Time to Solo?

[27/09]

Apparently the norm to go solo in South Africa is 28 to29 hours if you can believe the person quoted here Crash pilot 'lacked respect for authority' | Stuff.co.nz (http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4638754/Crash-pilot-lacked-respect-for-authority)

I'm sure aircraft fly the same way in South Africa as to what they do here, my experience is that most pilots solo in about 10 to 15 hours.

Do you think this guy was trying to cover up his inadequacies by saying the average was 28 hours?

At 33 hours I think would think that something was seriously wrong and would be suggesting a change of career, which is what appears to have happened in this case but this chap went off to another country to continue his folly. I wonder what stories he told to explain his past.

What's also hard to believe is that he still intends to carry on.


Just for the record I do not know any of the affected parties, I'm just flabbergasted at whats quoted in this news report.

[baron_beeza]

I'm just flabbergasted at whats quoted in this news report.

I thought it was just me.
Either I am getting smarter, and wiser.. perhaps even grumpier, BUT..

Almost every media release is so inaccurate these days.
Are the media ever to be held accountable or perhaps headlines are just plain more important.

I am having trouble with the solo after 28 hours thingy also.
How long to get a PPL ..... 300Hrs ?
Shirley..

[Van Gough]

Do you think this guy was trying to cover up his inadequacies by saying the average was 28 hours?The time taken to go solo is linked to the students age. An approximation is to get the persons age in years and half it. The answer is approximately how many hours it will take to get them solo (obviously just a ballpark figure - some take significantly longer, others less. Everybody learns at different rates)

Hope this helps. :ok:

[27/09]

An approximation is to get the persons age in years and half it. The answer is approximately how many hours it will take to get them solo

An interesting theory. Not sure I agree, as my experience in instructing hasn't borne this out, I've taught students aged from mid teens to the seventies.

However either way this is irrelevant here, this guy took 33 hours and would be in his early twenties I would guess.

[T28D]

Why does it matter, surely competence is the key not time served.

[27/09]

Why does it matter, surely competence is the key not time served.

I might agree in some circumstances, however the two are interlinked here to some extent. I mean taking 33 hours to achieve that what is normally achieved in much less that half that time, to me that indicates a level of incompetency.

[Ultralights]

I might agree in some circumstances, however the two are interlinked here to some extent. I mean taking 33 hours to achieve that what is normally achieved in much less that half that time, to me that indicates a level of incompetency.
I wouldnt say that, you dont know the students personal factors, how often did the student have lessons? was it one hr a week? one a fortnight? or 3 per day?
was the instructor suited to the student?

33 hrs to solo is not abnormal. i have found the average to be around 20, some have been ready in 10, others have taken up to 60! before you all jump up and say 60! he should be doing something different, it was an older student, only flying about once every 2 to 3 weeks, fulfilling a life long dream, even so, she is now quite the competent pilot.

[27/09]

Guys/Gals

RTF article, he was on a full time course, training to fly as an airline pilot, we're not talking about someone flying for a hobby or someone doing it as a retirement activity.

[Jabawocky]

12 hours ....... and I thought I was retarded....now I fly one :}

[Tiger35]

It took me two years from first flight to first solo.

I was 13 and had to wait until I was 15 to go solo. :ok:

[bentleg]

17 hours at 59 years of age. 59 / 2 = 29.5 :ok:

[ozaggie]

3.4 hrs @ 24 yrs. Still cant believe it but heaps of time on the old mans lap in the Pawnee helped.:O

[Sozjot]

5.9 hours in an asthmatic C150. Did the downwind checks about half a dozen times trying to figure out if I'd forgotten anything! Amazing how time compresses during those moments.

[27/09]

The article quotes the pilot in question as practising compass turns on the day of the accident. I'm not all that bright but I would have thought that doing this solo would have been counterproductive to keeping a good lookout?

I can't see why Compass Turns cannot be done solo in conjunction with a good lookout.

This accident happened in the circuit area, so I would doubt that any sane person would be doing their Compass Turns there, however hearing stories about some foreign pilots anything is possible I guess.

[Deaf]

Long time since solo but what is a Compass Turn, used DG for stuff but not compass?

[PyroTek]

Compass turns are for when the DG fails.
ONUS = Overshoot north, undershoot south, etc.

Pyro:ok:

[Big_saint]

I personally did it in 10 but know of someone who has only just gone solo with high 20's and has been training full time 8-5 5 days a week for 2 years. He's sat over 80 exams to pass the 14 required... international students will never be told that they are inadequate to be pilots as they keep paying the money. Which I think needs to change.

[Mick.B]

Some people are just not meant to be pilots a instructor told me once.

[WOOLLY]

I can't help thinking this guy is going to end up a scape goat for what is a tragic accident.

This is not the first mid air collision and won't be the last, so now must we assume each of these accidents in the past, or in the future, have involved or involve an aircraft piloted by someone who was obviously incompentent, or one who failed an exam or two, or took a while to solo.

God help any pilot from now on that has an accident or incident and has failed an exam in their career.

We all know someone who has struggled with the aviation career path and has taken longer than most, but come out at the other end alright, so to crucify this guy because of perhaps nationality, attitude (we all one or two of these) or the fact he has struggled, is unfair.

Easy to point the finger, but believe it or not, even experienced pilots get it wrong sometimes.

See and be seen!

Just my opinion.:confused:

And yes, I have instructed, and fly in and out of uncontrolled airfields regularly.

.

[27/09]

WOOLLY

I don't disagree with with what you have posted. In fact it has been my experience that those that take a little longer to get there quite often end up as the better pilots as they have to work a bit harder and eventually reach a better standard.

My point was the fact that this pilot was attempting to portray the fact that it was normal to take around 30 hours to go solo. I don't think that anyone on here would accept that amount of time as being the normal for reaching solo standard.

[Big_saint]

Im sure there have been, but what I've seen from a few schools there are some that will be able to get past these processes. Dont ask me how they have they've done it, but they have.

[flyinkiwi]

I don't get what the big deal is with going solo in x hours. It's progressing from your first solo to obtaining your PPL (and beyond) that is more important imo.

[Guru8904]

Some people are just not meant to be pilots a instructor told me once.I totally agree but at the same time there a lots of people just not meant to be instructors.
Not always, but at times, with such instructors, time to solo generally tends to increase. I say this from years of instructional experience.

[PA39]

Its not based on hours but on competency. When your Instructor sits there for lap after lap after lap with absolutely no input (except engine failures etc)....its time. The majority of students are apprehensive to go on their own, so the line up jump out method worked well for me over the years. 8 hrs -30 it doesn't matter. I sent a bloke solo once and the sponge from the aircleaner element or whatever, sucked into the carby!! the student put it back down on the rwy beautifully. When i asked him he how it was, he replied ....just like in practise, no panic, just like in practise.

However i must say that should an instructor determine that the student is just not "cut out for it", he or she should be advised as soon as possible after the determination.

[aileron_69]

One of my instructors at the aeroclub where I did my ppl held the club record for most hours to go solo. Top bloke, in his 60s and just took awhile to pick it up. But he did pick it up, and became an instructor, and to this day remains one of the best instructors I ever had

[training wheels]

One of my instructors at the aeroclub where I did my ppl held the club record for most hours to go solo. Top bloke, in his 60s and just took awhile to pick it up. But he did pick it up, and became an instructor, and to this day remains one of the best instructors I ever had

I'm not surprised ... he's probably seen many different ways to land himself and knows now, which is the correct attitude and technique to use, upon which, he can now impart on to his students.