First Solo and Total Hours Flown

In article . com,
"Greengears" wrote:

Every pilot out there will never forget their first Solo. But there has
always been this nagging questions as to should there be a minimum
amount of hours flown before a pilot can be allowed to Solo. I have
seen pilots solo in as little as 9 hours and as high as 75 hours.
I know most of you will say that it should vary from pilot to pilot.
But should there be a minimum amount of hours flown?


There already is a minimum number of hours. It's when your CFI
determines you can safely get around the pattern by yourself. For me it
was 7 hours, for another student with my CFI it was 80+ hours...all
depends.

Greengears wrote:

Every pilot out there will never forget their first Solo. But there has
always been this nagging questions as to should there be a minimum
amount of hours flown before a pilot can be allowed to Solo. I have
seen pilots solo in as little as 9 hours and as high as 75 hours.
I know most of you will say that it should vary from pilot to pilot.
But should there be a minimum amount of hours flown?

It should be left to the discretion of the instructor,
I soloed under 5 hours and know of others who were sent off at 3
hours...
If any-one takes more than 20 hours to solo they should take another
look at becoming a pilot.. IMHO

No more than 20 hours to solo??? That's a little rough. I currently have
26.5 (yes, and I'm proud of that .5!) hours and although my CFI says I'm
ready to solo after a couple more lessons, I'm in no rush. The weather in
the northeast is getting problematic so a lot of cancelled lessons and on
those days I do fly, no 2 days are ever the same weather-wise. Not even
close! As everyone except you has agreed, we solo when the CFI and I agree
regardless of the hours.

If I lived in Phoenix, I would have soloed by now has the weather is always
good, especially for flying. Makes it a lot easier to learn to fly.


"george" wrote in message
oups.com...

Greengears wrote:

Every pilot out there will never forget their first Solo. But there has
always been this nagging questions as to should there be a minimum
amount of hours flown before a pilot can be allowed to Solo. I have
seen pilots solo in as little as 9 hours and as high as 75 hours.
I know most of you will say that it should vary from pilot to pilot.
But should there be a minimum amount of hours flown?

It should be left to the discretion of the instructor,
I soloed under 5 hours and know of others who were sent off at 3
hours...
If any-one takes more than 20 hours to solo they should take another
look at becoming a pilot.. IMHO

"Cody Dawg" wrote in message
...
No more than 20 hours to solo??? That's a little rough. I currently have
26.5 (yes, and I'm proud of that .5!) hours and although my CFI says I'm
ready to solo after a couple more lessons, I'm in no rush. The weather in
the northeast is getting problematic so a lot of cancelled lessons and on
those days I do fly, no 2 days are ever the same weather-wise. Not even
close! As everyone except you has agreed, we solo when the CFI and I
agree regardless of the hours.

I think zero should be the absolute minimum (like the Wright Brothers).

Cody, where do you fly?


If I lived in Phoenix, I would have soloed by now has the weather is
always good, especially for flying. Makes it a lot easier to learn to
fly.


"george" wrote in message
oups.com...

Greengears wrote:

Every pilot out there will never forget their first Solo. But there has
always been this nagging questions as to should there be a minimum
amount of hours flown before a pilot can be allowed to Solo. I have
seen pilots solo in as little as 9 hours and as high as 75 hours.
I know most of you will say that it should vary from pilot to pilot.
But should there be a minimum amount of hours flown?

It should be left to the discretion of the instructor,
I soloed under 5 hours and know of others who were sent off at 3
hours...
If any-one takes more than 20 hours to solo they should take another
look at becoming a pilot.. IMHO

KDXR Danbury, CT

"Steve Foley" wrote in message
news:q2Ibh.14811$_x3.4328@trndny02...
"Cody Dawg" wrote in message
...
No more than 20 hours to solo??? That's a little rough. I currently
have 26.5 (yes, and I'm proud of that .5!) hours and although my CFI says
I'm ready to solo after a couple more lessons, I'm in no rush. The
weather in the northeast is getting problematic so a lot of cancelled
lessons and on those days I do fly, no 2 days are ever the same
weather-wise. Not even close! As everyone except you has agreed, we
solo when the CFI and I agree regardless of the hours.

I think zero should be the absolute minimum (like the Wright Brothers).

Cody, where do you fly?


If I lived in Phoenix, I would have soloed by now has the weather is
always good, especially for flying. Makes it a lot easier to learn to
fly.


"george" wrote in message
oups.com...

Greengears wrote:

Every pilot out there will never forget their first Solo. But there has
always been this nagging questions as to should there be a minimum
amount of hours flown before a pilot can be allowed to Solo. I have
seen pilots solo in as little as 9 hours and as high as 75 hours.
I know most of you will say that it should vary from pilot to pilot.
But should there be a minimum amount of hours flown?

It should be left to the discretion of the instructor,
I soloed under 5 hours and know of others who were sent off at 3
hours...
If any-one takes more than 20 hours to solo they should take another
look at becoming a pilot.. IMHO

Cody Dawg wrote:
No more than 20 hours to solo??? That's a little rough. I currently have
26.5 (yes, and I'm proud of that .5!) hours and although my CFI says I'm
ready to solo after a couple more lessons, I'm in no rush. The weather in
the northeast is getting problematic so a lot of cancelled lessons and on
those days I do fly, no 2 days are ever the same weather-wise. Not even
close! As everyone except you has agreed, we solo when the CFI and I agree
regardless of the hours.

If I lived in Phoenix, I would have soloed by now has the weather is always
good, especially for flying. Makes it a lot easier to learn to fly.

Weather, finances, and other events can definately have a big impact, especially early in
your training. I started my training in late July 2001, just before my senior year in
high school. In between pop-up summer thunderstorms and going to work to pay for my next
lesson, I managed to get to about 10 hours over the next couple weeks. I was was getting
close, and one day my instructor told me we could probably knock out the solo on my next
lesson. I figured "this would be a nice birthday present," so I scheduled said lesson for
my birthday (September 12). Needless to say, I didn't get to fly again until October or
so. By then, I'd lost all of my feel for landings, and had to spend a few more hours
working back up before I could solo.

A few months later, I went through a stretch where I didn't fly for six weeks--every time
I showed up at the field for a lesson, it rained.

As an aside, does anyone else remember the odd rule from shortly after 9/11, when no VFR
traffic was allowed under "enhanced class B" airspace (class B and anywhere underneath it)
except for training? The airport I flew from (FFC) is under the Atlanta class B, and I
found it interesting that I could go up and fly around (even solo, since that was
considered training) whereas my dad (an airline pilot) could not...

It took me 40 hours until solo... I was a one trip a week student and
had a couple of off times during this time...

On 30 Nov 2006 11:37:17 -0800, "george" wrote:


Greengears wrote:

Every pilot out there will never forget their first Solo. But there has
always been this nagging questions as to should there be a minimum
amount of hours flown before a pilot can be allowed to Solo. I have
seen pilots solo in as little as 9 hours and as high as 75 hours.
I know most of you will say that it should vary from pilot to pilot.
But should there be a minimum amount of hours flown?

It should be left to the discretion of the instructor,
I soloed under 5 hours and know of others who were sent off at 3
hours...
If any-one takes more than 20 hours to solo they should take another
look at becoming a pilot.. IMHO


Mike Alexander
PP-ASEL
Temecula, CA
See my online aerial photo album at
http://flying.4alexanders.com

I would love to see the 3-hour guy's logbook for all the 15 items
required by the FAR for solo. In fact, I would love to see the 5-hour
guy's logbook too.



george wrote:
Greengears wrote:

Every pilot out there will never forget their first Solo. But there has
always been this nagging questions as to should there be a minimum
amount of hours flown before a pilot can be allowed to Solo. I have
seen pilots solo in as little as 9 hours and as high as 75 hours.
I know most of you will say that it should vary from pilot to pilot.
But should there be a minimum amount of hours flown?

It should be left to the discretion of the instructor,
I soloed under 5 hours and know of others who were sent off at 3
hours...
If any-one takes more than 20 hours to solo they should take another
look at becoming a pilot.. IMHO

In article .com,
"Andrew Sarangan" wrote:

I would love to see the 3-hour guy's logbook for all the 15 items
required by the FAR for solo. In fact, I would love to see the 5-hour
guy's logbook too.

Why? 61.87 doesn't have *that* much stuff to go over. Are there
other requirements for solo flight?

If someone learns at a relatively quiet field with a good practice area
really close, is able to have lots of frequent short lessons, and
flies a reasonably fast trainer, why should solo at 5 hours be
so unbelievable?

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

"Bob Noel" wrote in message
...
In article .com,
"Andrew Sarangan" wrote:

I would love to see the 3-hour guy's logbook for all the 15 items
required by the FAR for solo. In fact, I would love to see the 5-hour
guy's logbook too.

Why? 61.87 doesn't have *that* much stuff to go over. Are there
other requirements for solo flight?

How many kids started learning to fly in Dad's plane when they were quite
young, but the instruction was not loggable?

I can think of a few who had zero LEGAL (logged) hours, but could handle the
aircraft quite nicely because they had been "flying" for ten years or more.