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How many hours until solo?

O

oldbaldguy

Registered User
I'm curious about something so I thought I'd take a poll. I got my private some 30 years ago, so I may be out of touch by today's standards but it seems to me students these days are taking a REALLY long time to solo and to take their check ride. Nowadays, it seems like the trend is to drag it out as long as possible. There are new pilots at my airport who didn't solo a nosedragger until they had 30 or 40 hours and are still taking dual at 50 to 80 hours! It was not uncommon where I learned to fly for students to solo in the low single digits and get their PPL at 35 hours total time. 80 hours of dual adds up to a lot of $$$ these days; maybe that's the whole idea.
 
56 hours for the Private, 1982. It took a little longer becuase I used 4 different freelance instructors.I think 8 to 10 for solo. In 2001 3.5 for the taledrag indorsement. For the first hour I thought it was impossible, it got better, than it all just clicked. But I aggree with the tt it takes students. It is revenue so not motivation for schools to get in a hurry.
 
Well, it's been many years for me...(1962), but I soloed in a C-150 in 7.8 hours. And I don't know about now, but I also learned spins, accelerated stalls and crossed control stalls, or in other words, a surprise spin in the opposite direction. Another thing my instructor would do is draw my attention to something outside the cockpit and then turn the gas off so I would have to determine the problem first and then look for a emergency landing spot. :angel:
 
I soloed in 9 hours, 10 years ago. I think it is probably being driven by the liability the CFI may have. I'd be darn sure too if I was signing off a solo. A buddy of mine always talks about the "new" pilot he gets in the right seat of the DC-9/717..... He grew up learning stick and rudder from his old man and he knows the drill. He says the new guys are great with the systems and with procedures but he wouldn't let those guys fly his family in a small aircraft because of the lack of real stick & rudder experience.
 
In my experience, if somebody stays at it and does not take too long of breaks, you can give the PPSEL in 40 - 42hrs. Usually, solo occurs in the 10-20 hour range - almost always closer to 10, but it can be based on weather conditions and also aircraft type. It took me longer to get taildragger primaries to solo than tricycle gear (did four taildragger primaries around the same time and all came in around the 40 hour mark) but the rating itself took the same number of hours. Another one, done with a sixty plus year old student, took around 55 hours - but he was on vacation for a month every other month!

To get the rating in 40 hours, you need an instructor that is focused on teaching in an organized fashion, is making notes about your progress, and knows where you are when you show up. Also, you have to work at it. Two steps forward and one step back because you have decided not to put forth any effort is as frustrating for the instructor as it is for you.

Just my humble opinion!

sj
 
I soloed in 9 hr but I had to hold off until my 16 th birthday and took my private check ride a year later in a Cessna 140, had to do spins also. And learn VOR with a coffee grinder. Come to think of it that 140 was almost new then.
 
Solo 9.9 - PPL 55.7 - Inst. 193 - Com. 254
All in 1 year and 16 days from my first hour. I was fortunate to have the time to put in & great instructors available.

Edit: Had a different Instructor for each of the 3.

Brad
 
My son just got his PPL. I think his time til solo was 10-15hrs. He started flying the Champ for 5-6hours then switched to the 172 mostly because of needing radio work. He received his license with 42-43 hrs TT. He did it this quickly because he was able to fly nearly everyday.
Keith
 
how long to solo?

Who cares? Read Richard Bach's School of Perfection. My son had about 60 hours in everything from cubs to Twin Otters--but then he started at 7 and of course couldn't solo until 16. AND his mother insisted he fly to commercial pilot standards prior to solo!!
Consider the opposite, and see how much you can really teach someone prior to solo.
I know that's not really what your point was, but it provided a forum! I soloed in less than 10 in 1972 in the LA basin, but it was a different world then with no transponders and a "guide" instead of a "PTS" for standards. I was safe enough, but my kid had a hell of a lot more savvy when I turned him loose. (He'll be flying F22's in a month).
 
Time to solo?

I've been a CFI for the last 20 years and have "soloed" alot of student pilots. Most have been in the 10 hour range, a few around 15 hours, one at 6 hours. My experience is the flying comes easier than the book stuff, especially today with all a private pilot needs to know.
 
I was a slow learner, I suppose. I started in a Citabria, soloed it with around 35 hours, took my check ride at 76 hours, I think. This was in the early '90s.

I had two instructors, and spread it over about 18 months or so, with a 3-month break post solo.

Got the 'S' on my ticket in about 8 hours but have never flown a seaplane by myself.

Jon B.
 
The current national average for PPL certification is 68 hours total time.

The average here is 48 hours. I think that's pretty representative of many 141 schools.

In a 141 program, the instructor has little discretion regarding the solo time, but even in a 61 program, a HUGE factor is weather. If you live in windy country like here, students get flights weathered due to wind frequently. That means a review flight. Then they get to solo time, and it's a big X wind, etc.

Lots of variables--student flies daily, weekly, monthly? Weather? etc.

There is no doubt that there are a few outfits that are a bit underhanded, and maybe drag things out a bit.

On the other hand, we put all incoming students with a PPL through a test course. All they have to do in that course is fly one of our aircraft to the PTS standards. Virtually every one of those folks takes 12 to 25 hours to get to the standards they allegedly met when they took the PPL practical exam. Some of those are due to long periods of no flying, but frankly, some are simply because their flight school and the examiner were closely related to Santa Claus... :bad-words: .

And, that isn't doing anyone any favors either.....

MTV
 
I soloed after 4 hrs and 15 minutes of dual at RDU (Raleigh-Durham airport) in 1952 when I had just turned 18 in a J-3 Cub. I got my private at 40 hours and my commercial at 210 hours. The spin requirement had been dropped by then, but since I had practiced spins the examiner asked me to do a two-turn spin anyway. This was in an Aeronica Champ at New Orleans. I was in the Air Force at Biloxi, Mississippi by that time. ...Clyde Davis
 
Dug out my first log book -- had no idea just how Old School I am. Soloed in 1978 at 5.4 in a 152; passed the written without ground school then nailed the private at 44TT. Six and a half months, start to finish. Started flying taildraggers two months later in AK at 49TT. Bought my first airplane at 85 TT. Those were the way, way easier good old days. I was paying $25 an hour wet, including instructor -- my PPSEL cost a whopping $1,100, maybe less; first airplane, a Champ, was not much more. That is 1/8th what I now pay a year for the care and feeding of my 12.
 
how many hours to solo

Im sure the overwhelming problem is the amount of money it takes probably not to many can afford to stick with it i think the 172 at the local airport is for sure 80 dollars an hour an instructor is 35 i think nowadays 20 hours of that is costing you 2300 dollars and im sure thats conciderably cheaper than in other areas i couldnt cough up 2300 in say a month or even six months to do it these days actually I doubt i could even get a licsense anymore and I have a pretty good job
 
Solo'd in 15 then my CFI kept going on vacation so while he was gone I flew my way through the test standards. Planned out my flights according to the standard then went up and practiced. He'd come back long enough to check up on me for a few flights maybe do a cross-country then off again. By the time I got my PPL I had right at 100 hrs. I didn't think much of it, I was flying and that's all that really counted.
 
I bought a J-3 for $800.00 put another $865.00 in the engine overhaul & then soloed in 3 hrs. Buffalo, WY (1963). Times were sure better in the cost of flying back then. Sold the J-3 and bought a PA-18-150 for $5500.00. The 18 is in AK now.
 
Bought N9887D on the 22 of Feb 1985. First solo was 9 hrs later on 3-8-85
S2D kept trying to get out after about 6 or 7 hours but I didn't have any insurance so I refused to fly without him until he refused to fly with me until I took her around the patch a few times on my own. Needed 250 hrs for a aerial permit so I flew anybody and everybody and by fall got the permit, spent that winter mostly on skis then went and got my comm. in the spring and hung a 90 gal sorenson on and went to work. I bought my first sorenson spray rig from Dave Tungue. I still have the spray rig and Dave has 87D

Dave
 
how many hours to solo?

As long as we're getting into training particulars, I may have one that is hard to top: I was in a flying club in Grangeville, ID from 1976-78. It cost $800 to join (which I got back when I sold my membership), dues were $25 a month (of which $15 went towards flying as an incentive for currency). You paid your own insurance. The club had its own hangar, office, and fuel. There were 9 members. We had an 85 Champ, a Super Cub, and a 172. The WET costs were 5, 7, and 8 dollars an hour respectively. Needless to say, I did a lot of flying in that 2 years!
 
I soloed in a j-3 at 4.3 hrs in 1980, I wanted to do it on my 16th birthday but somebody didn't show up to work and I had to fill in, I still have the shirt that was cut off
 
I soloed unoffically in 5.1 hours in a PA-11 at 15 years old. Tried to keep my solo flying to a minimum until my 16th birthday then offically soloed. I purposely waited to get my drivers license until after my solo so that I could legally fly a plane before I could legally drive. Got my pilots license on my 17th birthday.
Shawn
 
First solo after 15.3 over six months with a three month lay-off in the middle. Check ride after 84.3 over three years and 9 instructors. The long time frame and high turnover of instructors was very challenging for me. I did this at a time when I was working a lot. I would try to schedule 2 - 3 flights a week, then between work, weather and instructor schedules would sometimes go two or three months between flights. Looking back at my log book, there were periods of greater intensity where a lot of progress was made. It was a wasteful and frustrating process. If I had known, I would have looked for a different school. I did spin and emergency maneuver training together with an advance stall series, all on an elective basis. This was the most organized and focused portion of my training and added just over 10 hours to the total. I still had things come up on the check ride that I had not experienced with an instructor.

I stayed with it out of sheer stubornness. I hate to quit anything in the middle. Then, shortly after getting my private ticket, I quit flying. I had no confidnece. I was running into new questions and scaring myself on every flight. I had no pals who were flying and one to talk to. Each time I found an instructor who I liked, they got hired at an airline and moved on. To some degree, I think that flying is a lot like hunting. If you do not get into it within the right context, it is pretty hard to take it up.

I could not stay away. The change for me came when I got more involved with other pilots. I then did my instrument ticket in 45 hours over six months all with one instructor. Learning real prceedure and flight discipline gave me the confidence to keep going.
 
A lot depends on the airport you use for training. I fly out of McKinney, TX, which is a reliever airport for Dallas-FortWorth (DFW), Dallas Love(DAL), and Addison (ADS). ADS is a reliever itself, but it prohibits Touch and Go ops, so we get a lot of ADS guys flying at McKinney. The bottom line is that it can get busy. It's not uncommon to be number 7 to land during the prime summer flying season. That means it takes about 15 to 20 minutes for one circuit around the pattern. You accumulate flying time quicker than landing experience.

The closest alternative airport is 15 minutes away, so you will burn 30 minutes round trip if you want to practice there. We get the same effect as staying home: more flight time for fewer landings.

As others have said, there are a lot of other reasons that it takes longer to solo also.

Hank
 
I soloed when I was 18 in 4 hours and 10 minutes in a Cessna 140. I was very fortunate to work for an ag operator during the summers and finance my flying and college. I took my commercial check ride in the morning and went to work that afternoon flying a Call Air A-9.
 
Takes 5-8 hours to master a J-3, but another ten is hardly enough for our truly busy ATC environment and complicated class "B" boundaries.

I just soloed a guy with 6000 hours and two type ratings from many years ago. He has no problems flying, but the radio work was a challenge. I find the most difficult thing around here is ATC coordination. It really isn't ATC's fault; they work their tails off. It is just extremely complex. Opinion.
 
Soloed in 8hrs in a Gruman TR2.Got my private on 4.7.79 in the TR2.Then I got my commercial and Multi in a Navajo the summer of 1980. Went to work for a Oil company in Williston N.D. and had to have 30 hours in the Seneca to be covered for insurance so I got my instrument at the same time.I was 20 at the time and flew all over the country in that Seneca.
Fun times but I didn't like Williston.Talk about somewhere that the wind never quits blowing
 
i just looked at my log book, and i had 40 hours when i soloed, but you have to take into consideration, not all that time was training in the one plane, some of it was float time, tailwheel time, and more than required cross countries, that was all because my dad was my instructor

i also had 94.8 hrs to my PPL, 16hrs was float time, 3.3 tailwheel time

Tom
 
Tom

Having your dad as your instructor is a whole different dynamic. We all should be so lucky. I wish my kids had spent that much time in an airplane with me.
 
Solo at 6.3 hrs, PPL at 38 hrs, 1974. Solo was a mistake, a different instructor at the Flight School was assigned to me due to the instructor I started with being unavailable. We flew a bit, did some landings and he said lets try you out solo. I went out and did my three circuts, came in and lost the back off of the shirt I was wearing.

When the session ended he looked at my logbook and said, wholy crap I thought you had way more time!. But I was off and running and not screwing up too much. I had been pounding around with a lot of buddies in cubs though prior to starting flight training, so had a good idea of what was going on with flying before I started to myself.
 
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