First Solo and Total Hours Flown

I dont know why it would take over 30 hours to solo, and some as many
as 70? I soloed at 14 hours, but I hear the average is 20.

"Patrick" wrote in message
ups.com...

I dont know why it would take over 30 hours to solo, and some as many
as 70?

Several reasons have already been explained in this thread. In some cases,
it may be the student, but in most cases it's likely to be an issue with the
instruction, or the scheduling (I would guess that by far the biggest reason
for high hours before solo is infrequent lessons).

I soloed at 14 hours, but I hear the average is 20.

Neither of those numbers is necessarily relevant to all student pilots.

Pete

Patrick wrote:
I dont know why it would take over 30 hours to solo, and some as many
as 70? I soloed at 14 hours, but I hear the average is 20.

Age has a lot to do with it too. A teenager can learn the motor skills
required for solo much quicker than a 50-year old.

The same would be true if a 50-year old tried bicylcing for the first
time, or tried learning a new language. I can personally relate how
difficult it was for me to ice-skate, which I did for the first time as
a 25-years old. I know kids who were barely walking were able to step
on the ice and skate effortlessly.

However, that doesn't mean old people are not 'cut out to be pilots'.
Their learning curve may be slower than others, but the two curves do
intersect, and could even surpass the other curve. The trick is to be
patient enough to get that far along the learning curve.

On 2006-12-01 12:41:06 -0700, "Patrick" said:


I dont know why it would take over 30 hours to solo, and some as many
as 70? I soloed at 14 hours, but I hear the average is 20.

Then you aren't paying attention. How stupid and/or annoying.

Instructors are a huge part of successful flight training. I was about
40 hours at solo time, and on my third instructor.

I'm now a commercial inst/multi rated pilot approaching 500 hours.

The number of hours it takes you is specific to you, and no one else.
Averaging hours it takes to solo and inviting a comparison to the
pilot's skill is like averaging breast size and making an inference
about a woman's intelligence based on it.