]

One of my three or four first solos was on RN flying grading at Roborough/Plymouth Intl in a Chipmunk.

If the instructor uttered the vital words "This is where you will aim for if you have an EFATO", then you knew he'd be walking to the tower on his own after the next landing. So I had some advance notice - about 4 minutes ...

[BraceBrace]

To get back to the original question: it depends on the system you're in I guess.

With the new JAR system, we had an "agenda" to follow (FTO), where each flight was described in advance. At the end of the first series, there was a "pre-solo check" with another instructor. If OK, the next day you would go on a flight with your personal instructor, if first couple of circuits were good, a full-stop followed, he would get out and you'd go solo if you felt you were up to it.

So from the first day of training, provided you were up to the "speed" of training and the weather was fine, you'd have an idea of when you would go solo.

[Windy Militant]

Like many others here I had it sprung on me.
As my training was spread over several years due to lack of funds caused by not having a steady job for many years.
I found myself repeating a lot of the syllabus at various times.
I got to a point where going solo was mentioned but then got weathered off for a lengthy period.
When I did manage to get back into things I found that my landings had gone from fairly consistent to completely erratic. However after a couple of sessions the instructor told me to taxi in to the club house. I thought at this point he was going to tell me to take up knitting. But no he sent me off solo.
He said that a student that doesn’t make mistakes can’t demonstrate that they can recover when things go wrong.
My recent hamfisted performance had demonstrated more than enough recoveries to convince him that I’d probably survive and possibly leave the aircraft intact as well!

[BluntM8]

My first solo came as a suprise, but not an unwelcome one. I had known I was almost there for a few weeks but had been struggling to prove I was spot on. Amazingly, it was the desire to go solo which finally taught me attitude flying, which had been my achilies heel until then.

Then, one day it just clicked, and as we rolled, my instructor chopped the throttle and called to stay on. This puzzled me greatly, as did his comment on the way back - "You've done enough shoddy circuits with my callsign. Go and dirty your own."

So I did. Yes, it was exciting, yes, I was nervous, and yes, I did forget to put my landing light on. However, the feeling of lining up and that split second of commitment required in deciding to push the throttle forward was the defining moment of my life.

T

[waldopepper42]

Sounds ike my first solo was cloer to the norm - unexpected.

I been bumbling around the circuit for a while, reasonable landings (I thought) but no prize winners and on one of the later ones I felt the instructors foot on the rudder just to straighten us up a little. A couple later he said "Do you reckon you could manage just one without my help?

"I'll try" said I, a little nonplussed, thinking about the assistance a few landings ago and that he must have been making inputs unnoticed by me on the last landings.

"OK" he said, "drop me off here, see you in the bar"!

I was flabbergasted, but 10 mins later landed with a feeling of elation that just would not go away!

[shortstripper]

Same as many in that they were pretty much all unexpected ... except of course the first single seater, as that is self imposed :}

Funny thing is, in all cases (single seater aside) I didn't feel ready:confused: They all went well, so I guess it shows that our instructors do know more about our abilities than we do ourselves. Hmmm, is that a good thing???

SS

[foxmoth]

I think one posting that might have lead to this thread was the "CaptainKarl" one, looking at his latest I see that he actually went solo on his 16th birthday so I can see in these circumstances him having been told some time ago that if he had been old enough he would have gone solo and then that he would solo on his 16th Birthday - well done CK.:ok: