How many hours it take you to solo?

6.3 hours.

I personally think my CFI mixed me up with another student, cuz he just let out a long, low whistle when he looked at my logbook.
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
They let me solo on my Discovery Flight @ 0.0 hours. I win.
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From the front seat or back?

According to my log... My instructor sent me off for a "pre-solo check" of sorts with another instructor at 4.3. At 4.9 he was about to sign me off, but winds got squirrely, so I had to wait and got signed off at 6 (or 6.6, I can't tell based on how I logged it, and I don't remember if any of that dual was after the solo).
 
Goin thru my log book I found that I had 22 landings on a 2.2 hour flight that included .5 of simulated instrument. Must been a typo or the CFI couldn't count very well. Maybe I juust stressed him out so much it just felt like like 22 landings by the time we got back.
 
Approximately 95 hours. I was ready a lot sooner, but had to wait for a SI medical.
 
9.6 and 26 landings. Finished PPL in 59 including the flight to the test. The last 10 or so were just practicing waiting for the test date.
 
9 hrs the first time and in a tail dragger
33 years gap
15 hours second time in a forgiving C-150
 
pretty sure I was in mid to high 20's, just last year. This reminds me of how happy I am that I finally decided to learn to fly. Now I just have to make sure I share my flying interest with the younger generation the way a high school teacher shared his pilot knowledge with me 20 plus years ago.
 
write-stuff said:
It's virtually impossible to get a solo done in under 9 hours unless you skip some of the FAA's requirements.
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Well finally someone said it. I was about to have an aneurysm.

Not only is there a pretty decent-sized list of maneuvers that are supposed to be done, but the student is supposed to demonstrate reasonable proficiency at them as well.

I wonder how many instructors who solo students in 5 hours are the same ones who won't let them do touch and goes or stalls while solo, or babysit them with a handheld radio.
 
I always find this kind of discussion to be an entertaining one. For a lot of people there seems to be some real "pride" to be found in having soloed with less time than someone else. I'm hardly the grizzled veteran of aviation, but I always try to tell new people not to get obsessed with these numbers (as so many folks do). In many ways it is largely meaningless, as weather conditions and scheduling could have played a significant role for a lot of pilots. Plus, where you start in aviation is less important than where you end up!

I think one of the reasons pilots get obsessed with these numbers is that they want a somewhat quantifiable way to measure their performance relative to their peers. But, we're all wet behind the ears when we start, regardless of whether we solo at 7 hours or 17 hours (or more, or less). If you really aren't proficient as compared to your peers, you'll know it eventually. There was a woman at my flight school when I started who had logged something like 96 hours without being signed off to solo (it wasn't a medical or an age issue, either). Her dream was to get to the point where she could solo, and I doubt she really even had much intention of finishing her PP license… I want to say that she did finally get there, but I can't honestly remember for sure.

I had a discussion with a pilot recently who told me that he soloed after just 3-point-something hours. Now, maybe he had an instructor brave enough to sign him off that quickly, and maybe he was an aviation god, but I couldn't help but think that I sure wouldn't have wanted to solo that soon.

I just double checked my logbook to see where I was at when I first soloed (because I couldn't even remember). I thought I was at 11.9 hours, and it turns out that I was at 13.9 hours. Does finding out it was different make any difference at all? Nope! Before my solo I show that I logged 12 total flights, mostly short ones, and two sessions in our flight school's simulator. We did 48 landings prior to the flight in which I soloed, and I spent 1.2 hours under the hood during those initial flights.

Incidentally, when I came back to aviation again (after a nearly 14 year break) I flew 5.7 hours over four flights before the instructor signed off my BFR. He would have signed it off a flight earlier if I was comfortable with it, and even after he signed me off I decided to take him along for an additional flight before I started going on my own again.
 
12 hours or thereabouts.

I was actually fairly scared because while all my training to that point was dual out of a class C, the CFI hops out at an non-towered field and tells me to go at it, so now I had to make calls and watch for traffic on top of it:)
 
Just solo'd on Friday at approx 17 hours in a Cirrus SR20 Flying out of a Class C (KLNK)
 
30ish technically. That was spread over almost 5 years. Took about 5 hours of consistent flying, though.
 
Here's the deal. I could probably take a student and do mostly takeoffs and landings exclusively the first few hours and have that student solo easily under 10 hours. But what does that really prove? What if that student has no awareness of approaching a stall, what to do if the engine mucks up, even how to go around if the landing approach is shaky? CFIs should be focused on teaching safety and having a student make good decisions. There should not be as much attention on a solo flight in a few hours as there should be on doing the solo flight safely and knowledge of stalls, emergency procedures, and basic maneuvers to mention a few. IMO.
 
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mscard88 said:
There should not be as much attention on a solo flight in a few hours as there should be on doing the solo flight safely and knowledge of stalls, emergency procedures, and basic maneuvers to mention a few. IMO.
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The FAA agrees with you.
 
About 300 hours, give or take, i didn't keep track very well.
 
I just answered the question based on the actual time it took, not to compare myself with anyone. Compared to most people on this forum, with my 160 hours, I'm a rookie and still learning at least one thing on every flight I make.
 
Honestly, I was in the high 20's if not 30, but I don't care. I could have done it earlier but I was transitioning to a different plane for solo and waiting for best weather conditions.

The point is, I soloed. I took off, flew and landed by myself, something comparatively few people can say.

Shortly after, I did my solo X country. It's a marathon, not a sprint to me.
 
The answer doesn't matter. I don't see the low numbers earning any bigger bragging rights than the higher numbers. In the end, the accomplishment is all the same and equally great. We flew an airplane... BY OURSELVES! Additionally, I don't see why it matters how long takes to finish your PPL. It's not a race. There's no rush. No competition. Yeah, training is expensive and it's great if you can get it done in close to 40 hours - but, then what? It's still expensive to fly, so it's not really like there's some financial incentive to hurry through the process. I mean, unless you plan to stop flying once you earn your ticket.
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
The answer doesn't matter. I don't see the low numbers earning any bigger bragging rights than the higher numbers. In the end, the accomplishment is all the same and equally great. We flew an airplane... BY OURSELVES! Additionally, I don't see why it matters how long takes to finish your PPL. It's not a race. There's no rush. No competition. Yeah, training is expensive and it's great if you can get it done in close to 40 hours - but, then what? It's still expensive to fly, so it's not really like there's some financial incentive to hurry through the process. I mean, unless you plan to stop flying once you earn your ticket.
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:yeahthat:

But you're telling a bunch of Type A pilots that it's not a competition. Good luck. ;)
 
mscard88 said:
Here's the deal. I could probably take a student and do mostly takeoffs and landings exclusively the first few hours and have that student solo easily under 10 hours. But what does that really prove? What if that student has no awareness of approaching a stall, what to do if the engine mucks up, even how to go around if the landing approach is shaky? CFIs should be focused on teaching safety and having a student make good decisions. There should not be as much attention on a solo flight in a few hours as there should be on doing the solo flight safely and knowledge of stalls, emergency procedures, and basic maneuvers to mention a few. IMO.
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big +1
I know when I first started flying I went in with the brash attitude of wanting to solo fast. You know, so I could brag to all my friends, yuk yuk. Then I went flying the first time and I flat out leveled with my CFI that I have a tendency to want to do things before I'm ready so please make sure that I'm really ready. He said, nothing to worry about there and did almost exactly what you described.

I knew all the emergency procedures, and had done multiple simulated engine outs in the pattern with successful landings. I had done numerous 50% flap and no flap landings, so in the event of a flaps issue I was covered. We had gone through numerous electrical system failures and decision making scenarios as to what our options were and what were best through various failures. He also made me do numerous go arounds to ensure that I didn't have any fear in going around.

I still felt somewhat unprepared in that I wanted about 10,000 more landings before I solo'd, but I was very comfortable that I was going to be safe in a multitude of potential emergencies. :cool:
 
While in general I agree it is not a big deal how short a time it is I would say that it is a useful piece of information. Many people who go into aviation don't know the process or what "normal" is. I think knowing that generally speaking it is reasonable to solo in 10-20 hours and that you can reasonably finish your PPL in 40-80 hours is good to know. If you are not at that point or reasonably so it might be time to start asking why.
 
DFH65 said:
While in general I agree it is not a big deal how short a time it is I would say that it is a useful piece of information. Many people who go into aviation don't know the process or what "normal" is. I think knowing that generally speaking it is reasonable to solo in 10-20 hours and that you can reasonably finish your PPL in 40-80 hours is good to know. If you are not at that point or reasonably so it might be time to start asking why.
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I agree, but these threads don't do that. For the most part, it's just the "well I did it in FIVE hours" folks and the people for whom it took longer don't feel comfortable posting. So, it gives the inaccurate perception that it's normal to solo in less than 10 hours. Also, it doesn't take into account all the MANY conditions that go into how many hours it takes someone. Are they in a sleepy little towerless airport, or a hustling-bustling towered one? Did they have the same instructor the entire time, or have to change once or twice? Was weather good or bad during the prep-for-solo time? Did they just have an efficient instructor or a bad instructor? The list goes on.

Most students solo between 15-25 hours. Most students wrap up their PPL around 55-65 hours. Those are norms. These threads don't reflect that, though.
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
Most students wrap up their PPL around 55-65 hours. Those are norms. These threads don't reflect that, though.
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Oh alright Cajun, we'll just have to open a thread on how many hours it took to get your PPC. Nah..... ;):)
 
8 hours, 10 flights, and 7 months in. Had to stretch it out for my 16th birthday. Also had to switch from a 152 to 172 since they sold the dang thing.
 
11.4 hours, 12th flight, here's the dumb/fun part... 11 months. Ha... started 2/1/1991, soloed 1/2/1992, Private rating 5/19/1992.

Slow start, didn't fly enough until after solo. Too broke back then! Took most of 1991 to find Job #2, and then Job #3 to fund my new "habit"...

I think it was the "extra" money I had from Christmas season 1991 throwing massive numbers of bags full of packages for USPS as a seasonal that was job #3 at the time, that got the flying really going again.
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
Most students solo between 15-25 hours. Most students wrap up their PPL around 55-65 hours. Those are norms. These threads don't reflect that, though.
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Seems like a great many people in this particular thread have expressed times in excess of 15 hours..... of course there are the ones who "I soloed the first time I touched a yoke."

I think if the question wasn't only how long, but WHEN, you'd find that nearly ALL of the extremely low time solo people are those who didn't get their ticket within the last couple of decades... I can't speak for regulatory changes, but it seems like there have been changes which result in more time/knowledge/completed maneuvers now-ish than historically.
 
It's not the same but I bought an airplane without an ASEL license. I had been flying helicopters for a few years (CPL IR CFII). I have never solo'd a helicopter and have about 1482.3 hours in them. I did, however, solo my airplane in 4.7 hours with about 1100 helicopter hours at the time. Never thought about that until I read this thread so I figured I would contribute.
 
MIFlyer said:
I'm the slowpoke. Busy class d and lots of gaps in training so I'm pre-solo at 23 hours. Going to do a series of low approaches next time to get the round out and flare down


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Nope, I got you beat. 25 hours until solo for me. Had a lot of breaks between flights and the school I flew out of did a LOT of other training with me before I went to solo.

The good news is I was over-prepared for my PPL :).
 
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