On Monday, 7 December 2020 at 16:42:16 UTC, Phoenix wrote:

Over the decades I've solo'd several 14 yr. olds with some continuing on thru today. As I prepare a student for solo, I'll tell them that my objective for the next series of flight is for me to not say anything - as if I'm not there. I allow them to make mistakes and then for them to ascertain the possible corrections, choose the most viable and then execute it - all without a word from the back seat. I also require them to vocalize their thoughts / actions during this procedure.
Of course, a concern is how this student will handle an actual stressful situation later on in his flying. I personally believe for a power pilot to become as safe as can be, he / she should acquire around 700 flight hours. How many hours do you believe a glider pilot should have before also becoming "safe as can be expected"?

Fourteen as a minimum solo age has been a relatively recent arrival in the UK: 2012, I think.Â* But for the last 14 years most of my instructing has been with more experienced pilots, in the French Alps.Â* So not a huge amount of ab initio work.
Anyway: Yes, I brief them like that, too.Â* But some of them still try to elicit a response when they are uncertain, and can then be freaked out by a silence - hence the stock reply.
I don't generally push students to talk about what they're doing - until the debrief.Â* Many find talking difficult while flying (the Aspies particularly, perhaps: after all, it's social interaction), and I can see what they're doingÂ*anyway.
As to hours, I wouldn't put figures on it.Â* For glider pilots, number of launches is usually informative for solo standard (but absolutely not involved in the decision - merely as a first idea of how to approach a previously unknown pupil);Â* but bear in mind that most gliding instruction in the UK is based on winch launching.Â* Number of landings is probably the most important numerical factor, for all of us.
Beyond solo, all depends on how you define "as safe as can be expected".Â* Much of it depends on the pilot's self-knowledge; having a strong sense of getting close to one's own limitations is vital, at all levels.Â* Personally, at 7000+ hours in gliders, and 900+ hours (with 4500+ landings) in power (mostly tugging), I hope I'm still learning (no, this is not just "virtue signalling"), and often give myself a good talking to** after the event!
J.
** I would have said "ticking off" rather than "talking to", but perhaps that would be (at best) ambiguous outside the UK?