On Feb 4, 9:24*pm, Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Feb 5, 11:33*am, RN wrote:

Our club is interested in what rules or restrictions other clubs or
operations may place on post solo student pilots related to the
distance they may fly from the airport when solo.

Fundamentally, students (and more advanced pilots taking
friends for rides) are supposed to stay within gliding range of the
airfield OR other known good landing places they have been authorized
to use.

Due to our situation most of the usable soaring is a few km away from
the field and there aren't any great landing places on the nearby flat
land -- school sports fields are the best option: possible but not
desirable and you'll get your photo in the newspaper.

http://hoult.org/bruce/ParaparaumuTerrain.jpg

The closest ridges 4 and 6 km from the field (at their northern
points) are often soarable and returning is no problem. The peak south
of Maungakotukutuku is 2400 ft high and about 9 km from the field and
that's a convenient and common place to take a ~3000 ft tow to.

One of the most reliable places to get decent flights (and a lot of
training is done there) is the ridge running north from Waikanae, at a
distance of between 8 and 12 km from the field. There are two ok
paddocks across Highway 1 from the southern end of the ridge, one
running in each direction so one is usually usable.

A better option is an east/west topdressing strip (marked on that map)
at the northern end of the hills, 16.5 km from the airfield. We
operated from there for a day last season to familiarize students with
it and hopefully will again soon. *There is a much bigger north/south
grass strip (home to half a dozen Cessnas etc) another 3 km to the
north.

It's common to allow pilots to use those two strips as a base-away-
from-base ~20 km from the launch point for flights on which they are
not supposed to be "cross country". It's always better to find some
lift and get home, but if you can't then it's much better to use those
known and aero-towable strips rather than risk landing in the houses 5
km from home.

"supervised solo".....I meet with my solo students before each flight
they take....we discuss all intentions...

It's a student by student, flight by flight kind of deal.

I stress to my students that being a solo pilot is merely one step in
the process of becoming a private pilot, which is one step in the
process of becoming a good pilot. The goal of solo flying is to
improve flying skills, from "solo standard" to "private standard" and
then take the practical test. The goal is not normally to go for
badges, records, OLC points etc, at this stage of the traing process.
I do typically define the student's "crib"...that is the distance
limts....using landmarks, like the ridge, major highways etc., roughly
a 5 mile radius.

I have made exceptions to the "no cross country rule for student
pilots". I have had a couple of hang glider pilots who had some
extensive x-country flying in hang gliders....I knew they would not
stay in the boundaries anyway, and were OK to fly some short cross
countries, after they were fairly far along on the solo flying.

The other exception I sometimes make is for young solo pilots.....I
student pilot at 14 years old, has two years of flying ahead before
being able to take the practical test. If and when one of these kids
show the ability, (and gets the training), I will sign off for cross
country.


Cookie