CFI notifying the student pilot in advance the date of their first solo?

N918KT

N918KT

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KT
I think I already know the answer to this question but some first solo posts around this board and other aviation forums cause me to think twice on this.

Ok here is the question.

I think the common practice for letting the first solo is letting the student pilot know that the CFI is getting out of the plane after good consistency in takeoffs, landings, and patternwork. This is usually impromptu and most likely unexpected for the student.

However, I am reading a few posts on this board and other aviation message boards that the student is EXPECTING their first solo tomorrow or on a particular date. Is it common for a CFI to let their student know that they will try to get them to solo on a particular date?

I know I want to get to my first solo hopefully soon before I go back to college, but when I am ready for it. I did a flight lesson today doing crosswind takeoffs and landings and flying the pattern. I thought I was close to my first solo, but I think I still need improvement on it. Plus there were a few other required presolo tasks that I have not covered yet or had little experience in. Basically, I don't know if I feel confident just yet for my first solo. I want to solo when I am ready, even if that means not soloing this summer and hopefully during my college winter break.
 
In the 141 world there is a syllabus and solo falls on a particular lesson. Obviously if the CFI isn't comfortable getting out of the plane then lessons are repeated.

Point is, in 141 students know ahead of time the lesson number that they solo and can figure it out days in advance (assuming they stay on track and don't have repeat lessons)
 
In some cases, it is a certainty. If for some reason, a student is and has been ready for some time - waiting for the magic 16th, a medical, or? it is a known, and the solo is scheduled. I set the time and date and had a party for my granddaughters, but she could fly the airplane like she had 50 hours. She did.
 
Since I was expected to take a pre-solo written and my CFI and I discussed the solo the day before, it wasn't impromptu or unexpected. He taught under Part 61 regs.

The only reason I can think why a CFI would announce solo unexpectedly might be because it gives a student less time to chicken out. Not sure that is a good reason, though.
 
It was a surprise for me, because I had a difficult time nailing landings perfectly. Once I started nailing them, the CFI hopped out and off I went.

Total surprise.
 
IMO both parties need to be comfortable with the performance in order to let them go off on a solo. I wouldn't just hop out and say, "It's all you now". I'd let the student just mentally prepare for the solo ahead of time.
 
I knew when I was very close (within a flight or two), provided I had a "good day" in the pattern that would make my CFI comfortable with getting out of the plane. I recall carefully choosing my wardrobe so I'd be wearing a "sacrificial" shirt.
 
My experience and that of other CFI's I talk to is that the student solos when the student is ready. If there is a certain date in mind, then the obvious goal is to have the student ready before that date. This likely happens with young pilots who want to solo on the first legal day. That approach should be understood by the student and CFI.
For normal students, I soloed them when they were demonstrating consistent ability to perform as has been discussed above. In addition, scheduling and weather issues come in to play. I'm not inclined to solo a student at the max demonstrated crosswind capability of the airplane. For these reasons, I might be reluctant to specify a day but rather say that any day that is right is the day s/he will solo. The student may take the announcement as a surprise but it is very unlikely to be really unexpected.
 
ebetancourt said:
In some cases, it is a certainty.
Click to expand...
Speaking from the instructor's perspective, it is never a certainty. Weather, maintenance, the Student having a bad day -- lots of things can stop it from happening on the "appointed" day. But as stated above, many times there will be an appointed day under the circumstances mentioned. You just don't know with certainty until you've been around the patch a couple of times that day.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
I knew when I was very close (within a flight or two), provided I had a "good day" in the pattern that would make my CFI comfortable with getting out of the plane. I recall carefully choosing my wardrobe so I'd be wearing a "sacrificial" shirt.
Click to expand...

Same here...I knew two flights before, provided I had a "good day" that day, then we scheduled the solo. Had a presolo test (open book, with CFI). No suprises.
 
Ron Levy said:
Speaking from the instructor's perspective, it is never a certainty. Weather, maintenance, the Student having a bad day -- lots of things can stop it from happening on the "appointed" day. But as stated above, many times there will be an appointed day under the circumstances mentioned. You just don't know with certainty until you've been around the patch a couple of times that day.
Click to expand...

:yeahthat: My students know they're close when I'm bugging them to finish their presolo written test. But when it actually happens is very much dependant on their performance on that particular day, which is impacted by weather, wind and airport activity.
 
Thanks for the responses so far everyone. I flew again with my CFI and did some maneuvers in the practice area today including power on stalls which we never covered with my current CFI before. We were thinking of doing go arounds and (and maybe emergency procedures) again to practice it some more but everyone at Queen City Airport today was all over the place. Too much traffic to do go arounds so we will leave it for another day.

My CFI and I agreed to let me solo when I am ready. I feel I just need more training and progress before I do my first solo, even if that means not soloing this summer and hopefully doing it during winter break.

And even if I don't solo this summer, I am cool with it since I felt that I made a lot of progress this past summer with my current CFI, more progress than at any other flight school that I attended previously, and I am grateful for that.
 
Ron Levy said:
Speaking from the instructor's perspective, it is never a certainty. Weather, maintenance, the Student having a bad day -- lots of things can stop it from happening on the "appointed" day. But as stated above, many times there will be an appointed day under the circumstances mentioned. You just don't know with certainty until you've been around the patch a couple of times that day.
Click to expand...

We're slitting hairs here Ron. I grant you nothing in life is certain except death, but I can assure you I was otherwise certain I could solo a student with 50 hours who had demonstrated proficiency in limit crosswinds, very good landings with no airspeed indicator, and lot's of forced landings from every possible direction, and except for the take off forced landings, started mostly by an abrupt throttle pull. Steep (60*) turns, poweroff 180s, split S, and more. Also had lost a window in flight, and received no help from the IP (although she did request it). All that in my Citabria.

So IMC, a thunderstorm, crosswind in excess of 15K (none of this remotely forecast), a broken airplane, or serious illness could have stopped it. Otherwise, a certainty. I expect there are people with medical problems and other young people with age "problems" in exactly the same situation.
 
N918KT said:
I think I already know the answer to this question but some first solo posts around this board and other aviation forums cause me to think twice on this.

Ok here is the question.

I think the common practice for letting the first solo is letting the student pilot know that the CFI is getting out of the plane after good consistency in takeoffs, landings, and patternwork. This is usually impromptu and most likely unexpected for the student.

However, I am reading a few posts on this board and other aviation message boards that the student is EXPECTING their first solo tomorrow or on a particular date. Is it common for a CFI to let their student know that they will try to get them to solo on a particular date?

I know I want to get to my first solo hopefully soon before I go back to college, but when I am ready for it. I did a flight lesson today doing crosswind takeoffs and landings and flying the pattern. I thought I was close to my first solo, but I think I still need improvement on it. Plus there were a few other required presolo tasks that I have not covered yet or had little experience in. Basically, I don't know if I feel confident just yet for my first solo. I want to solo when I am ready, even if that means not soloing this summer and hopefully during my college winter break.
Click to expand...

Hopefully, your CFI has always kept you informed (Parts 61 or 141) on what the next planned lesson will include and has given you an assignment so you can prepare yourself in advance. The CFI should have also been evaluating you on the various operations and communicating your progress to you. When skills have progressed to solo, there is certainly nothing wrong with the CFI telling the student he is ready for solo. There are times when the CFI has made that determination and the student disagrees. Training continues and the student solos when he feels confident to do so.
 
KT, what you say in your original post as a "common practice" is the old school way, and is more of the old "romanticism " of flying.
The first solo is like the first kiss. You will remember it forever.
You plan all around it, but when it happens, it is a private once-in-a-lifetime experience that cannot be duplicated - ever.

Think about that.
 
ebetancourt said:
So IMC, a thunderstorm, crosswind in excess of 15K (none of this remotely forecast), a broken airplane, or serious illness could have stopped it. Otherwise, a certainty. I expect there are people with medical problems and other young people with age "problems" in exactly the same situation.
Click to expand...
I guess my definition of "certainty" differs from yours, which seems to have a lot of conditions attached. Sorry for the confusion.
 
Definitely the "old school" way for me back in 1983. My instructor and I went up for what i thought were going to be more touch'n go practice. After completing the first landing he asked me to taxi to the FBO because he had to use the bathroom. As soon as he got off he told me to go out and shoot 3 more and return. I did not have a clue this would be the day, and quite frankly I would not change that for anything in the world.
 
Perezhr said:
Definitely the "old school" way for me back in 1983. My instructor and I went up for what i thought were going to be more touch'n go practice. After completing the first landing he asked me to taxi to the FBO because he had to use the bathroom. As soon as he got off he told me to go out and shoot 3 more and return. I did not have a clue this would be the day, and quite frankly I would not change that for anything in the world.
Click to expand...

That's the reaction my student had tonight when I decided to solo him tonight rather than when he thought he "should" solo later this week. He was happy to be surprised.
 
N918KT said:
[...] Basically, I don't know if I feel confident just yet for my first solo. I want to solo when I am ready, even if that means not soloing this summer and hopefully during my college winter break.
Click to expand...

In all phases of training, the one thing I found that helped me most with my confidence was the frequency of flight lessons. If I flew once a week, things weren't so good and I'd spend some portion of the lesson getting to the proficiency point I was at for the previous lessons. If I flew twice a week, I progressed well, and in the very rare instances where I flew three times per week, I felt really good.

I don't know how frequently you train, but keep that factor in mind.

And this is something that you have likely heard or read already: your CFI will not let you solo until he/she thinks you are ready.:yes:

Don't think too much about soloing - think more about each lesson you are doing and prepare for the next. I'll send you a private link to my pre-solo flight and then the immediate solo flight thereafter. I looked pretty scared, but everything went very well - also many thanks to my CFI who was on the radio on the ground.

Look forward to the post where you'll write about your first successful solo flight.
 
Once my instructor told me, give me 3 good landings in a row, and you can solo, I could not land if he offered me a million bucks. Took another 10 hours, and every lesson was give me 3 good consistent landings and you are off.

On the day it happened I finally nailed 3 good ones, in the early morning ( after more than an hour of trying), last one was a perfect greeser, he said " I couldn't land as good as that, why couldn't you do it before" I told him lets do one more, but he couldn't because he had another student waiting, I asked if he had an opening later in the day, " come back at 4" he said.

So a few more "ok" landings, and I think he just gave up and said, " will you go do this on your own" or something to that effect, so off I went, just one lap due to fuel and lighting, but its awesome
 
I've had conversations with CFI friends who confided that they "wanted to solo that guy/gal but the ****ing wind came up for a month"...

Whether they confided that to the student at the time, is probably a matter of both people's personalities. I didn't ask.
 
My instructor gave me a pre-solo written exam to take home the lesson before he let me go solo so I knew it had to be coming soon. Everything went well on the next lesson so at the end he let me solo, and I'm glad he did because every lesson for two weeks after that either was cancelled because of thunderstorms or there was a lot of crosswind. But it gave me a lot of crosswind landing practice at least!
 
My old instructor kept telling me two or three lessons all the time, which then just got me nervous. And then frustrated because it wasn't happening. What happened now is I thought it may be coming up but my new instructor never said a word about soloing, which took a lot of pressure off me. I knew I was close but not sure when, after 5 good landings the next downwind he said he was getting out of the plane. It was a surprise, but I also knew I was ready which I didn't feel like up to that point. I liked not knowing much better.
 
Mine was of the "Try not to bend the airplane" as the CFI jumped out variety.

-Rich
 
I provide no indication in advance and print up stickers, that way when it's time I can have their paperwork done in about 10 seconds while we sit in the plane and off they go.
 
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