Are your students ready to solo?

[Tonala2k]

I just got back from a flight that left me asking this very question. A new student and I were working on the basic four when at first we seemed to be picking up some moister in the center of our windshield at the bottom. The clouds about 500 feet up must have been leaking. Not five minutes later it began to grow and run up the windshield in little golden streaks. Hmmm, oil cap maybe, though this is the first flight after maintenance.

Sure enough it was oil and we took immediate measures, now all is well. The plane's following scheduled flight was a new solo of mine. What if the seal lasted just one more flight? What if my current student had canceled? How ready would my solo student have been? Would the problem be detected in time? I know I gave training for all sorts of emergencies, but really, if push came to shove how would it have turned out? Every little thing I did between first detection and shutting down the plane I asked myself, "Would my students know to do this?"

Invulnerability. Not so much that I thought it couldn't happen to me or my students, but just simply that it wouldn't

 

[Learsforsale]

At least the student that your with got some valuable experience.

But what you mentioned was always one of my fears as I put pen to paper for a solo endorsement. I think the best thing to do is to not teach emergencies like its just another manuever. At Riddle we got too caught up in the syllabus,

"OK today we are going to do Steep turns, slow flight, stalls and engine failures"

While it is good to enforce the procedures, it is even better to break routine. In the middle of a steep turn, pull the engine. Student finally tracking the VOR needle, simulate no oil pressure. Pull the engine somewhere other then abeam the numbers.

The other thing that scares me about soloing students is that I have seen them at their absolute worst moments. There were some mistakes that if I would not have been in the right seat, they would have put the plane into the ground.

One of my private students had a tendancy to not look outside, ever. He would pick an instrument and fixate on it. I finally broke him of this habit and everything was fine. The last time we flew before his local solo, he reverted back to his fixation problem. We were on final and we were starting to get slow. I called "Airspeed" so he checks his speed and lowers the nose a little. He finally got back on airspeed, and held the same pitch while staring at the A/S indicator. I yell for him to look outside, and he finally realizes that we are on a collision course with terra firma. Yes my pulse was raised and the vein was starting to protrude from my temple but what really bothered me was thinking what might have happened if I was not in the plane.

 

[flyingnome]

Unforunatly as Flight Instructors we can only offer the best advice in the unknown before they are to venture out on their own. Are we able to cover every possible situation? No of course not, I remember on one of my first solos as a student pilot the oil door cover blew open, not the actual cap just the access door, had I gone over what to do at the time? Nope but everything ended up ok. Now after teacing for a few years and soloing way to many students *or so it feels like it* you just do everything you can to develop good habbit patterns incase of some abnormal situation. Thankfully I have been incident free but I have had some situations that scared me.

I had student go on a solo cross country back in December and while it was my bad for sending her as late in the day as I did she knew to come back as soon as she landed. Well come to find out later this student hung out on the ground for a couple hours and upon taking off realized that she had nearly 200 miles to fly back and only about an hour left of sunlight. After the sunset and I was waiting at the airport I got a phone call from my student letting me know that she had diverted to a nearby airport and decided to not fly the rest of the way back. She camped out over night and in the morning made a new flightplan back for home. I was happy with the way it turned out in the end, but needless to say the night before I was on pins and needles until I got the phone call...

 

[midlifeflyer]

realized that she had nearly 200 miles to fly back and only about an hour left of sunlight. After the sunset and I was waiting at the airport I got a phone call from my student letting me know that she had diverted to a nearby airport and decided to not fly the rest of the way back. She camped out over night and in the morning made a new flightplan back for home. I was happy with the way it turned out in the end, but needless to say the night before I was on pins and needles until I got the phone call...

Pins and needles maybe. But you obviously had a student who showed true PIC judgment.

I was lucky enough so see a student do something similar pre-solo. I was up with a student and the oil temp went sky high. Before I could say anything, my student pointed to it and said, "I think we should start heading back." I told him he was in charge and he took us home. He handled everything, including a call to the Tower to let them know that we had a potential problem.

 

[jaxpilot]

"I had student go on a solo cross country back in December and while it was my bad for sending her as late in the day as I did she knew to come back as soon as she landed. Well come to find out later this student hung out on the ground for a couple hours and upon taking off realized that she had nearly 200 miles to fly back and only about an hour left of sunlight. After the sunset and I was waiting at the airport I got a phone call from my student letting me know that she had diverted to a nearby airport and decided to not fly the rest of the way back. She camped out over night and in the morning made a new flightplan back for home. I was happy with the way it turned out in the end, but needless to say the night before I was on pins and needles until I got the phone call..."

How were you able to endorse the student for that second day of solo xc flight? Each solo endorsement is good for that day only (always exceptions though). I ask because I recently ran into this situation and am curious, thanks.

 

[flyingnome]

How were you able to endorse the student for that second day of solo xc flight? Each solo endorsement is good for that day only (always exceptions though). I ask because I recently ran into this situation and am curious, thanks.

Yeah well her logbook was endorsed that day . Just after she got back, really wasnt much else I could do unless I drove the 100 miles out to where she was to get it to her. I was very proud of her for using her good judgement and stopping when she did. Where I live it is very mountainous and there is a 13,000 foot peak just a few miles north of the airport. On a moonless night as it was it would have been very difficult for her.

 

[flyingnome]

Pins and needles maybe. But you obviously had a student who showed true PIC judgment.

I was lucky enough so see a student do something similar pre-solo. I was up with a student and the oil temp went sky high. Before I could say anything, my student pointed to it and said, "I think we should start heading back." I told him he was in charge and he took us home. He handled everything, including a call to the Tower to let them know that we had a potential problem.

It is always nice to have a student use good PIC decision making, sounds like your student did well with the task as hand as well. Always nice when things kind of work out.

 

[Tonala2k]

Flyingnome,
I'm with you on the endorsement. I would far rather explain to FSDO why my student's log book wasn't endorsed than have to explain what my student was doing flying at nigh not endorsed, or worse, what my student was doing flying into the mountain side at night not endorsed.

In a moment like this I feel it is important not only to applaud the student for making the right final choice, but also clarifying what did go wrong. That's one bit of growing up being a pilot made me do. Instead of blaming everything on circumstances, I learned to understand how I created circumstances. I don't know about others, but I do run into a lot of projection. Typically small cases, but some times it can get pretty bad.

 

[midlifeflyer]

How were you able to endorse the student for that second day of solo cross country flight? Each solo endorsement is good for that day only (always exceptions though). I ask because I recently ran into this situation and am curious, thanks.

That's a good question. The FAA definition of a "flight" is pretty loose. But I'd be concerned that it would treat a student solo cross country with an overnight as two separate flights.

This is related to a topic that's been getting some play on other forums. The topic there doesn't involve an overnight stay. Instead it involves a student who diverts to another airport during a solo cross country. There are essentially two questions. One is the technical question whether 61.93(c) requires an new endorsement. The other, more important, question is what are the standards you would apply to allowing the student to continue after the diversion.

There's been plenty of variety on the important part of the question - understandable since each student and situation is different. No consensus of opinion (and no solid guidance from the FAA) on the technical regulatory question.

Safest answer to the overnight? Find a CFI at the airport where she is, talk about the student, and hopefully, have the local CFI make a new 61.93(c) endorsement.

 

[Tonala2k]

Midlife,
Good point about having another CFI sign-off. If your student knows what they are doing it should be easy to convince another CFI to endorse the log book. they're not endorsing that the pilot can fly 61.93(c)(1), only that the planing is complete 61.93(c)(2).