Pilot Journey Forums

Yes, I finally did it! I soloed yesterday! To those of you reading the messages on this board, if you browse though the postings you'll see where I posted that I had 7 hours, then 12 hours, and so on. You can follow the progress of myself and of other student pilots. If you are just beginning, or even just thinking of beginning, browse through the postings and you'll see that YOU can do it too! It may seem overwhelming at first but in time you will be soloing just as I did yesterday.

 :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
 
CONGRATS!!!!

This is great!  I still recall my solo and it was 20 years ago...I thought it would not happen at times, but like you it did and it was soooo worth it.

Good job!

Thank you Gary.
Only one person replied to my post. So I went out and soloed again. This will give all you lurkers another opportunity to post.  ;) LOL just kidding  :P
I had so much fun soloing...for anyone who is reading this, I have to tell you about my very first flight. I was nervous and scared. The plane seemed to have HUNDREDS of gauges and dials and buttons and knobs and switches. I felt overwhelmed. I even told the instructor I wasn't coming back because there was no way I would ever be able to learn to fly. A few months later I went back.
I have proven to myself that it CAN be done. And you can do it too. Those of you who are just thinking about it but haven't started, my advice is to commit to, say, 6 lessons or better yet 10. No matter how nervous or overwhelmed you might feel, do not stop until you have done the 6 or 10 hours, whichever you've committed to. (Maybe write it down first, date and sign it, and put it on your refrigertor or something, that you have decided to take X numbers of hours of flight training.) After that, if you don't want to continue, well you've still accomplished something that most people never get to try. But chances are, after those first few hours, you will be hooked. Just like I am. :)

How many hours did you have in before you soloed?  I think my instructor is trying to get me there quickly.  Including my last 1.2 hours, I have 7.9 total and the last two lessons where almost all touch and gos.   He said he had soloed students from 12 hours all the way to over 20 hours.

Johnny, I had much more than 10 hours when I soloed.... I'm almost embarrassed to tell you how many hours I had. But there is not set number of hours to solo. Your instructor will know when you're ready. You'll know it too. If he's having you do mostly touch and go's then you're just about there. By now you're probably flying stabilized patterns, and you're just smoothing out your landings.
Once you solo, things will move more quickly. You'll be doing cross country flights which are a lot of fun. I did my first one today, a little over 100nm round trip. Flew thru Class B, C, and D, airspace. Part of the flight was over water. I saw many beautiful sights.
Be sure to post and let us know when you solo!

OK....I'll tell you...I had 40 hours when I soloed. Most people solo before 20 hours.

Mike, point is, you solo'd. That's great.  You've done what a minority of the population has ever done, and what I hope to some day.  As far as the touch and goes I've been doing pointing to me being close to ready to solo...... sure doesn't seem like it to me.  My patterns are getting better.  I can get to about 30 feet or so from the runway before I start flopping like a fish and need help. If I could get a day with no x-wind that'd be nice.  The runway is 16-34 and every day so far their has been wind out of the west.  Suppose if I can get proficient at x-wind, I'll be alright.  'Til then, cramped fingers, rapid breathing sweaty armpits :-)

Have a good one.

Johnny, my school's runway is 14/32, so we aways have a crosswind too. On short final you catch all the moving air that burbles and eddys around the airport buildings. Just have your feet ready to dance on the rudders and you'll be fine. First, during your approach, crab into the wind. Then on short final step on the rudder to get the nose centered on the runway and at the same time turn the ailerons a little more into the wind. My CFI had me landing a Skyhawk in 15 knot, 90 degree crosswind using this method. You can practice it at altitude, using a long road as the "runway". First, crab to hold your ground track. Then Slip (step on rudder away from wind while turning aileron into the wind) to go straight down the road. Then get out of the slip and back into the crab. Then go back and forth, slowly, from crab to slip,  crab, slip, crab, slip....as you follow the road. It's a good exercise.