"Philip Sondericker" wrote in message
...
in article , Peter Duniho at
wrote on 4/3/04 1:24 PM:

"Philip Sondericker" wrote in message
...
Hmmm, so you're saying it's a number somewhere between 11.3 and 12.5?
So
why
is it that so many people are confidently able to state, "I soloed at
exactly such-and-such hours", when in fact their circumstances were
likely
similar to mine?

Let's ignore for the moment the fact that comparing time-to-solo numbers
is
dumb anyway, given the vast disparity in the quality of instructors, the
quality of students, and various factors out of either's control
(weather,
distance of practice area, other traffic, etc.). I also don't know why
it's
hard for you to figure out what the number for you is, but I'll accept
that
it is.

Oh, trust me, I'm not trying to turn this into a "least hours to solo"
competition or anything. It's just that I'm often asked, "How many hours
did
you have before you soloed?", and I'd like to give an accurate answer,
that's all.

In your example, at the point in time at which you were permitted to act
as
the solo pilot in command of the airplane, you had already received 11.3
hours of dual prior to that flight, plus another 0.9 hours of dual that
flight. If you add the two numbers, you get 12.2 hours of dual
instruction
prior to your solo.

Well, not exactly. You see, at the start of the lesson in question, I
received some dual instruction for an undetermined length of time, then I
soloed for .3 hours, then I received some more dual instruction flying
back
to the home airport. Before the lesson I had 11.3 hours, and after it I
had
12.5 hours. That's why I don't know exactly how many hours I had prior to
solo.


Just say 12 hours and be done with it! Or, "around 10 hours or so"! Or,
"under 15 hours"! Just pick your number, and stick by it!

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ