I was in the Air Cadets and did a six month course (one day a week) flying motor gliders.

I went solo around the circuit after exactky 9 hours.

A week later after bashing the circuit my instructor let me go solo and leave the circuit to fly around at 3000 ft for a while,
turn of the engine at a visual landmark, glide in to the circuit to do an engine of landing.

All that without doing a single caa exam. The only test we had was multi choice and had about 10 questions.

Cool or what!!!!!!!!

8 hours 40 minutes, PA28-161.

I had also done about 120 take offs and landings (about 20 hours dual and solo) in gliders 10 years ago, so I was comfortable with the "aiming at the ground and missing" bit. :D

SD

Air Law - not a legal requirement before first solo but it does make sense to know your stuff - one less thing to worry about.

Our club has produced a pre-solo test which includes some air law and a few other useful bits - can't see the point of knowing which year the Chicago Convention was or what the Quadrantal rule is?!

Trust your instructor to know when you're ready - air law or not - if you don't - change school!!!!!!!!!!!!

Took me 22 hours in the cct at a busy Class D, so ten hours of that was probably at the hold or orbiting (expensive stuff!!).

Interesting point - some of the best pilots I know took the longest time to go solo - its not a race, I thought we all did this for fun!!!!!!

Good luck - its usually more memorable than loosing you're virginity!!!!!!!

:D

19 Launches in a Sedbergh as a 16 year old av flt a couple of mins with practice cable breaks .

Was seventeeen 10 days later used my birthday money to go solo in a C150 in 3 hrs 55 mins .

Bell 47 just over 10 hours .

Never solo at least not yet but P1 757... well would have to add up my log book ( a little behind ) would take longer than soloing in a 150 to come up with a figure but it would have lots of 000's in it .

Just quickly, I'm about 99'5% that it's a legal requirement that you must pass your Air Law exam before you go solo. The school I learnt at also made us all pass Nav before the solo x-country.

I concur with the 'anti-climax' feelings of the first solo. I think too much gets made of it to be honest. The biggie for me was the cross country-qualifier - proper flying. To take the plane, nav over 150nm and land at 2 airports is far more of an achievement than put putting around the circuit on a leash. Just my opinion :D

[ 10 December 2001: Message edited by: bow5 ]

8.4 hours. Flying out of Meacham Field in Texas...1991..trying to keep out of the way of B52s from Carswell AFB......daunting, but fun...Did first solo flight at Alliance Field (AA Maintenance Base) That was the power side of things. Did My Gliding proficiency at RAF Kenley 615VGS in 1973/4 and went solo in a Kirby Cadet Mk III after 38 launches (Most flights were about 3 minutes long, although I do have a log entry of one lasting 9 minutes!!!!! off a 1000 winch launch. Went back to gliding in about 1989, and did a weeks course atTibbenham Norfolk Gliding Club. Soloed on the Thursday, on aerotow! Now that was fun...Then got into power....now do both whenever I can......Aeroplanes of any description feel kind of empty without the comforting bulk of your instructor!

Tailwinds

[ 14 December 2001: Message edited by: SKYYACHT ]

[ 14 December 2001: Message edited by: SKYYACHT ]

7 hours 20 minutes, on the fourth day of my ATC FS at Southend in 1989. And I'm sure the CFI only sent me up because he was a bit pi$$ed at me...

We were doing circuits, and were on finals when Southend called me up and asked "Stop landing?" meaning, was this particular arrival going to be a full stop. I didn't have a clue what he meant, so asked the CFI, who was sitting next to me. CFI tells me to ask Southend. I reply (wrongly!) "But you're here though, and don't want to sound like a t**t over the air".

CFI goes BOOM, says what if he wasn't there? would I still ask the empty seat or ask the f----- tower? bl00dy hell, first student ever to argue with him in the air, rant rant rant...

Me sinking into seat thinking "I'm canned..."

All the time, ground getting closer, Southend still wondering why we've not answered... CFI presses PTT, tells Southend (gruffly) "Yes. It WILL be a stop landing."

Oh hell, that's me off the course, sent home in disgrace for arguing with the CFI, drummed out of the ATC, no chance of ever joining the mob and becoming a Jag mate... depression was setting in fast...

We landed without a word, taxiied in, and CFI inexplicbly tells me to stop 100 metres short of the club. Oh christ, he's kicking me out here and making me walk the last humiliating 100 metres.

But then he unstraps, starts muttering about how if I'm so bloody smart why don't I sod off on my solo now, because I obviously don't want him on board, mutter, mutter, mutter. Then turns and grins at me, extends a hand, and says; "You're ready. Make it a good one." And I did. If only out of fear. :)

Tell you what though. I've never, ever, argued with a CFI since.

Someone else mentioned X-country - when I finally got round to converting my FS to a PPL, mine was to Oshkosh. Man... what a memory that is. :)

5:55, Ipswich, 1975, Chris Champion was the instructor - Ta mate, it was worth it. 8,200 later it is still fun :D :D

The best I can recall, ~12 hours @ Maitland, NSW in a C152 - was ready from about 9hrs but the weather must have known I really needed more dual time! The 12 hours was acquired via fortnightly or monthly lessons. My clearest memory is how "fast" the C152 climbed with only me in it and how reluctant it seemed to want to come back down, so needless to say it was almost a glide approach. Although the first solo was fun, I found the first area solo was much better - nothing like flyingover the vineyards of the Hunter Valley.

So can anyone beat the 2 hours and 5 minutes duration for a first solo that was described in I learned about flying from that in this month's Pilot...?

[ 17 December 2001: Message edited by: Evo7 ]

A shade under 18 hours. Often dodging Nimrods. One of them in the circuit I can cope with, but two's kind of hard work... As if I wasn't having a hard enough time of it anyway.

What did he mean 'carrier landings'?

EO

13 hours in a C152 at Stuart, Fl
Rnwy 07
N89020

5.25 in Beagle Pup at EGLK, 22 years later 4.30 (for an hours local flying) but cleared up most of the dual bits for regaining PPL in that time. It seems even more fun now! :D :D

[ 17 December 2001: Message edited by: Heading 365 ]

Went solo at about 26 hours. I did my flying only on weekends and some of those were cancelled due to weather. The most memorable part of it for me was when the instructor slammed the door shut after getting out. The door of the 172 slamming shut never sounded so loud and hollow as it did then :)

14.5 TT. First Solo, climbed to 500 AGL turned onto crosswind a pondered the thought of how unnatural it was for me to be in command of an aircraft, followed by a feeling of fear and trepidation, turning onto downwind realizing the job needed to be done and pulled myself together and landed the aircraft without incident. Never looked back and still cannot seem to lose the bug. ;)

Solo time = 7.5 hours over a period of 4 months. Solo time includes 3 hours of instrument flying (as a result of my home airport being too busy to accomodate c152 ciruits, therefore a ferry to smaller, but friendlier airport was required.)

Was a hell of a lot of fun when my touch and go was then turned into a full stop landing and the instructor got out. I'll never forget the feeling of excitement that came over me....in fact...I still get it!

10.8 in a PA38 .. same feeling as the person who posted in the C152 ... instructor weighed 1.5 times what I do, so the climb performance change was HUGE ... trouble was, it also rocked at every little "bump" in the air which freaked me out initially... oh, and the XW picked up to 15kt for my 1st landing!
An unforgettable experience. :eek:

One hour and six minutes to solo on a Cherokee 140.

It may have helped a bit that I was a glider pilot for two year before being old enough to fly powered airplanes.

Basically the instructor just showed me how to manage power and fuel.

i used to run a large car driving school and the hours pupils took before taking their tests varied but generally were around the 20 to 30 hour mark.As drivers we all know the more hours we do the more different situations crop up so i feel an element of discomfort when someone tells me they passed their driving test in only 7 hours.Within the flight training program whilst the low hours acheived to get to solo may boost self esteem are they benificial to the overall qualities of being a good pilot?

Well Chip I don't see what there is to worry about. Someone earlier mentioned that the best pilots he knew were the ones that took longer to solo. But really the first solo is just a short 6-10 minute ride. You're being watched the whole time, and you've got a radio to ask for directions if you happen to experience a brainfreeze or other emergency.

It's quite different from getting your driving license, allowing you to drive wherever you like. To fly beyond the circuit, a little more training is required. Untill then, you're restricted to a little rectangle of well-practiced airspace. Also - here's the pilot bit - you'll find that pilots are far more dedicated and trustworthy individuals than ordinary drivers! :)