First Solo and Total Hours Flown

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
When I learned
to fly I had a finite amount of money that could be devoted to the
endeavor, setting in an account that I set up specifically for the
purpose of learning to fly.

When that money was gone, I knew my training would be finished --
certificate or not. I had two little kids, a house, and a wife working
part-time so that she could raise our kids. There was NO margin for
error.

I had a certain amount set aside to get me started too, the plan being that
whilst I was working through he initial amount, I could be saving for the
rest. Unfortunately, just before I was about to start, I had to spend almost
60% of the allocated funds on replacing my car. This meant I burned through
my remaining allocation VERY quickly. I'm now at 6.5 hours, and am now
forced to have 30 minute lessons once a week. I started with 1 hour lessons
once a week. My instructor said that once things 'clicked' with me, which it
did for me at around 3 hours, I could space out the lessons a bit more if my
funds required it, and that I shouldn't go backwards. She was right. Half an
hour a week sees me do 3 to 4 circuits, and no sign of 'unlearning' anything
from the previous week. If the weather is bad on the weekend I'm flying, I
just do a full hour the next week. If I need an hour to learn a particular
aspect, she'll tell me, and I'll skip a week to allow the funds to cover a
full hour. I reakon I'll be solo next week too if the conditions are right
and I don't have to post pone to the following weekend.
Oz Lander