Well done Oliver!!!

I remember the feeling well (and the stress levels!) Amazing achievement to solo on both types in one day!!!

MADY

Young solo.
 

Many congratulations to young Oliver and his instructor Ray for a fine achievement ... and welcome to the wonderful world of rotary. Dennis K.

It's a small world........
 

Ginetta News - GINETTA JUNIOR DRIVER TAKES TO THE SKIES IN HIS FIRST SOLO FLIGHT

It's a small world - found this whilst wasting time in KLM's AMS lounge - taken from website of one-time employer.............

Fly 7,

Many Congrats to your Son, Brilliant :D

Dave

Thanks for the kind comments, which he's read.

In fairness he was very fortunate, but the opportunity was there, excellent instruction, and first class facilities at Gloucester.

Now with a short video link



Weather was mixed, so mainly confined to low level manoeuvres within the airfield whilst safe. Also, the camera inside the Enstrom switched off, so no internal cockpit shots.

Devil's advocate here:
First solo in 18 to 25kt winds? Solo on two types?
Now, what kind of irresponsible school is that?

Actually, the weather was fine during the flights - you'll hear the Tower confirm the wind at the time was 220/10kts and the flights were confined to low level into wind manoeuvres. The captions referred to earlier forecasts.

Known Ray for more years than I care to remember, a true professional so if he says it was safe to solo then you can rest assured that it was ok. So well done to Ollie and Ray:ok:

Another posting for this thread - doesn't mention it's on her birthday, but this girl age 16 in the Manchester Evening News today has solo'd in an R44 from Barton (whoops, City Airport Manchester).

story at Sky's the limit for 16-year-old private pilot from Stockport | Manchester Evening News - menmedia.co.uk

http://m.gmgrd.co.uk/res/892.$plit/C...A44%3A44%3A427

Amazing. Well done young lady :D

Great milestone and very well done.
I've always wondered about these youngsters who solo at a tender age; do their parents fly or own the aircraft they train on and have they been brought up in the aviation world from a young age allowing them access to the aircraft and knowledge they need to fly? Conversely, the daughter of the owner of my nearest FTO has absolutely no interest in flying at all even though all of the aircraft and training is available to her.
I remember as a kid always wanting to fly but my parents barely had enough money to lend me for driving lessons never mind flying lessons, even now 30 year on, i'm still struggling to find enough money to continue training.

Young pilots
 

Well ... its always a massive advantage for a youngsters to be part of a rotary family, especially if Dad is an instructor. I've found many juniors adapt to the handling like it was something they've always done. My son managed straight & level flight in an Enstrom 280C Shark at around seven years. By 13 years and three weeks, he was handling every exercise in the PPL syllabus especially well and with some 100 hours in his unofficial log book, he was holding a hover as well as me. DRK

Very interesting.
So can one take control of an aircraft at any age providing he/she is supervised a bit like when your father lets you drive his car on private land at a young age?
And if someone goes solo on the first date they are legally able to fly do the governing bodies not ask questions or once again is it just like passing your driving test on the earliest possible legal date?

I'm really not sure how things are today and there might also be differences between Countries. But I did my PPL (A) check ride 1 day after I turned 17 (minimum age to get PPL), all training including solo's were done when I was 16. It was lightyears ago but back then my Local aviation authority (no one knew about JAA /EASA at that time) demanded an official approval in writing from my parents. That was because I was still under a "legally responsible" age which was 18.

Yes it was a bit odd. I did aerobatics with C152 Aerobat before I was aloud to drive a car as minimum age for drivers license was, and still is, 18.:}

And no, none of my family /relatives had nothing to do with aviation. And we were not rich. I saved all childhood for it and my parents helped as much as they could. Great times.

That's brilliant. Is Megan on pprune?

Young solo
 

EASA.CAA land ... Formal flying instruction can be logged at age 14 onwards. First solo at 16 and licence application at 17. Dennis K