Comments on: What shall a student pilot know before his first solo ? http://www.plasticpilot.net/blog/2008/07/07/what-shall-a-student-pilot-know-before-his-first-solo/ General Aviation and Aviation In General Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:23:43 +0100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Sylvia http://www.plasticpilot.net/blog/2008/07/07/what-shall-a-student-pilot-know-before-his-first-solo/comment-page-1/#comment-4970 Sylvia Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:46:07 +0000 http://www.plasticpilot.net/blog/?p=685#comment-4970 The point of the first solo is to build confidence, not to test your overall skill. So although it would have been good if the boy had argued with ATC, Iit's hard to argue with what is effectively an authority figure. I still think the controller made a bad call and that the safety consideration was negligible compared to confusion instructions on final. I fear that there's a risk of a situation where students can't solo until after they've completed 95% of the PPL if you want them prepared to deal with so many possible eventualities. The other situation you ended up involved with is different, in my opinion. The student was not able to do with a standard circuit and go-around which is what the initial solos are about. So in that case, I agree with you that the student should not have gone solo. "Controllers shall not issue instructions that would require an aircraft in the final stages of approaching to land to deviate from its expected flight path unless exceptional overriding safety considerations apply." That is, I think, an important recommendation that came out of this. One specific issue: the instructor did not have the option to radio the student as far as I can see. He could hear what was happening but not transmit, which is standard in the UK at controlled airfields as far as I know. This was certainly the case at Pilot Flight Training at Oxford. The point of the first solo is to build confidence, not to test your overall skill. So although it would have been good if the boy had argued with ATC, Iit’s hard to argue with what is effectively an authority figure. I still think the controller made a bad call and that the safety consideration was negligible compared to confusion instructions on final. I fear that there’s a risk of a situation where students can’t solo until after they’ve completed 95% of the PPL if you want them prepared to deal with so many possible eventualities.

The other situation you ended up involved with is different, in my opinion. The student was not able to do with a standard circuit and go-around which is what the initial solos are about. So in that case, I agree with you that the student should not have gone solo.

”Controllers shall not issue instructions that would require an aircraft in the final stages of approaching to land to deviate from its expected flight path unless exceptional overriding safety considerations apply.”

That is, I think, an important recommendation that came out of this.

One specific issue: the instructor did not have the option to radio the student as far as I can see. He could hear what was happening but not transmit, which is standard in the UK at controlled airfields as far as I know. This was certainly the case at Pilot Flight Training at Oxford.

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