Time to Solo

[bobbysamd]

Shirttail

Probably just the tail itself. You can always bring a shirt you don't mind being cut up, but pulling out your shirt to have the tail cut off is part of the fun.

 

[Steve]

I wore a T-Shirt and it didn't have a tail

 

[aero99]

Around 20 hours- when I was ready.

Don't be concerned about when you solo. If you do it at 10 hours or 50 hours it doesn't matter. What does matter is that YOU feel you are ready and not pressured by other students or instructors that you are ready.

I know someone that crashed on their solo and hit the runway lights. He was OK, but it sure didn't do much for his future career or self confidence. This will be the first test of your "to go or not to go" question. Make sure you start off on the right foot.

It will be one of the best experiences of your life.
Good luck, and come back and tell us how it went!

tmmt's advice I completely agree with.

 

[bigD]

Good luck with your solo. It's very cool. I remember being on upwind after my first takeoff and thinking, "Uh oh BigD - now you HAVE to land this thing! And there isn't a dude next to you to bail your a** out!"

You'll probably find that your solo landings are some of the best that you've ever done!

 

[mikecanfly]

Hehe, what memories!

Soloed at 16.3 hrs. Flying once every week or two in high school.

Taxied out to the runway in Winter Haven, took a deep breath, and still to this day remember how sweet it felt to push the power all the way in.

BigD was right on target. The VERY first thing I said to myself after rotation was "Guess now I HAVE to land it somewhere." And I eventually found the runway centerline...

Good Luck!

 

[navigator72]

Solo flight

I soloed at about 17 hours but I was taking the long way to get my private.
I used to attend a school that made the students get dragged through the a giant muddy ditch by the other students after a first solo. strange but true!!!

 

[Speedtree]

I flew solo at about 10 or 11 hours. My instructor and I used up too much of the block for the dual practice so when I went up for my first take-off and landing I only had a short time until the plane was supposed to be back for the next student. The tradition, or so I'm told, is to do 3 T&Gs, but I only did one so I could get the aircraft back. Looking back I wish I would have done three, they would have gotten over it.

Incidentally, the shirt-tail thing is from the days when most trainers were tandem, like the old T-6s. The instructor would pull on the shirt tail when he wanted to yell in the students ear. When the student soloed he no longer needed the shirt tail for his instructor to tug on so they cut it off. Now we usually use a T-shirt that the student wears and I usually cut off most of the back of it and right all the pertinent info on it.

Don't sweat the time. do your best, enjoy the experience. if it goes beyond 20-25 hours there should be a reason. i.e. busy airspace, problems in some areas, weather, frequency, tentative instructor. But don't overanalyze.

it's about one of the best feelings there is.

 

[MetroSheriff]

Just pulled out the old first logbook.

Soloed at Petaluma Airport on April 4, 1987 with 11.1 hours.

Boy that was fun a day. I haven't thought about it for a long time but I will sure never forget it.

 

[tarp]

The shirt tail tradition does indeed go back to tandem seating. The side story was the "tugging" to get attention.

But the true tradition was matched with the words - "Pilot, today you are free to fly by the seat of your pants". And the shirttail was ceremoniously removed from the owner allowing him to have "full feeling" when sitting alone in the seat. A lot of the pilots continued to fly with the "sawed off" shirt until they got their pilot's license. The tail was usually hung on display until the new pilot got his certificate.

And as Paul Harvey would say "now you know the rest of the story, Good day".

PS. The loss of one shirt to this tradition is well worth the price. I lost one of my best dress shirts since I did my solo after work one day - I have no idea what happened to the shirt but I still have the tail sitting in my locker with all my other valuables and keepsakes. Value = priceless.

 

[TWA Dude]

19.2 hours. Class C airspace and I suffered from mic-fright and I didn't like my CFI. But I made up for it when I got my CFI-A and CFI-I by 205 TT.