Looking forward to solo
Posted by CampaignDry50@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 6 comments
As the title suggests I’m super pumped to be inching closer to solo I’m at about 26 hrs but my flight school curriculum is set so that once you get good at landing you move on to short field, nav and flight planning, some dual night flying and cross country before you even get your first solo, I’m not to worried about how many hours I’ll get to solo at but I’ve got buddies at different schools who solo’D at 20 and I’m just curious to know if my schools curriculum is a common practice given how far back they push your first solo:
Fyi: The schools Inflight-twin cities
itsinthedata@reddit
My school is similar to yours. A lot of dual. Then xc. Then night flight. Then prep work for solo. At a minimum id say the curriculum allows you to solo around 20-25 hours. I have heard of places that let you solo around 10-12 hours. Thats fine I guess. I will say it’s a better feeling to be more comfy in the aircraft and solo around 20ish hours.
pilotjlr@reddit
It’s becoming common. The notion that people should solo at the earliest opportunity is kind of crazy if you think about it. You can solo at the end of your training and it’s safer and at no increased cost.
Also, people that brag about how early they soloed are pretty much always tools.
Electrical-Mix4843@reddit
It's a little different than my school's curriculum. We do takeoffs, landings, stalls, and emergencies then initial solo after a stage check. Usually lands around 12-18hrs.
AlbiMappaMundi@reddit
People fixate on a first solo early in the training process, or at a low number of hours, and it's always felt odd to me. Flying solo is in many ways a culmination of a process through which a student develops skills (not just landings, but overall situational awareness and decision-making), after which they pass the practical test to actually be certified as a Private Pilot.
For me, when I send students isn't dictated by curriculum, but by my sense of their progress, particularly:
--Consistent (not perfect) safe landings in reasonable wind conditions
--Self-initiated go-arounds when an approach or landing isn't going well
--Good radio communications, including being able to handle the full range of tower calls (make 360s, extend downwind, call jet traffic in sight, switch runways, etc)
--Overall good capability -- I think to myself, if someone crashed and the runway was closed during that first solo, would the student freak out, or would they be able to figure out what to do?
Antique-Kitchen-1896@reddit
It is all over the place. They wanted to send me at 12, but due to waiting on medical ended up like 40? Or something
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
As the title suggests I’m super pumped to be inching closer to solo I’m at about 26 hrs but my flight school curriculum is set so that once you get good at landing you move on to short field, nav and flight planning, some dual night flying and cross country before you even get your first solo, I’m not to worried about how many hours I’ll get to solo at but I’ve got buddies at different schools who solo’D at 20 and I’m just curious to know if my schools curriculum is a common practice given how far back they push your first solo:
Fyi: The schools Inflight-twin cities
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