Average time to solo a student

15 starts here. Then three months later off doing intentional cross country. And 42 years more it's still damn fun. Hope the new inductee goes crazy with soaring too.

My 6th launch was my first solo at Dillingham Field, HI (plenty of
military, airline, GA experience).Â* Thirty-two years later, and on my
7th glider, I'm still the guy who launches first.Â* Who cares if I don't
stay up?Â* I'll launch again and have a great day.Â* Too bad I've only got
another 10-15 years left to fly solo...

On 6/4/2018 11:16 PM, Steve Koerner wrote:
15 starts here. Then three months later off doing intentional cross country. And 42 years more it's still damn fun. Hope the new inductee goes crazy with soaring too.

--
Dan, 5J

On Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at 7:26:22 AM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
My 6th launch was my first solo at Dillingham Field, HI (plenty of
military, airline, GA experience).Â* Thirty-two years later, and on my
7th glider, I'm still the guy who launches first.Â* Who cares if I don't
stay up?Â* I'll launch again and have a great day.Â* Too bad I've only got
another 10-15 years left to fly solo...

On 6/4/2018 11:16 PM, Steve Koerner wrote:
15 starts here. Then three months later off doing intentional cross country. And 42 years more it's still damn fun. Hope the new inductee goes crazy with soaring too.

--
Dan, 5J

Thanks for all the info & opinions. The info is very useful. Here's additional info.

The student was early thirties & had already completed the King PP ground school. He was very motivated. It was all aero tows, he flew three intense weekends. He had 21 flights when I soloed him & around 9 total hours. We had good lift so were able to do many stalls, steep spirals, etc.

Being that we are a commercial operation we can do accelerated training.

That is terrific for ab initio!

On 6/5/2018 9:41 PM, wrote:
On Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at 7:26:22 AM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
My 6th launch was my first solo at Dillingham Field, HI (plenty of
military, airline, GA experience).Â* Thirty-two years later, and on my
7th glider, I'm still the guy who launches first.Â* Who cares if I don't
stay up?Â* I'll launch again and have a great day.Â* Too bad I've only got
another 10-15 years left to fly solo...

On 6/4/2018 11:16 PM, Steve Koerner wrote:
15 starts here. Then three months later off doing intentional cross country. And 42 years more it's still damn fun. Hope the new inductee goes crazy with soaring too.
--
Dan, 5J
Thanks for all the info & opinions. The info is very useful. Here's additional info.

The student was early thirties & had already completed the King PP ground school. He was very motivated. It was all aero tows, he flew three intense weekends. He had 21 flights when I soloed him & around 9 total hours. We had good lift so were able to do many stalls, steep spirals, etc.

Being that we are a commercial operation we can do accelerated training.

--
Dan, 5J

On Wed, 06 Jun 2018 07:54:26 -0600, Dan Marotta wrote:

That is terrific for ab initio!

Fastest I ab initio know of is a student who soloed off the winch on a 5
day course last year at my club's flatland site. I first met her when she
was flying dual on a rather 'interesting' hill site:
http://edensoaring.co.uk/ - check out how they describe their field!
This was during a club expedition at the start of October. She seemed to
handle that combination of small field and new glider type (ASK-13) well.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

On Wednesday, June 6, 2018 at 10:48:23 AM UTC-5, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Wed, 06 Jun 2018 07:54:26 -0600, Dan Marotta wrote:

That is terrific for ab initio!

Fastest I ab initio know of is a student who soloed off the winch on a 5
day course last year at my club's flatland site. I first met her when she
was flying dual on a rather 'interesting' hill site:
http://edensoaring.co.uk/ - check out how they describe their field!
This was during a club expedition at the start of October. She seemed to
handle that combination of small field and new glider type (ASK-13) well.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

Martin, she beat me by two days. I soloed on the 7th day and the 28th winch launch at Oerlinghausen, Germany, a well known publicly funded gliding school. Proud to say I was 1st in my group of 7 to solo (in Germany that means you do 3 consecutive flights). I was 30 years old. All flights were done on the winch, glider was ASK 13.
Herb

On Wed, 06 Jun 2018 14:23:56 -0700, herbkilian wrote:

On Wednesday, June 6, 2018 at 10:48:23 AM UTC-5, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Wed, 06 Jun 2018 07:54:26 -0600, Dan Marotta wrote:

That is terrific for ab initio!

Fastest I ab initio know of is a student who soloed off the winch on a
5 day course last year at my club's flatland site. I first met her when
she was flying dual on a rather 'interesting' hill site:
http://edensoaring.co.uk/ - check out how they describe their field!
This was during a club expedition at the start of October. She seemed
to handle that combination of small field and new glider type (ASK-13)
well.


--
Martin | martin at Gregorie | gregorie dot org

Martin, she beat me by two days. I soloed on the 7th day and the 28th
winch launch at Oerlinghausen, Germany, a well known publicly funded
gliding school. Proud to say I was 1st in my group of 7 to solo (in
Germany that means you do 3 consecutive flights). I was 30 years old.
All flights were done on the winch, glider was ASK 13.
Herb

Great stuff, Herb

She almost certainly soloed in an ASK-21, possibly/probably with a few
flights in our Puchacz included since spin training is mandatory here and
the Puchacz spins a lot more readily than an ASK-21. My club hasn't had
ASK-13s since I joined it but IIRC I had a couple of flights in a '13 at
Nympsfield a few months after I soloed and then never saw one again until
I first visited Eden Soaring. I wasn't fond of them at first, but after a
bit of ridge running I now appreciate them a bit mo easy to fly and
not as forgiving as a '21.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org