when do you typically solo?

M

muleywannabe

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Dec 30, 2013
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Independence, Kansas
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Cherokee235
I currently have 17.2 hours. Just switched aircraft from a C172 to a Piper235 and have 2 hours and 4 landings/take offs. I don't seem to be overwhelmed by the additional speed, I find it comforting a little bit because on final we carry additional power to compensate for the heavy nose drop. Last lesson we practiced engine out procedures and did some stalls. I suspect, that 10 more hours would be about right but I am not a CFI. At what point in your training do you and your CFI feel its time to Solo? I dont feel comfortable enough yet by any means but was curious as to when you actually felt it was time or your CFI said it was.
 
When you're ready. Typically 10-20 hours. Some people do it in under 10, others take 50+. It also depends on the program you're in.

Don't worry about the hours so much. And you probably won't feel ready for your first solo. That's ok.
 
When you're ready. From my perspective, that's when you've completed all 15 pre-solo items in 61.87 and I feel I can tell you to go take it around the pattern by yourself without me worrying (the latter probably being more of an issue). If you need to know where you stand on that, the only person who can tell you is your instructor.
 
muleywannabe said:
... I dont feel comfortable enough yet by any means but was curious as to when you actually felt it was time or your CFI said it was.
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Certainly not soloing before the CFI says so. :)

In my case, I trusted my CFI to tell me when it was time.

Remember, it's not contest to see who can solo first.
 
For what it is worth, I was at 25 hours. I just did my first solo to the practice area at about 27.
 
I dont feel comfortable enough yet by any means but was curious as to when you actually felt it was time or your CFI said it was.
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I don't think he's asking for a definitive answer here. So saying "when you are ready" isn't really answering his question.

To answer his question, I soloed at 12.7 hours. I felt comfortable with my instructors decision to let me at that point as well.
 
Bonchie said:
I don't think he's asking for a definitive answer here. So saying "when you are ready" isn't really answering his question.

To answer his question, I soloed at 12.7 hours. I felt comfortable with my instructors decision to let me at that point as well.
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Thank you, that seems logical. I really need to nail my radio calls now and several other things for sure. I like to see the wide range of solo times, makes me feel more human. I hear some people say, " your at 17 hours and you have not soloed" like I am some kind of idiot. I want to be safe and sound, most importantly for my family. We own our plane, so time is our friend, If I was renting, then I would really be stressed to get the PPL done.
 
I had to tell my CFI I wanted to solo. I'm pretty sure he was not in any rush and I think being vocal made him realize I was ready. Took me over 20 hours.
 
Another factor in time to solo is how congested the airport is. If you're the only one on the ramp and in the pattern you may solo sooner than the guy/gal at a busy airport who may spend 20 minutes in the run-up area waiting for clearance to depart.

Folks don't think about that extra time but it adds up.
 
Before my first lesson I was talking to a student I happened to sit next to on a commercial flight; he was at 30 hours and hadn't solo'd yet. Me... I didn't solo until around 90 hours. Frequency of training is a large part of it; the less time between lessons, the less you lose and because of that, the more likelihood that you fly safer. It all comes down to safety (and no CFI wants the FSDO knocking on the door to find out why his/her student did something wrong while soloing).
 
I'm at 17.5 and have not soloed yet. CFI says I'm ready but the weather has not cooperated, mostly to windy. Since I mostly fly on the weekends, I have to hope for a calm day to run around the pattern. In the meantime, we keep flying, and practicing so who knows, it could be another, 10 hours. Each time we fly now, I handle all radio communication, to and from the practice area, fly the pattern, and do all T&G's without his intervention. (even in the wind)

I'm having a blast, and I am not in any rush to solo.
 
We are at a non towered airport, so traffic is a minimum, which is awesome. We can practice and enjoy our lessons. Eventually, we will need to work on towered airports for sure.
 
From what people have reported, the range is from 2.5 to 100 hours.

Chances are that you will be somewhere in between.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
From what people have reported, the range is from 2.5 to 100 hours.

Chances are that you will be somewhere in between.
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As a lowly student I agree with the above, and with the previous statement that you won't feel "ready" no matter how long it might take. I happened to solo at 8 hours and had all my logbook "requirements" to take the checkride done at 32 hours (with the obvious exception that I hadn't yet logged 40 hours). That said, I'm just over 50 hours now and getting ready to schedule the checkride. I felt I needed the extra practice to make me feel comfortable and competent.

It boils down to how comfortable you and your CFI are with your confidence and abilities...
 
Ron Levy said:
When you're ready. From my perspective, that's when you've completed all 15 pre-solo items in 61.87 and I feel I can tell you to go take it around the pattern by yourself without me worrying (the latter probably being more of an issue). If you need to know where you stand on that, the only person who can tell you is your instructor.
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Boy the instructor worrying brings back memories. Mine looked like a Dad waiting in the delivery room to find out if it was a boy or a girl. I was nervous but he was a wreck. I was his first sign off as he was a fairly new CFI. My wife was with him the entire time and she truly thought he may not make it through the three laps around the pattern.

By the way I was at 28 to 30 hours when I soloed. I think the cheif instructor got curious and I flew with him and then was suddenly ready to solo. Either way when I soloed did not matter to me I was still learning everytime I went up. Still learn something on every flight to this day........
 
tngarner said:
Boy the instructor worrying brings back memories. Mine looked like a Dad waiting in the delivery room to find out if it was a boy or a girl. I was nervous but he was a wreck. I was his first sign off as he was a fairly new CFI. My wife was with him the entire time and she truly thought he may not make it through the three laps around the pattern.
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I suspect I was rather like that the first time I soloed someone, but it's hard to remember the details that many decades/thousands of hours ago. :D
 
I solo whenever the heck I feel like it and the plane and weather cooperate. It takes me about 30 minutes counting checking out the paperwork, walking the field, preflight and run-up.

Oh, you meant FIRST solo. Well, that took a bit longer. :)
 
Davecat said:
Good attitude! Seems like every student posting here seems to be in a rush to solo. Trust your CFI, your schedule, your abilities.

Soloed at 26 hrs.
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Everyone is in a hurry until that CFI steps out of the plane. I haven't thought about it lately. It's been a year since I first soloed. I remember the days leading up to it and being frustrated that my CFI wanted to practice again or the weather didn't cooperate.

Then we were practicing with Mrs. SixPapaCharlie in the back and he says how are you? I said "fine". He says "how would you be if I wasn't in the plane?" That moment was the moment I wanted to solo least in my life.

We took a break and I wore out the tile on the floor pacing back and forth. My wife sat watching me pace. I called my dad who hadn't flown in 20 years.
I rarely get nervous but I suddenly was. He gave me good advice. Dad said "You are going to be nervous on your first solo. Either be nervous and do it today or be nervous and do it later but if your CFI says you are ready, I think now is the time. Also you are already nervous, you don't really want to feel like this twice do you?"

Bounced the first landing, nailed the next two.

16 hours.
 
Took me 31.5 hours to solo, but that included a move across the country and starting over to accomplish.
 
Damn - it's been almost 20 years, but I still remember it well. I had about 21 hours when I soloed, although a lot of that was well before I turned 16, and much of the flying was sporadic. What a phenomenal day!

Anyway, I don't think I felt ready when I soloed, but I'd imagine this is pretty typical. Good luck! :)
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Everyone is in a hurry until that CFI steps out of the plane. I haven't thought about it lately. It's been a year since I first soloed. I remember the days leading up to it and being frustrated that my CFI wanted to practice again or the weather didn't cooperate.

Then we were practicing with Mrs. SixPapaCharlie in the back and he says how are you? I said "fine". He says "how would you be if I wasn't in the plane?" That moment was the moment I wanted to solo least in my life.

We took a break and I wore out the tile on the floor pacing back and forth. My wife sat watching me pace. I called my dad who hadn't flown in 20 years.
I rarely get nervous but I suddenly was. He gave me good advice. Dad said "You are going to be nervous on your first solo. Either be nervous and do it today or be nervous and do it later but if your CFI says you are ready, I think now is the time. Also you are already nervous, you don't really want to feel like this twice do you?"

Bounced the first landing, nailed the next two.

16 hours.
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I will like a cat chitting razon blades when my CFI hops out of the plane.
 
Its different for everyone. You don't have to make it into a ****ing contest. Whenever your CFI thinks you're ready
 
muleywannabe said:
Thank you, that seems logical. I really need to nail my radio calls now and several other things for sure. I like to see the wide range of solo times, makes me feel more human. I hear some people say, " your at 17 hours and you have not soloed" like I am some kind of idiot. I want to be safe and sound, most importantly for my family. We own our plane, so time is our friend, If I was renting, then I would really be stressed to get the PPL done.
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AIM 4-2-1(b): "Since concise phraseology may not always be adequate, use whatever words are necessary to get your message across."

With that as background, using the terms called out in Chapter 4 of the AIM will always work....don't obsess over details.

Bob Gardner
SAY AGAIN, PLEASE
 
muleywannabe said:
I will like a cat chitting razon blades when my CFI hops out of the plane.
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If you are nervous at solo, you're not ready IMHO.

Solo should be about you being so ready that the CFI wants to kick you out of the nest. If you are nervous (as opposed to regular new-stuff jitters), DON'T GO. You don't have to solo then, or anytime you are not comfortable.

PS- soloed at 8.0 hours after 13 year layoff, 20.1 hours total. But I'm an airport brat, so an unfair advantage there.
 
warthog1984 said:
If you are nervous at solo, you're not ready IMHO.

Solo should be about you being so ready that the CFI wants to kick you out of the nest. If you are nervous (as opposed to regular new-stuff jitters), DON'T GO. You don't have to solo then, or anytime you are not comfortable.

PS- soloed at 8.0 hours after 13 year layoff, 20.1 hours total. But I'm an airport brat, so an unfair advantage there.
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I'd love to meet anyone who isn't nervous on their first solo.

But that should go away once the power is up and you are rolling. At least it did for me.
 
13 hours for me. I was so ready to be let loose that I think I might have actually kicked him out:D. Just over 2 years ago it happened and I remember it like it was yesterday.
 
When you're ready. (Did anybody say that?) :lol:

Like I did he's flying a Cherokee 235, so he needs the high performance endorsement, too.

It'll take a lot more time.
 
warthog1984 said:
*waves hand*.

I do, however, make a distinction between anticipation jitters and being nervous.
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I wasn't nervous either. But I had practice on dealing with soloing:

I had 12.7 hours and 41 landings during training in a glider. I had started training in the middle of June that year and by the end of September my CFIG and I agreed I was ready to solo the next weekend. But she had to go on a business-related trip for a couple weeks (she was a veterinarian in her day job) and the owner of the private grass airfield would be shutting it down (i.e. stop mowing) for the season in that time. So she recommended another CFIG to take over for her while she was gone. The next week the other CFIG and I got together and naturally he wanted to review everything with me and do some flights with me before approving the solo. So we did 3 flights - all we could squeeze in that day. He wanted a few more flights with me before signing me off, but that turned out to be the last good weather weekend of that soaring season. I didn't solo that year.

Two years later I got around to resuming my flight training, but in airplanes. I'd had plenty of time to ponder some mistakes in my attitude - I chose to be more assertive and mentally "in command" even though legally the CFI was. As soon as I could, I mentally I acted as if the CFI wasn't there to save me and every takeoff and landing was all up to me. This is a mental attitude I had failed to fully embrace during glider training. As a result, in my mind I had "soloed" a lot earlier than the legal act of soloing. The legal solo was almost a "ho hum" affair to me - my CFI looked to be more excited than I was.

It has been claimed by some that glider training can impart good stick-and-rudder skills earlier than during training in airplanes, but I think I've shown that need not be the case. I was mentally confident and ready to solo earlier than the 19.6 airplane hours (32.3 glider+airplane) it took for me to consistently land the dang plane. For me, at least, any stick-and-rudder skills I might have picked up had all but vanished in those two years.

Oh yeah - I was really nervous anticipating the glider solo, but since it never happened I don't think it counts. ;)
 
Jim Logajan said:
I wasn't nervous either. But I had practice on dealing with soloing:

I had 12.7 hours and 41 landings during training in a glider. I had started training in the middle of June that year and by the end of September my CFIG and I agreed I was ready to solo the next weekend. But she had to go on a business-related trip for a couple weeks (she was a veterinarian in her day job) and the owner of the private grass airfield would be shutting it down (i.e. stop mowing) for the season in that time. So she recommended another CFIG to take over for her while she was gone. The next week the other CFIG and I got together and naturally he wanted to review everything with me and do some flights with me before approving the solo. So we did 3 flights - all we could squeeze in that day. He wanted a few more flights with me before signing me off, but that turned out to be the last good weather weekend of that soaring season. I didn't solo that year.

Two years later I got around to resuming my flight training, but in airplanes. I'd had plenty of time to ponder some mistakes in my attitude - I chose to be more assertive and mentally "in command" even though legally the CFI was. As soon as I could, I mentally I acted as if the CFI wasn't there to save me and every takeoff and landing was all up to me. This is a mental attitude I had failed to fully embrace during glider training. As a result, in my mind I had "soloed" a lot earlier than the legal act of soloing. The legal solo was almost a "ho hum" affair to me - my CFI looked to be more excited than I was.

It has been claimed by some that glider training can impart good stick-and-rudder skills earlier than during training in airplanes, but I think I've shown that need not be the case. I was mentally confident and ready to solo earlier than the 19.6 airplane hours (32.3 glider+airplane) it took for me to consistently land the dang plane. For me, at least, any stick-and-rudder skills I might have picked up had all but vanished in those two years.

Oh yeah - I was really nervous anticipating the glider solo, but since it never happened I don't think it counts. ;)
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Jim - you owe yourself a Glider rating now....you know that, right:yes:
 
I wanted to solo and thought I was ready. I was sort of nonchalant about it too. After awhile I asked the CFI the "when" question. He told me "When you show me you're ready to be Pilot In Command." I think that's the best way to communicate the idea TO ME, as obviously that stuck.

He day he got out of the airplane he asked if I was ready, and I wasn't about to go back on my word, so I said "yeah" or something like it.

I took off and noticed the immediate loss of weight during climbout. On final,there was no way the airplane was touching the runway, so I performed a go-around at about 200 AGL. I did that about 3-4 times,getting progressively lower. At this point, I wanted nothing more than to get on the ground, but since I was now PIC, it was up to me and screaming for my mama wasn't happening, although that's how I felt.

After I got on the ground, he said that he was wondering what's happening (via radio) and said "go again". So guess what....shaking legs and all, I went again!

He said, "go again" after a few landings until he said "go until I tell you to stop", which I complied with.

Eventually I'd learned where to reduce power to idle such that I could do it earlier and earlier to come right over the threshold.

I told him that I was done, and made the decision to park the airplane at about dusk to see my then-fiancée smiling at me.

I was Pilot In Command.

Details of this story subject to a bit of fuzzy memory due to time lapse and lack of good sleep:D
 
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Jaybird180 said:
I wanted to solo and thought I was ready. I was sort of nonchalant about it too. After awhile I asked the CFI the "when" question. He told me "When you show me you're ready to be Pilot In Command." I think that's the best way to communicate the idea TO ME, as obviously that stuck.

He day he got out of the airplane he asked if I was ready, and I wasn't about to go back on my word, so I said "yeah" or something like it.

I took off and noticed the immediate loss of weight during climbout. On final,there was no way the airplane was touching the runway, so I performed a go-around at about 200 AGL. I did that about 3-4 times,getting progressively lower. At this point, I wanted nothing more than to get on the ground, but since I was now PIC, it was up to me and screaming for my mama wasn't happening, although that's how I felt.

After I got on the ground, he said that he was wondering what's happening (via radio) and said "go again". So guess what....shaking legs and all, I went again!

He said, "go again" after a few landings until he said "go until I tell you to stop", which I complied with.

Eventually I'd learned where to reduce power to idle such that I could do it earlier and earlier to come right over the threshold.

I told him that I was done, and made the decision to park the airplane at about dusk to see my then-fiancée smiling at me.

I was Pilot In Command.

Details of this story subject to a bit of fuzzy memory due to time lapse and lack of good sleep:D
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great story. thanks for sharing.
 
I was nervous on my first solo, but the tension was broken during the climb out when the tower called (who must have seen me dumping the instructor out on the taxiway) and said "714YF, doesn't it fly a lot better without that fat guy in the right seat?"
 
The other part of the Solo that was neat was getting out of the plane and realizing other people knew what was going on. You get tunnel vision that day and it is a blur.

CFI cut my shirt and a couple people refueling and a few people from the FBO started clapping for me.

Now I love hearing a CFI on a handheld telling a student "OK Tim, one more"
I make a point to congratulate them.
 
it took me 27 hours to solo. I couldn't figure out how to flare to save my life. Talking to another CFI while waiting for my lesson solved it for me. Go figure.
 
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