Ando, that's what happens when you keep tugging on it!

My post had nothing to do with that. A simple statement of fact!

I just happened to have my log book sitting on the desk beside my computer and thought it worth countering some of the misconceptions that are becoming GA dogma.

• It will take you at least 20 hrs to go solo
• You will need 500 hrs in command before stepping up to a C210
• Your first high performance single endorsement will require 10 dual and 20 hrs ICUS
• etc etc etc

Dr :8

Oh FTDK.....you're a bloody crack up mate. That was soooo good a reply!

Tis, as far as I know!

Nov 26 Operation of Controls - 35 min
Nov 26 S&L, Climb, Descent, Turning - 1 hr 55 min
Nov 27 Stalling - 45 min
Nov 27 Circuits and Landings - 1 hr
Nov 27 Circuits and Landings - 1 hr 30 min
Nov 28 Circuits and Landings - 45 min
Nov 28 Circuits and Landings - 1 hr
Nov 28 First Solo - 10 min ..........

.......... Dec 12 Restricted PPL test with one John Bally (ex Luftwaffe)

Dr :8

PS: If you want to get your GFPT in minimum time and cost, save up your $$ then find an instructor who will fly with you a couple of times a day!

Nice one Dr, I'll pay that. Wasn't rubbishing you though - comments were purely tounge in cheek.

Why does it take around double the time to go solo these days compared to 20-30 years ago? Perhaps the fear of litigation/coroner's inquests/CASA/TEM and not ticking all of the boxes puts the fear of god into instructor's and their CFI's heads. Add the requirements of airlines/universities etc supplying the students and the requirement to turn a profit, we seem to lose the plot sometimes.

The physical flying of aeroplanes hasn't changed. We're still flying around the same Cessnas in a lot of cases our fellow pilots 20-30 years ago went solo in, albeit a new paint scheme. In fact, one could argue going solo in a DH82 60+ years ago is far more challenging than a 172.

I've instructed at both the smaller schools and the larger 'airline' training organisations and the time to go solo was very similiar. The mindset amonst instructors these days is not to send the student up while there's the possibility they're 'under done'.

Have to agree with you Doc, pulled out the old logbook and found that my first solo was 7.7 Hrs despite my earlier memory of 10Hrs min.

Nice one Sir...:D

Went solo in 1987 after 6.8 hours. RPPL at 30 hours.

I remember studying the BAK and PPL books for about a week before my first flight and spent time at the aero club with the instructors where a lot of techniques were learnt that were not in the books.

Mind you it did take my 21 years more to finally pass my PPL.

I suggest the answer is in an amalgam of the posts so far.

(a) do the theory bits before you get into the aeroplane so that the exams don't hold you up during the flying bits and you have a reasonable understanding of what it is you are trying to achieve in the aeroplane.

(b) learn the aeroplane drills off parrot fashion while sitting in the seat .. before your first flight .. ie be able to cardboard bomber your way around a circuit before you start. That way you know what it is that you are trying to get on top of ... and you don't waste time read and do from a cheat sheet for a simple aircraft ... I can still parrot off my Victa checklists 45 years or so later on down the track .. just cannot rub then out of the memory

If the school rabbits on about "that's not the way the airlines do it so we do it like the airlines" .. find another school.

(c) know the radio and airport procedures etc before your first flight if you are going to learn at a controlled aerodrome

(d) have a very experienced and competent instructor as your teacher and stick with the same one ! Both points, in my view, are sacrosanct for ab initio training. If you can, train at a school with instructors and systems which are a bit more flexible than those which adhere rigidly to the pre-ordained syllabus dogma.

(e) pick a reasonably non-busy airport or fly mid week and avoid the weekend frantics.

(f) have the resources to fly at least 5 days a week, and 1-1.5 hours morning and afternoon .. trust me, that will get you more than sweaty enough and knackered by the end of each day. In the real world, this means saving up in the bank account until you have enough and a bit left over for the initial target goal. It follows that you would prefer to learn during the better weather months so that you lose the absolute minimum time from your program due weather.

I was very fortunate to learn on an RAAF ATC flying scholarship. My particular course (RNSWAC at Bankstown in the mid-60s) of around 8-10 guys (as I recall) all (with the exception of one slow learner) went solo in 4-5 up to something well under 10 hours .... and the above bullet points all applied.

We also had a very politically incorrect instructor who took no nonsense from any of us and applied a rolled up newspaper not so gently to the back of the student's head when such was deemed useful to motivate student application. Be assured that there was a definite work ethic amongst the group or woebetide the miscreant who slackened off. All seemed to work just fine .. several ended up in airlines, a couple in the military, one (who happened to be a schoolmate of mine) became a sky pilot (not too sure how that came about but he did go to the top of the military side in that field as a Principal Air Chaplain).


On the other hand, if circumstances dictate that you have to spread your flying out over 6 months or more .. then expect a considerably longer time due, in the main, to having the need to relearn a lot of what you have forgotten over the past few weeks since your last flight .. just a fact of life and the learning process.

Short story from ten years or more ago. Nauruan family on Nauru asked me to evaluate their 20 year old son for possible scholarship to CPL and eventually Air Nauru. Big tall young bloke with quiet personality and very well mannered.
He was very slow to complete basic exams. I got the impression he wasn't that interested. Started his ab-initio training at Wings Flying School at Essendon in a Warrior operating to Point Cook. I picked early morning (0700) when it was usually calm and no traffic.

To my utter surprise he was a brilliant natural pilot and even allowing for travel time Essendon to Point Cook and return, he went solo in just over four hours. He was faultless. Show him something once and he could replicate it perfectly. That included the first landing.

Yet there was a quiet boredom to his attitude and I got the impression he would rather be back on his island of Nauru fishing off the reef at Anabare Bay.

So over coffee at Essendon terminal the day of his solo, I asked him did he want to be a pilot? "Not really" he said. "Mum and dad wanted me to have a go and follow my brother who is an airline pilot - but I like fishing better". He never flew again.

I called him the Ace of Anabare Bay. And he certainly was. Good on you Robbie E.

Nice one Doc..!

I must have been training the junior instructor....having him practice his new skills..

Did the TIF and first 8 short flights in a month with the more senior locally based one, the last was one hour Stalling finishing at the 5 hours mark - then put with a junior instructor while the first one was away, who did the Stalling for an hour again, and Compass Errors as well as the C&L sessions for another 5 hours of his 6 hours, in the second month.
A check with the original senior one again, and sent solo......

Didn't have any other choice of schools or instructors, and what did I know at that stage anyway....:O

Didn't realise it was a race..:yuk:

I was slack with the medical which prevented me going solo in 3 hours :}