Help! Today i solo'd with 43hrs!! Am i a bad pilot ?

[sternone]

Hi folks, today i solo'd with 43hrs instruction under my belt, not really like alot of folks who are proud to solo on their 8th hour instruction etc.. but who cares.

I changed flying school due to the posts on Pprune and haven't regretted a bit, i was fully confident during my solo and landed great, i had no moment of stress i felt i was prepared on just everything.

This summer i almost never trained below 10knots crosswind, and today was only 6kts so no issue's for me there!!

I'm very happy i finally solo'd but i knew that one of these days was the day!! Good old cessna 152!! i really feel different, almost like a real pilot haha!!!

For me i almost can't believe that some people solo at their 8th hour!! how can they be prepared on what can happen up there ??

[PompeyPaul]

Jupilers & Duvels all round!

one more of us, one less of them

[Utrinque Apparatus]

Well done - the hours only count after you get your licence anyway ? :E

the only person you are competing with is yourself and as you say, I believe you will be a better pilot for the thorough preparation so far. Enjoy your flying though, and beware of those who make it some kind of testosterone challenge.

[IO540]

There is a formula for the # of hours to go solo. I can't remember it but it's something like half your age.

:)

Going solo is meaningless anyway. It's just used as some kind of a milestone in the current PPL training regime.

[Final 3 Greens]

sternone

Are you a bad pilot? No, your instructor would not have let you go solo.

Do you learn as fast as some others? No.

Does it matter? No

Well done mate :ok:

PS: Once you have soloed, you are a pilot - you just do not yet have your licence.

[shortstripper]

You've solo'd so you are equal to someone soloing at 8 hours! You're no poorer a pilot, just equal :D I solo'd at less than 8, but I was a lot younger, and did go on to have a "bad patch" of landings where I had to eat humble pie and ask an instructor to come and help. Don't get hung up on hours, it's the quality that counts!

SS

[HAL-26]

Brilliant, well done. Enjoy that celebratory beer! :)

Getting to solo is not a race.

What you do from now on, will decide whether you are a good pilot or a bad pilot.

I think, because you care about it, you'll be a good one!

And remember. However tough it has been. You got to fly solo. Today you can look at everyone else and say - YES - I'M A PILOT !!!! :ok:

[Whirlybird]

Well, it took me 48 hours to first solo, and 90 to get my PPL(A)...but then I got a PPL(H) and CPL(H) and FI rating and I earn my living (sort of) as an instructor, so I guess I can't be all that terrible a pilot.......just broke. :(

[Piltdown Man]

Well done! Don't count the hours because it is not a race. Just value the enjoyment. Happy landings! Mine's a pint!

Cheers,

PM

[Mad Girl]

Don't worry about the hours to solo.....

I did mine at 21 1/2hrs, but have since been held up with not liking navigation - I don't like not knowing where I am every second... So I've done far more hours doing NAV, than I did learning to land, and still haven't done a solo land away yet... But it's coming, slowly but surely!!!! :O

Everyone is different - that's what is so nice about people - everyone is an individual, so don't sweat it.... You'll find your own pace...just enjoy it!

[dublinpilot]

Well done! Congrats on the first solo ;) It gets easier from here ;)

Don't worry about the hours. I was one of those people who went solo very quickly, and I was very proud of the achievement. But the more experienced I get, and the more flying I do, the more I realise that that had more to do with my instructor and the weather, than it had to do with my own abilities.

Had I had a different instructor (like two I've come across since getting my PPL), I might have given up training without ever going solo. So to more I think about it, the less the hours actually say about me.

Enjoy your achievement, and rest easy that it gets easier (and more satisfying) from here on ;)

dp

[tangovictor]

congrats, I can remember my first solo, it wasn't such a big deal as i expected, the climb rate had to be watched with less weight
the first solo, nav ex, that's what I recall as a great achievment,

[nanocas]

Congratulations Sternone!!!! I know that at our school there is no such thing as "baptising" by throwing a bucket of water on you or anything..(or anything else for that matter..) so I will make sure that when I see you at the school I will find one of those small plastic cups from the water fountain!!:}

Well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am really happy for you! Like everyone said already, the number of hours to solo is no measure of how good a pilot anyone is!! For the record, I solo'ed at like 33 hours:p

We should celebrate! I had my first NAV solo today!!! have been enjoying every bitof the training on our old C152 like you!!

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!:D

[Whirlybird]

I forgot to say....

CONGRATULATIONS :D:D:D:D:D

[Awesome_Welles]

Think about is this way. Your instructor doesn't think you're a bad student pilot, s/he thinks you're a safe student pilot, or you wouldn't have gone solo!

I wouldn't worry about the hours, be happy that you've flown an aircraft all by yourself! That's quite an achievement, something which the vast majority of people (with the exception of this website ;)) will never do.

Nicely done! :)

[batninth]

sternone,

Well done for staying the course & getting there - I'm at ~30 hours and still waiting for the weather to be good enough to solo.

Enjoy it - I'm told it gets much easier now, especially if you have all those hours of circuits under your belt already!

batninth

[sternone]

Thanks for all these kinds words!!

indeed i have done:

in circuit training: 134 landings
in total: 150 landings

It was about time i went solo haha

[Kolibear]

Congratulations Sternone,

By going solo, you have achieved something that very few other people have done.

Your first solo flight outside the circuit will be just as momentous.

K

[bunnywabbit]

Went solo in about 8.5 hrs at the age of about 18 not a problem!
AS for navigation my instructor said I could not find my arse in the bath!!! Which was true I could not find my way out of zone or back and if it was not for the south coast I would have been buggered. This did put a few hours in the logbook to complete the PPL but everyone is different.
Congratulations and stick with it!
Would get up now and crack open a beer with you but I cant find the kitchen let alone the fridge!!!

[EvilKitty]

bunnywabbit said:
Would get up now and crack open a beer with you but I cant find the kitchen let alone the fridge!!!Should we send out the follow-me car? :}

sternone:
Congrats on going solo! Don't worry about the hours - remember we all have different strengths and weaknesses (personally I've only ever done one good landing and that was first solo). And remember, if anyone asks you are a pilot!

[Radar]

sternone,

Congrats on joining the Winged Fraternity. I wouldn't give the hours another thought, given the nature of the circuit at EBAW, I think I'd be taking my time. :ok::ok:

[josher]

congratulations - forget about the hours. I soloed in '98 after about 43 hrs. I knew it was longer than most but I had to look it up. For the last three years I've been flying a tiger moth which is widely perceived to be a bit macho and difficult - not so much! So who knows where you'll end up. ENJOY IT!

[Lukesdad]

Congrats from me as well.

Now I can tell you the answer to the question:

'If you enter a room with fifty people in it, how do you know which one is the pilot?'








Answer:

You won't need to, sooner or later he'll tell you!

[Viola]

It took me hours and hours to go solo.

All sorts of things can affect you - my instructor said I was ready to go solo but that I wouldn't go!! He said I was OK to go solo the next lesson, but I got myself in such a nervous state I didn't do a decent landing. It was SIX WEEKS before the weather was good enough for him to send me solo.

All sorts of things can affect you - age, the weather, regularity of lessons, circuit pattern, approach, touch and go/backtrack, grass/tarmac, length of runway, changing instructors, nerves (see above:{).

Once I'd gone solo I finished the rest of the course very quickly and found I had a knack for navigation. We're all good at different things.

Congratulations - you've done it now, start to enjoy yourself now:).

[scooter boy]

Excellent news Sternone!

Bad news is from now on you still have to pay the instructor even if he ain't in the aircraft with you!;)

Happy landings,

SB

[EvilKitty]

scooter boy said:
Bad news is from now on you still have to pay the instructor even if he ain't in the aircraft with you!;)

I never did understand that. how can my instructor be instructing me if:

I'm out of the zone, possibly some distance away if on a solo nav ex;and/or
they are in another aircraft with another student; and/or
they are not at the school to debrief me when I get back?:hmm: