Rob where are you having her fly at?

oops, must be my wireless keyboard got stuck, or the wireless mouse.
I tried to delete the repetitive ones, but the forum would not let me.

I'd say 8-10 hours is a fair estimate for a determined individual. I ended up quite a bit less, a friend followed shortly thereafter with under 7 hours, and others I knew were mostly under 12 hours. I think a LOT of the issue was our instructor (instructoress?) - my lessons were a series of very short (~.6-.8 hrs per) but *VERY* intense workouts with a lot going on and a lot of prep thinking time beforehand. Not a minute went by without something being thrown at me- I would step out of the plane pretty sweaty. I apparently had 6 of those lessons before my first solo. I have no doubt it would have taken a lot longer with any other instructor.

I had a different instructor immediately before the check ride because my 'instructoress' suddenly became the FAA examiner, and the rules apparently stated you had to spend a bit of time with a different instructor. The second instructor frankly felt like a waste of time- like $5 bills blowing out the tailpipe every few minutes.

I had a friend who was pretty serious about getting his ticket, but was pushing 25 hours without a solo. I mentioned he should try an hour with a different instructor- and he soloed 1.1 hours later. He said he patched up more gaps in his flying skills in that 1.1 hours than in 10 hours with his first instructor.

I think really good instructing is a really hard skill to acquire and a rare talent to find- and worth paying more for. I saved a lot of money by getting my ticket in 40.7 hours while friends were up to 50 hours with little end in sight; I attribute that to luck in finding the right instructor the first time.

I'd say it's going to depend quite a bit on what's covered before first solo. In my case, my instructor had me do pretty much all the maneuvers, including a bit of cross country dual, before my first solo. So, I soloed at 13.4 hours. My first cross country solo was at 16.9 hours. So, yeah, some would say I soloed a bit late, but I felt really prepared for it. Keep in mind this was for a sport cert, but I don't imagine it would be much different at that stage of training. Considering I passed my checkride at 34 hours, setting the upper bound at 30 hours would seem, well, a bit excessive.

AvidFlyer wrote:Rob where are you having her fly at?

Up at the University Airport in Davis.

robw56 wrote:I'm wondering how long it takes most people to solo. My wife has started flying lessons in a 152 and her instructor is telling her to expect between 20 to 30 hours. That seems kind of crazy to me. I soloed at the age of 16 in a J-3 with 11 hours and no prior flying experience. My wife has flown with me over 100hours in the 170 and has a pretty good idea of what's going on. I have her practice with me a lot in the airplane although she can't log the time since I'm not a CFI. 20 to 30 hours just doesn't seem right, what do you guys think?

After meeting you and your wife some time ago, she seems like a go-getter. From the sense I get from her, I think that IF she would have to wait 20-30 hours to solo, she might get a little bored from the wait and she might loose interest. Find her another CFI or two for her as others have mentioned. There might be some other person who would let her operate at HER potential rather than the instructors potential.
HC

PS: I soloed in 12.5 hrs..was never soooooo happy to get that noisey instructor out of the plane!

patrol guy wrote:Now days it takes longer, maybe because there more to know, or maybe because they are afraid of lawyers?? But this guy is taking you to the cleaners. Get a new instructor.

When I was 15, It took me a full year of 1/2 hour lessons to end up with 8 hours when I turned 16 and then I was soled.

I beat cha. DURING my 8th hour. 7.5 hours. And I soloed in a Colt. But I turned 16 in May and soloed mid June. I wasn't ready on my birthday because I didn't have any money. Somehow I don't think they do it that way any more. They should.

I had over 25 I think when I solo'd but mostly because I was waiting for my birthday & wanted to keep flying! Turned 16 on a Tuesday, solo Wednesday, drivers license Thursday... Awesome week!!

Thy a different instructor, see what their impression is of her abilities & time estimate. She can always switch back if the new one isn't a good fit. Don't be afraid to 'interview' a couple first, it's your $$.

robw56 wrote:I'm wondering how long it takes most people to solo. My wife has started flying lessons in a 152 and her instructor is telling her to expect between 20 to 30 hours. That seems kind of crazy to me. I soloed at the age of 16 in a J-3 with 11 hours and no prior flying experience. My wife has flown with me over 100hours in the 170 and has a pretty good idea of what's going on. I have her practice with me a lot in the airplane although she can't log the time since I'm not a CFI. 20 to 30 hours just doesn't seem right, what do you guys think?

I'd say 8--10 hours would be be a good average. Now CFI's require a written which may be good or bad.The military has a requirement (Army) to be able to Solo in 10 hrs. -or at least that's how it was in 1960's when I was a WOC at Ft. Wolters ,Tx. -I did mine in helicopters in 4-5 hrs ,but I already held a Commercial fixed and Rotor wing ,and AG permit when I went in.I was a CFI years ago (1970's) and we were usually turning raw rookie to fledgling "jr. bird man" in about 8-12 hrs. Some people picked it right away others are really not cut out to be "jr. birdman" and will take lots and lots to solo. One of the local "Ive got a 150 and want to fly" took 80 hours to get soloed .

Okay, I'll be the one. It took me 20 hours to solo. But I will also admit to my CFI kind of milking it for the money. Realistically it should have only taken me 15 hours. But that still seems to be more time than it took for most of you.

svanarts wrote:Okay, I'll be the one. It took me 20 hours to solo. But I will also admit to my CFI kind of milking it for the money. Realistically it should have only taken me 15 hours. But that still seems to be more time than it took for most of you.

Not necessarily. A lot of us learned in the '60s or before. From uncontrolled fields. They just did it different back then. Nobody has ever been more surprised than I was when the instructor told me to stop on the taxiway in front of the terminal (well, shack) and then he got out!!!! Holy cow! I didn't know wether to shit or go blind. He said, make three full stops and taxi backs for take off. When you're done, come back here, tie down the airplane and come see me.

Then the bastards cut my shirt tail off!

I soloed in 5 hrs, but my aircraft had no instruments, no radio, or even a windscreen, so there. I guess it's easier to fly a lawn chair. Lost my shirt and all my future life savings that day.

Who cares if it takes XX amount of hours to solo? I like to think that this instructor who told you 20+ hours was basically saying: "I'm not going to let you have any expectations, you'll solo when you're ready." There's really very little to be gained by soloing earlier beyond a little savings on dual time, and bragging rights. I'd want my wife to be well prepared before she soloed my aircraft to ensure that she(and the plane) would survive it.

I don't really care how long it takes her to solo. I just hope we don't spend 10 grand getting her license is all. I need to have some money left so I can fly too!

robw56 wrote:I don't really care how long it takes her to solo. I just hope we don't spend 10 grand getting her license is all. I need to have some money left so I can fly too!

Rob why not get your CFI and teach her in the 170 ?

Rob,

Better be careful! She likes to fly, she can fly , she likes to go camping in a plane,and her CFI says she will need extra hours of some super special dual. HHMMMMMMM!!

Just sayin'

(just messing' with ya'. Kinda hard to show sarcasm, huh EB)

15 hours here, and in a flying lawn chair (Quicksilver II) . I was doing well and could have went to solo earlier, but the school had a 15 hr minimum, regardless of proficiency. Then, another 15 hrs of solo before receiving a local license to fly the club's own ultralights, not general aviation.

In the interest of seeking proficiency, I put my tailwheel instructor through a grueling 24 hours (8 hrs a day for 3 days), although i was doing well at 10 hours. It ended up being some of the most fun take off and landings practice one could ever hope to have, in a 1940's era
Cub and Champ. Good times!


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.513878,-73.978683

Back in well the early Dark Ages only took 5.5hrs in a 140. I hear that most are taking around 15 - 20 now mostly due to busier airspace and Radio usage.

Rob- Start flying from the right seat and let her have the left. You can teach her how to fly, she just cannot solo. Once she is proficient send her to the CFI. In the mean time she does understand the need for BW's and you can have both for under $10K.

Double post ...BCP is acting weird this am....

My wife took lesson several years ago and ended up with 57 hours circling the pattern or going 20 miles to circle another pattern. No X-coutries, navigation, or the other good stuff. Should we have changed instructors? I don't know. All I do know is that she came close to soloing a couple of times and just could not put all the elements together consistently enough for her CFI to allow her to go on that day. Very odd. It seemed like every pass had some big or little element of a safe approach and landing that was forgotten, missed, overdone, or whatever that it was not safe. I still thank that CFI for not letting her do it. Now I did not sit in the plane for any of the lessons but I know I soloed with the same CFI on my 16th hour. We kept trying to see if there would be a break through in understanding or consistency. Never came and she is still with me. So, maybe another CFI could find that key to unlock the mystery but now she is not so fired up anymore anyway. So, from my experience, I don't think it is outlandish but I would sure be talking to the CFI about what his feedback to her was. Hang in there!!!

FLYDOG