First Solo and Total Hours Flown

On 2006-11-30 19:31:42 -0700, Bob Noel
said:

In article ,
"Peter Duniho" wrote:

As you correctly point out, the bulk of being a pilot has to do with
judgment and factual knowledge, rather than motor skills (especially
with current aircraft design...this wasn't always true, IMHO). And
frankly, not everyone is capable of exercising the judgment, nor of
learning the factual knowledge, required to be a pilot.

A coworker was at something like 30 hours before she broke off her training.
She just couldn't get the hang of landing the airplane. She still
wants to fly, and will likely try again sometime in the future. Though
I'm not a CFI, I still want to say that I don't think her problem is
judgement or motor skills (unless somehow she is different in the
airplane than on the ground). When she starts
her training again and gets to solo will be a treat.

I agree. Her problem is she needs a good instructor if her only issue
was not getting a feeling for landings.

I didn't solo til 40 hours (was about 2 years ago now) and that was my
exact issue, landings freaked my beak and the instructor(s) didn't care
or know enough to help.

At almost 500 hours now and commercial multi rated I've decided to do
AOPA's Project Pilot to help people avoid some of the issues I had with
learning to fly. I feel that poor quality of instruction stifles more
potential pilots than anything.