40 years ago

Ross wrote:
ManhattanMan wrote:
H. Adam Stevens wrote:

Greetings

On May 1, 1967 I flew my last pre-solo dual.
I soloed on May 2, at 10 hours, in Cessna N8624J, a brand new 150,
the first student to solo in it.
The rent was $7/hr wet.




That's about the time I did the same, 9 hrs, C-150 N8722G..
Flew out of the now defunct Fairfax airport in Kansas City, Kansas,
presently a GM assembley plant..
Seem to remember dual was $15/hr.



In 1970 I soloed from Hillside Airport, south of KCMO. $9.00/hr wet
for a C-150. I got my commercial in ~1973 at the Johnson County
Airport (now Executive) with the Johnson Co community college. C-172
were $16.00 hr wet and the instructors were salaried, so there were
no per hour instructor charges. And I used to fill my '67 Buick
Wildcat (430 CID) with premium at $0.19/gal.

We used to go to Johnson Co. for touch & goes if Fairfax was busy - made my
all time worst landing there with my CFI practicing full flap short field
and bounced up so high I just hit the throttle for a go around. Really made
me a believer of the 150's main gear! d:-))

ManhattanMan wrote:
Ross wrote:

ManhattanMan wrote:

H. Adam Stevens wrote:


Greetings

On May 1, 1967 I flew my last pre-solo dual.
I soloed on May 2, at 10 hours, in Cessna N8624J, a brand new 150,
the first student to solo in it.
The rent was $7/hr wet.




That's about the time I did the same, 9 hrs, C-150 N8722G..
Flew out of the now defunct Fairfax airport in Kansas City, Kansas,
presently a GM assembley plant..
Seem to remember dual was $15/hr.



In 1970 I soloed from Hillside Airport, south of KCMO. $9.00/hr wet
for a C-150. I got my commercial in ~1973 at the Johnson County
Airport (now Executive) with the Johnson Co community college. C-172
were $16.00 hr wet and the instructors were salaried, so there were
no per hour instructor charges. And I used to fill my '67 Buick
Wildcat (430 CID) with premium at $0.19/gal.


We used to go to Johnson Co. for touch & goes if Fairfax was busy - made my
all time worst landing there with my CFI practicing full flap short field
and bounced up so high I just hit the throttle for a go around. Really made
me a believer of the 150's main gear! d:-))



Damn. All these "solo'd at 10 hours" stuff. I wonder if I had
decent CFIs. I had 30 at my first solo. I know I don't learn
super fast, but jeesh.

Erik wrote:

Damn. All these "solo'd at 10 hours" stuff. I wonder if I had
decent CFIs. I had 30 at my first solo. I know I don't learn
super fast, but jeesh.

How far were your lessons spaced out? I had just finished four years in the
Navy flying back seat as radar operator in S2F sub chasers, so navigation,
general familiarization with aircraft was old stuff, and I was taking
courses through the Junior College on pilot training, so things were going
along at a pretty good clip....
It was still a kick in the pants anyway you slice it though, wasn't it?????
d:-))

In article ,
Erik wrote:

Damn. All these "solo'd at 10 hours" stuff. I wonder if I had
decent CFIs. I had 30 at my first solo. I know I don't learn
super fast, but jeesh.

look up old postings in rec.aviation.student. Every once in awhile
there are postings about how long it's taking to solo.

Summary: It doesn't matter, and it depends on a number
of factors including frequency of lesson, prior experience,
weather, traffic density.

bottomline: it doesn't matter

--
Bob Noel
(goodness, please trim replies!!!)

Erik wrote:

Damn. All these "solo'd at 10 hours" stuff. I wonder if I had
decent CFIs. I had 30 at my first solo. I know I don't learn
super fast, but jeesh.

One thing to keep in mind: in the last 20 years the number of people
soloing in less than ten hours has gone way down. I have a friend who
soloed in the late sixties in less than five hours. Basically, his
instructor took him and did turns (climbing and descending) and then
taught him how to flare. After that, solo time.

These days you learn a lot more prior to soloing, so it naturally takes
longer. The average these days is closer to 20 hours than 10. A lot of
factors affect that, as others have said. One of the biggest factors is
how often you fly. If you fly once every week or so, it will take more
hours than if you fly three or four times a week.

But, as someone else pointed out, it doesn't really matter. All that
matters is the end result: passing the checkride.


-m
--
## Mark T. Dame
## CP-ASEL, AGI
## insert tail number here
## KHAO, KISZ
"Forget the Joneses, I keep us up with the Simpsons."

Erik wrote:
ManhattanMan wrote:

Ross wrote:

ManhattanMan wrote:

H. Adam Stevens wrote:


Greetings

On May 1, 1967 I flew my last pre-solo dual.
he 150's main gear! d:-))


Damn. All these "solo'd at 10 hours" stuff. I wonder if I had
decent CFIs. I had 30 at my first solo. I know I don't learn
super fast, but jeesh.


I soloed at ~ 7.8 hours at Hillside. My wife let me know that she soloed
~ 7.5 hours or something like that. It was sooner than mine. Times are
different now I guess. Seem everyone is soloing later.
--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI

Erik wrote:
Damn. All these "solo'd at 10 hours" stuff. I wonder if I had
decent CFIs. I had 30 at my first solo. I know I don't learn
super fast, but jeesh.


Thanks for the replies. At the start, I was doing twice a week
and we did do a lot more than turns and flares. I learned stalls,
steep turns, slow flight, navigation, unusual attitudes, and more
before soloing so maybe that's why.

On May 1, 1967 I flew my last pre-solo dual.
I soloed on May 2, at 10 hours, in Cessna N8624J, a brand new 150, the first
student to solo in it.
The rent was $7/hr wet.

It seems that most here are concentrating on the costs -- but I'd like
to say "Congratulations" on 40 years in the air!

I wasted my first 35 years on the ground, looking up. As a result of
my procrastination, I doubt that I shall ever have the opportunity to
enjoy aviation for 40 straight years -- it's quite an accomplisment,
IMHO. Good job!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

("Richard Riley" wrote something I needed to look up)
....So. Cal real estate being an outlier


out·li·er (outlr) n.

1. One whose domicile lies at an appreciable distance from his or her place
of business.

2. A value far from most others in a set of data: "Outliers make
statistical analyses difficult" Harvey Motulsky.

3. Geology: A portion of stratified rock separated from a main formation
by erosion.


I'm going with # 3 ....for its none-too-subtle (subtextual) possibilities.


Montblack

"Richard Riley" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:25:05 -0500, "H. Adam Stevens"
wrote:

Greetings

On May 1, 1967 I flew my last pre-solo dual.
I soloed on May 2, at 10 hours, in Cessna N8624J, a brand new 150, the
first
student to solo in it.
The rent was $7/hr wet.

Heh.

In 1967, my parent's house sold for $25,000. My dad bought a new
Chevy for about $2100, and a gallon of regular was about $.35.

Just add a zero to everything and it comes out about right (except the
house, So. Cal real estate being an outlier)

I know inflation happened, a 172 was $14,000 back then.
But I was able to pay for flying lessons in high school by washing
airplanes.

I knew one guy who soloed before he got his driver's license.
He used to ride his bicycle to the airport to fly airplanes.

Cheers
H.

Here's a memory:
http://www.marrazzo.net/~spiderwebne...veratFL240.JPG