First Solo?????????
 

Hello folks.......
I just want to know about all your first circuit solo.........
I mean in which hour you went for your first solo.......
I'm lagging behind thats why......:ok:
Thanks.....

what do you mean by "lagging behind" - please explain.

7:30

7th September 1975

However, remember that going solo is dependant on lots of things outside of your control. You need a nice gentle day with little or no cross wind to send a student solo. Various administrative ticks need to be made by the right people, who may or may not be around when you are "ready".

Your ability as a pilot is not dependant on when you went solo.

Have a look at this thread that is running elsewhere on PPRuNe.

SOLO

First Solo
 

Hello buddy!
Dont panic about how long it takes you to go solo. Everyone is different and everyong goes at their own time. If you are only flying once every week or so it becomes difficult to remember all the finer points in getting round the circuit and landing safely.
I did a about 20 hours before attending oxford, and I was only flying once every two weeks, great for learning the material and passing the exams but not so great when you get back into the aircraft as much of the feel and confidence has gone.
When I went to america I was flying everyday just about and so soon went solo within the recomended 12 hours.
My best advice would be to try and get a couple of lessons a week in for the repitition, if possible, then it will soon start clicking. If payment is a problem, ask to backseat a few trial flights or lessons, thats always a big help too.
Good Luck!
:ok:

4.8 hours...... but dont pit yourself against other peoples times, everyone is different. So chin up and good luck when that first solo ride comes along.... It is the best feeling in the world. :ok:

How can you complete up to Exercise 13 in the space of 4.8 hours? Or did you have previous flight experience?

Providing weather has been perfect and you fly often (i.e you don't need a flight to get you back into flying due to a large lay-off due to weather) then the norm of around 15 hours seems to be correct.

I always raise an eyebrow when people say they have been solo circa 10 hours.

I was just about to say the same thing? As sky says there are 13 exercises, where some comprise of 2 to 3 parts. The way the syllabus is written, it would not be possible to teach those exercises properly.

When I was teaching I saw people solo from the 12 hour mark to the 30 hour mark, everyone is different with strengths and weaknesses in different areas.

The 13 exercises doesnt necessarily mean 13 hours of flying though. My first entry in my logbook says: P/UT 1.2 Ex.1-6

The second entry covering the next few after that so it really depends on the person the club and mainly the weather/timescale.

Looking back in my log book, from when i first tried for my PPL it was 18 Hours for me

And of course, this 13 exercise-thing isn't really applicable everywhere in the world. Learn to fly in the US under part 61 and it's really up to the instructor.

Solo hrs
 

from memory around 19 hrs,but it doesn't matter at all.
The pilot you end up being is not at all dependent on hrs to solo.
Good luck.
Lister:)

23 hrs for me. Everyone's circumstances differ :ok:

From an instructor's perspective
 

Hakeem

Hours at first solo is not in any way a good indicator of a pilots ability, basically because there are far too many other factors involved.

Just to give you a few thoughts from an instructor's perspective.

Ability of course is one factor, but really quite a minor one when compared to all the others combined.

Factors such as currency (probably the single biggest benefit to any student pilot) have been mentioned already

Weather on the day - you're unlikely to be sent solo on a day with strong crosswinds, or even a gusty headwind, therefore may end up doing more dual circuits on these days to maintain currency. In the UK climate at certain times of the year, I have seen this add up to 5 hours for an otherwise 'ready' student

Airport environment - Most of my instructing was at a busy commercial airport, with students averaging maybe 4 landings per hour in the circuit, due to a wide circuit pattern and frequent holding as commercial traffic took priority. I know that at some small airfields (due to tighter circuit pattern, lack of commercial traffic and sometimes a lower circuit height), it's normal to do 10 or even more landings in an hour. In this sense 'Number of landings to first solo' would maybe be a better comparison than 'hours', but even then there are still too many other factors!

ATC Vs A/G Radio - On a similar theme to above, getting comfortable with full ATC at a commercial airport, ie switching betwen ATIS, Ground and Tower frequencies, and being safe to understand and comply with a large number of potential ATC instructions, will generally add a considerable workload compared with A/G Radio at a small airfield, therefore students will generally take longer to go solo. I remember a number of students who's actual flying ability was easily good enough, but who's first solos were delayed because their RT wasn't good enough to be 'let loose' at an international airport.

Previous passenger experience - While a student won't have logged any actual flight time from this, any experience of being in a light a/c, watching someone else fly (and quite often having had a go at the controls), being in the environment, listening to RT etc, is a huge head start when it comes to learning yourself, and therefore will get to solo stage much quicker than otherwise.

Simulator experience - There's a great debate about whether having used a PC flight sim before embarking on a PPL is a good or bad thing (it's generally accepted to be a bit of both - students pick up the basics of general handling quicker, but struggle to stop looking at the instruments and often forget that the a/c has rudders!). On the topic of first solo though, I've found that students with lots of PC Sim 'hours' will generally get to first solo quite a bit quicker, although for the remainder of the PPL course there seems to be little difference

Instuctor factors - numbers / confidence / experience / style - This is one that people might not think of so quickly, but again throws several more factors into the mix. Flying with too many different instructors will increase the time to learn, while sticking with the same one, two or maybe three is probably ideal but not always an option for students. A more experienced instructor will often send a student solo an hour or two earlier than a newly qualified FI, who (quite rightly) is likely to be more cautious, and some instructors by nature will tend towards the side of caution than others.

I'm glad the issue of 'whether 13 lessons can be covered properly in 4.5 hours' has been mentioned. For the JAA syllabus at a school where the lessons are taught in a proper structured manner, it seems almost impossible. I would hazard a guess though that acepilotmurdock or anyone else who went solo in a similar time, most likely had considerable passenger experience or at least sim experience before starting with the same 'zero hours' on paper as others with no experience whatsoever. I would also guess that the 4.5 hours were done very close together at a small airfield, with good weather and with no more than 2 different instructors?? Would be interesting to know!!

And I'm sure there are several more factors that I haven't covered!!

Hakeem, as long as you are enjoying your training and are learning something new every lesson then there is nothing to worry about :ok:

SB

17hrs for me thought it was less

Close to 9hrs, had glider experience tho.

I'm at around 13 hours and my instructor is badgering me to get my air law done as he thinks I'm going to be fine to solo in another couple of hours. Although knowing the UK weather it'll end up being more than that! I wouldn't have felt at all comfortable soloing before this point, and I'm baffled as to how anyone with no prior flying experience would be able to solo at less than five hours.

Also, don't worry about perceived "lagging behind" - it's not a competition, and as someone else says, as long as you're enjoying the flying, then get there when you're ready to get there and no earlier.

Roughly 20 hrs for me. But I stopped flying for 6 months inbetween...

As with procreation, there are no prizes for being first :ok:

Don't worry. I made mistake of going to Florida for 20 hours of appalling training. Walked away, came back here, (U.K.) did another 15 hours before going solo. Yes 35 hours!!! Then 1st time pass on MEP, CPL, and Multi IR in Bournemouth with Exam 001. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT IT! (Within reason.) It's not a race.
Also, weather and continuity are a huge factor.