How long to solo?

[Bill Greenwood]

The day a student takes their first solo is a big one, and most of us remember it for years. For me it was after about 12 hours and I was flying a Cherokee 140. I recall saying to myself, "don't worry too much about the landing," since I was not a landing expert, but I was very good at takeoffs, so, "I'll just go ahead and takeoff and take the landing as it comes", and of course it worked out fine, just like most solos.

It seems the norm now to solo in 12 to 20 hours, some take much more even 30 hours. But it is interesting to read how long some of the folks in history took to get up in the air alone.
The quickest that I have read is Hap Arnold, later Air Force Gen, Arnold, who soloed in 3 hrs.and 48 minutes. Is there a catch? Well sort of, Hap was one of the first students at the Wright Bros flying school at Huffman Prairie . Of course they had expert instructors who were not just building time to get an airline job, since there weren't any airlines. And the airspace was uncrowded and uncontrolled, no other planes to worry about or some FAA disk jockey yammering away in your ear. And they certainly didn't have any complicated glass cockpit to decipher, as a matter of fact they didn't even have a cockpit of any kind.

The next fastest solo I know of was a test the AOPA instructors did. Some years back AOPA had a great program called Pinch Hitter,which is theory was if a passenger such as a spouse were to take over when the pilot was incapcitated and land the plane. The format was to have a long class session like Friday afternoon, and learn about how the controls worked and enough radio basics to call for help. Then on Sat and Sun THEY ACTUALLY FLEW. They took the non pilot part of the duo up in the family plane and had the non pilot actually fly, and by Sunday the non pilot could and did make several landings themselves Half the people were reluctant to do the course on Fri and by Sun. eve almost all had a huge attitude change and they had some confidence that they could actually land their plane since they had just in fact done it.
This was a great program and as for as I know never had an accident, but lawyers got involved and stopped the flying part and now Pinch Hitter means only the classroom part.

Anyway, just for fun a couple of the CFIs decided to find a student to start completely from scratch and see how quickly they could do a simple solo in a simple plane, just take off in a C-150 and go around the pattern to land, nothing else, but solo. They found a lady who knew nothing about flying, she was in fact a Las Vegas showgirl and didn't hang out at the airport like most of us. So they gave her the basic lessons and in 5 1/2 hours she safely made her solo flight. The CFI who told me the story said the lady was like a blank slate, can't recall if she even drove a car, and was so great looking the CFI had a hard time concentrating on his work. I am not sure of the rest of the story, don't recall if she went on to become a pilot.

[martymayes]

If solo is the only objective, it can be done it a remarkably short period of time. Probably more so now than ever because of access to flight simulator computer programs.

I think Piper proved the former back in 1979 with the "Blue Sky Solo Course"
For $299 (price varied slightly by location) and ~8 hrs of training, they would let you fly around the pattern if they thought you could make it, lol.

While I don't necessarily agree with the concept, it did generate a lot of interest.

[Jim Rosenow]

Fastest one ever... 0 time :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJT_CACIZqs

I know..not really solo, but pretty amazing!

[ov1guy]

The day a student takes their first solo is a big one, and most of us remember it for years. For me it was after about 12 hours and I was flying a Cherokee 140. I recall saying to myself, "don't worry too much about the landing," since I was not a landing expert, but I was very good at takeoffs, so, "I'll just go ahead and takeoff and take the landing as it comes", and of course it worked out fine, just like most solos.

It seems the norm now to solo in 12 to 20 hours, some take much more even 30 hours. But it is interesting to read how long some of the folks in history took to get up in the air alone.
The quickest that I have read is Hap Arnold, later Air Force Gen, Arnold, who soloed in 3 hrs.and 48 minutes. Is there a catch? Well sort of, Hap was one of the first students at the Wright Bros flying school at Huffman Prairie . Of course they had expert instructors who were not just building time to get an airline job, since there weren't any airlines. And the airspace was uncrowded and uncontrolled, no other planes to worry about or some FAA disk jockey yammering away in your ear. And they certainly didn't have any complicated glass cockpit to decipher, as a matter of fact they didn't even have a cockpit of any kind.

The next fastest solo I know of was a test the AOPA instructors did. Some years back AOPA had a great program called Pinch Hitter,which is theory was if a passenger such as a spouse were to take over when the pilot was incapcitated and land the plane. The format was to have a long class session like Friday afternoon, and learn about how the controls worked and enough radio basics to call for help. Then on Sat and Sun THEY ACTUALLY FLEW. They took the non pilot part of the duo up in the family plane and had the non pilot actually fly, and by Sunday the non pilot could and did make several landings themselves Half the people were reluctant to do the course on Fri and by Sun. eve almost all had a huge attitude change and they had some confidence that they could actually land their plane since they had just in fact done it.
This was a great program and as for as I know never had an accident, but lawyers got involved and stopped the flying part and now Pinch Hitter means only the classroom part.

Anyway, just for fun a couple of the CFIs decided to find a student to start completely from scratch and see how quickly they could do a simple solo in a simple plane, just take off in a C-150 and go around the pattern to land, nothing else, but solo. They found a lady who knew nothing about flying, she was in fact a Las Vegas showgirl and didn't hang out at the airport like most of us. So they gave her the basic lessons and in 5 1/2 hours she safely made her solo flight. The CFI who told me the story said the lady was like a blank slate, can't recall if she even drove a car, and was so great looking the CFI had a hard time concentrating on his work. I am not sure of the rest of the story, don't recall if she went on to become a pilot.

In the real world, a significant factor is the weather. The time required to solo in Arizona and the time required to solo in North Dakota are like apples and oranges.

[ov1guy]

In the real world, a significant factor is the weather. The time required to solo in Arizona and the time required to solo in North Dakota are like apples and oranges.

[Bob Willman]

In 1959 the Piper dealer at Toledo Express Airport was offering flying lessons - $75.00 guaranteed solo- $350.00 guaranteed private using Tri-Pacers for training. At 19 years old I could not find $350 but did manage to round up $75 and so it began in the fall of 1959. I soloed at the end of the 6th hour on a cold fall day. In the next year I soloed again and got a cross country rating. Then electronics school, marriage and family came along and flying stopped after about 27 hours. It was a fun ride. I did make it to Rockford twice.

Bob
WB8NQW

[Bill Greenwood]

Solo is a meaningful milestone. It means you are a pilot. Sure, not yet a licensed, or as the nitpickers say a certified or certificated pilot, but if the airplane took off, flew around and came back and landed with only one person in it, then that person must have been the pilot. And now it is not just theory, he/she knows that they can fly.
There is, of course, much more still to learn, like cross country navigation and the never ending interaction with weather, but for that half hour or so, the person is/was a pilot, and can be again.

As part of his great WWII book, FIRST LIGHT, former RAF Battle of Britain pilot Geoffrey Wellum writes about his first solo in a Spitfire, and the feeling of begin overwhelmed at his first experience in a fighter, "A Spitfire has landed at Duxford with me inside it." He was 18 years old, just, but it was June of 1940 and he was very soon to go from being a teenager to a man and a real fighter pilot where the sky is full of 109s that shoot back.

[martymayes]

Sure, not yet a licensed or as the nitpickers say a certified pilot,

The really picky ones would say "certificated"


....but that wouldn't happen here........ ;-)

[eiclan]

Gday,7.5 hrs for me at the then not so busy Jandakot airport here in Perth western Australia.Having said that I had 15 hrs in a glider.Is it my imagination but that first landing was the best I did for a long time.jandakot is one of the most busy airports in the southern hemisphere these days .A lot of the Asian airlines have their flight schools there. Cheers Ross

[malexander]

At 17 yrs old, I soloed in 11 hrs. in 1976 in C-150 8700G, Watonga, OK.

[lnuss]

At 26 years old in June 1969, I soloed at 9.3 hours in an Aeronca Chief, near Manhattan, IL (from a farmer's private strip). I didn't do half bad the first two times around, but on the third one I had green stains on the wingtip from an excursion through the corn. Right at the approach end of the 1900 foot runway were the ubiquitous power lines, and I was a hair high and fast. During the flare (held too long), I decided I needed to go around, but I was already behind the power curve, and would have touched down a second later (hindsight, of course) had I not added the full 65 ponies in that cowling, which just dragged me sideways (rudder anyone) through the corn.

The next (and only other) time I swerved like that was in Dec 1976, in Albuquerque, when a guy I was trying to check out in a Stearman banged the tail on the ground after a wheel landing, and one spring came off the tailwheel steering -- full opposite rudder and brake weren't enough to fight the spring and to stop the ground loop. Fortunately, there were just scrape marks on the wingtip. A side note: two GADO feds (I knew them both) watched this happen, since they were investigating a minor accident at the time.

[jjhoneck]

I soloed with 6.2 hours of instruction in a Cherokee 140 in 1994.

I never got him to admit it, but I think my crusty old CFI mixed me up with another student that day... lol. When he signed my logbook, post-solo, his eyebrows went up, he looked at me, and let out a long whistle...

[Dana]

I soloed after 8 hours in 1976, when I was 16. The thing I remember most was laughing and slapping the empty seat next to me, and the tower telling my my traffic was a no-radio biplane departing from the cross runway, I was more interested in seeing it than flying the C-150 I was in.

[pilotgirlbuf]

Haha well good job all of the above. It took me 32 hours until my first solo. yeah it took me awhile but it was the best and most freeing hour of my life!!! Then when my instructor loosed the leash I traveled to what we call the "North Practice Area", just a very empty spot, to go practice maneuvers in. Man was that so peaceful :D I love every minute up there by myself, no stress

[Bill Greenwood]

I am glad to hear you have stuck with it and soloed .Some folks do it quicker than others, but it is kind of like college, some get through in 4 years and others like me take time to savor the experience like a fine wine. In the end there is no footnote on my diploma and I have a degree just like all those who had less fun than I did.

I know that winter weather can be a huge problem in Buffalo, plus the inevitable delays in dealing with a tower airport with airline and jet traffic.

When you get your certificate, a great trip is to the airshow in the summer at Geneseo, probably late July just before Oshkosh.

Good luck, and keep flying, about now the weather may be turning in your favor.

[Bob Dingley]

It took me 7.8 to solo a J-3 on skis. I took half hour lessons. I was in high school in Maine then and could only afford a couple of lessons each month. First flight in sept, and first solo in feb. The skis were installed late dec after I had logged 6 hrs on wheels.


The least time that I have heard of was ZERO hours of dual and one hour of ground school. This is the story as I know it.


In 1944, the Army was interested in another means to put troops in the enemy rear. Parachutes and gliders had their limitations. John Thorp (P2V Neptune, T-18, PA 28 stabilator, etc) was a Lockheed engineer and was tasked to create the Lockheed model 33 "Little Dipper."


http://www.aero-web.org/specs/lockheed/lck-33.htm


In a demonstration for Army brass, a volunteer soldier was selected. Primary qualifications was that he had no aviation experience whatever. After a short briefing, he succesfuly took off, circled the parade field and landed. First Solo! The specs for the L-33 Little Dipper show a plane that would be very popular today. Thorp got the rights to the design released to him after the war.


Bob

[MEdwards]

Looked back in my logbook. I soloed after 14.4 hours on my lunch "hour" at Santa Monica Airport in April 1971. As an aerospace engineer, I was wearing a white dress shirt and tie (different world, different times), so the instructor declined to cut my shirttail off. I've always regretted that, though it's not high on my list of regrets.

[DennisB]

Starting your flying lessons if you can I'd suggest a quiet airport with long runways like near me Stewart Airport Newburgh NY. With a 11,800 ft. runway it should take some of the pressure off of you in your beginning lessons.

[jedi]

I have to admire Will and Orv. Will soloed in no time and after 12 seconds became an instructor and soloed Orv with next to no time. It took the two of them a year to build the time some of you took to solo. But then you probably didn't break anything along the way.

[Bill Greenwood]

I just read of Bob Hoover's experience, he soloed after 10 hours, and had problems with airsickness when first doing acro.

[Mike Berg]

9.5 hours in a Cessna 150 off a 2500 foot grass strip. I went around the first time, though as I was taught "never be too proud to go around if it doesn't look right". (It didn't).

[Bill Greenwood]

One of the new CFIs at a local flight school just had two students solo, one after 23 hours, one after 16 hours, both did the solo flight well.

[CDS]

At 17 yrs old, I soloed in 11 hrs. in 1976 in C-150 8700G, Watonga, OK.

Pretty much the same here, 17 years old in 11 hours in shiny new C-152 in 1977. I was frustrated by weather delays and therefore, was disappointed that it took 11 hours.

[Floatsflyer]

I just turned(literally) 24 when I soloed in 8.6 hours in a not so new C-150 in 1973. And I soloed on my birthday(you could look it up) which I always thought was prophetic because from the age of 4 I believed I was born to fly.

Has anyone noticed a pattern here from the anecdotal descriptions posted. Seems those who soloed in the 60's and 70's did so at an average of under 10 hours. In the decades following, the hours to solo has risen substantially for most students. What nefarious factors have contributed to this? I'm sure economics is one.