Figuring out a training average

TDKendall

TDKendall

Pre-takeoff checklist
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TDKendall
In an attempt to answer a question that I didn't know the answer to, I'm curious to find out how many hours were flown before the solo flight was completed.

I was asked yesterday "How many hours do you need before you can solo?" I answered that it depends on the student and how well they process information and translate that to practical usage. Apparently that didn't answer the question well enough and they wanted a guestimated average. I told them I didn't know but that I would research it for them.
 
"As long as it takes."

Only answer they should depend upon.

Giving them a real number sets expectations that are unrealistic because flying isn't something learned by numbers, but by the students ability to learn.

That said, the FAA minimum is, I believe, 20 hours? I am pulling that up from memory that might be wrong, but it is spelled out in the FARs.
 
I soloed at 8.1 hours.


I'm not sure if there is a minimum.


I think you are getting the 20 hours from the fact that you are required to have 20 hours of dual.
 
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Just to provide another data point at the other end - I solo'ed at about 30 hours. My progress was delayed by bad weather and a bad relationship with my first instructor (I solo'ed with my 2nd instructor). Also, I was only able to fly once a week.

I got my license around 80 hours.
 
Oh, and I don't think there's a minimum hours to solo. Just the required test.
 
jangell said:
I soloed at 8.1 hours.


I'm not sure if there is a minimum.


I think you are getting the 20 hours from the fact that you are required to have 20 hours of dual.
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You're right - I looked and there are no minimum hours to solo.

I happened to solo with more like 3 times your hours. I was also going through a divorce, two moves, and commuting 90 minutes to work and back and only flying once a week at most sometimes.
 
Whenever your CFI and you BOTH think you're ready regardless of hours.
 
I think I solo'd at 18.1 hours.

One of my instructors said to plan for 20, but add an hour for every year that you're over the age of 18. :)
 
TDKendall said:
In an attempt to answer a question that I didn't know the answer to, I'm curious to find out how many hours were flown before the solo flight was completed.
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Fairly long to solo, 26hrs, but had my ticket at 54, so a late solo didn't really hold me back all that much.
 
AirBaker said:
I think I solo'd at 18.1 hours.

One of my instructors said to plan for 20, but add an hour for every year that you're over the age of 18. :)
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Cool! I solo'ed early by that formula!
 
More than I care to admit :)

But I met a pilot a few months ago who flies an Agusta for Forbes who:

a) Soloed in a helicopter in 8 hours (I couln't even hover at 8 hours), and

b) taught Harrison Ford how to fly helicopters in an R22 like ours :yes:
 
MSmith said:
Just to provide another data point at the other end - I solo'ed at about 30 hours. My progress was delayed by bad weather and a bad relationship with my first instructor (I solo'ed with my 2nd instructor). Also, I was only able to fly once a week.

I got my license around 80 hours.
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I had the opposite problem. The weather was too good for the early part of my training. My CFI wouldn't OK me to solo until I had experienced something a little more demanding. He also didn't want me to solo until I had bounced a landing - he wanted to see how I recovered from a bad landing. I finally soloed at about 24 hours and took the check ride with 43.
 
I'd like to strangle the person who first got the idea of having Student Pilots solo early in their training. The result has been a "race to solo" game, in which some students lord their low times to solo over others, and those who don't solo in the "expected" hours are ready to quit. It's totally bogus. I can show you folks who took 30 hours to solo who are today great pilots, and folks who soloed in 6 but with whom I wouldn't get in an airplane. I'd just as soon put off first solo until after dual XC's so folks are more ready when they do solo, and the number of hours is affected by more than basic ability to land the plane without breaking it.

So if someone asks, ""How many hours do you need before you can solo?" my answer is "Enough to be safe." If they press the issue, I tell them that there's no minimum or maximum, nobody collects that data, and nobody really cares anyway. And if they really press the issue, I can always tell them the last person who wanted to know that bad was one of the 9/11 terrorists.
 
Ron Levy said:
I'd like to strangle the person who first got the idea of having Student Pilots solo early in their training. The result has been a "race to solo" game, in which some students lord their low times to solo over others, and those who don't solo in the "expected" hours are ready to quit. It's totally bogus. I can show you folks who took 30 hours to solo who are today great pilots, and folks who soloed in 6 but with whom I wouldn't get in an airplane. I'd just as soon put off first solo until after dual XC's so folks are more ready when they do solo, and the number of hours is affected by more than basic ability to land the plane without breaking it.

So if someone asks, ""How many hours do you need before you can solo?" my answer is "Enough to be safe." If they press the issue, I tell them that there's no minimum or maximum, nobody collects that data, and nobody really cares anyway. And if they really press the issue, I can always tell them the last person who wanted to know that bad was one of the 9/11 terrorists.
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And Ron, exactly how do you meet all that in the FARs for pre-solo requirements in 10 hours? IIRC you have to know all of the emergency procedures, power off landings, pass a written test,...in HOW MANY hours, when you spent the first 2 or 3 hours just learning how to DRIVE the thing?

IT'S NOT A RACE!




Besides, I win. I had MORE hours than any of you.
 
Other than the fact that I was asked what an "average" would be, I could honestly care less and agree that an "early" solo could be detrimental. As a safety/driver trainer, I took 10 days (roughly 30 hrs) of behind the wheel training before I'd clear one of my students for the CDL third party test. I feel that having a firm knowledge of what one is doing should be attained before a solo is completed.

Personally, the only thing that's gonna care how long it takes me is my pocketbook. I've been patient for nearly 30 years. Taking my time to get it right isn't too much longer to wait.

Thanks for all the input, though. It's much appreciated.
 
I solo'd in 10.1 hours. PP in like 45 hours. Flew as PP for ~250 hours. IR in something like 48 hours. I don't think it's a matter of being a "Race" when a student ask, I think it's more like, "How much is this REALLY going to cost me?" If you are like me it's not a question of "Can I afford this?" but I want to have an idea of how much it will cost before I jump off into something. I'd figure the average is between 10 and 20 hours.

Which brings back to my memory . . . . God was about to create the perfect mate for Adam. Adam ask, "What's it going to cost me for this perfect mate?" "Well, it's going to cost you an arm and a leg", said God. "Wow", Adam replied, "What can I get for just a rib?" :vomit:
 
waldo said:
I don't think it's a matter of being a "Race" when a student ask, I think it's more like, "How much is this REALLY going to cost me?" If you are like me it's not a question of "Can I afford this?" but I want to have an idea of how much it will cost before I jump off into something. I'd figure the average is between 10 and 20 hours.
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That's pretty much what I'd been thinking although I never really considered putting a "time frame" on it until I was asked about how long it could take. I'll be getting started on the formal training once the pocketbook will allow me to pay the intial costs. After that it's pay-as-you-go so that'll be alot easier finacially.
 
TDKendall said:
"How many hours do you need before you can solo?" I answered that it depends on the student and how well they process information and translate that to practical usage.
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You gave the best answer. There is no average, there is no minimum, it is dependent on factors related to each student and their training situation.

Set the expectation that you train to the finish line i.e. the rating not to one milestone. Flying is not a set schedule learning expirience it is a series of steps, milestones, plateaus and goals.

If this person continues to press you they are not focused on what is really needed to be a pilot and that is the patience to learn things correctly not arrive at goal as 'average'.
 
The number of hours till soloing is far less important than the number of hours spent soloing. From my own exerience (soloed later, difficulty with instructor availability, perhaps a little slow on the uptake, trained in and soloed a 2004 182 with G-1000) I feel the solo requirement of only 10 hours is too small! I learned so much, and gained needed confidence by spending extra time (6 hours) without the instructor to lean on.

Scott
 
smigaldi said:
You gave the best answer. There is no average, there is no minimum, it is dependent on factors related to each student and their training situation...
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It sounds like the requirement isn't measured in hours, but rather in experience and ability. It takes what it takes.
 
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