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aircraft with almost no other traffic
the average time to solo was probably
around eight hours. Now, it must be
about double that. And for folks over
30 you can expect it to take a little
longer, but I always find that folks who
take their time to learn seem to retain
new information and skills better.
Patience is a virtue
If you ask her at some stage, when
you are likely to go solo, she will
simply answer, “When you are
ready.” A less thoughtful instructor
may tell you that you will probably
need another two or three lessons.
This means that if you have a bad
day, and then a crosswind, and then
a heavy traffic day, you will start
despairing. “When you are ready” is
the only sensible answer.
New instructors are inclined to say
silly things like, “You will probably
go solo on Thursday afternoon.” This
actually means is that you will almost
certainly NOT go solo on Thursday
afternoon. The reason is that you will
be too excited or nervous to sleep on
Wednesday night, and you will wind
yourself into such a knot that you
won’t even be able to taxi safely.
If she is a Grade III she will say, “I
won’t be able to make it on Thursday,
but I have asked Captain Tailpipe
to fly with you. Can you manage an
early session, say 7 o’clock?”
There’s an awful lot going on in
that little sentence. She has to be
economical with the truth. She
mustn’t say, “I am so inexperienced
that CASA don’t trust me to judge
when you are fit for solo”. She also
mustn’t say, “I think you are likely to
go solo on Thursday”, for the reasons
just explained. And an afternoon
session has four drawbacks:- The pupil is more likely to be tired
or dozy after a hearty lunch. - There is a bigger chance of
turbulence, - There is likely to be more traffic, and
- We don’t want any delays to push
the session too late where a couple
of go-rounds could start to cause a
problem with daylight.
Finally, we really don’t want you to
bring your family along with a video
LRFT: Your instructor
has to make you
feel at home and
comfortable in the
aircraft.
BELOW: Before leaving
you your instructor will
make sure the tower
understands it is a first
solo – so they shouldn’t
mess you around.australianflying.com.auMarch – April 2015 AUSTRALIAN FLYING$16,300.00
$17,500.00