First Solo: What to Know Before You Go

One of the common misconceptions about flight training is that the first few hours are spent in the pattern. This is probably because many people equate learning to fly to learning to drive a car where so many people were in a church parking lot on a Saturday. The pattern is too busy, too low to the ground (leaving not a lot of room for error), and frankly crowded to do much primary training, so expect your CFI to guide you to a designated practice area where instruction and learning will take place.

Take ownership of your training by becoming familiar with the requirements for first solo as outlined in cFAR 61.87.

This FAR covers both the required training and the knowledge the applicant must have before the instructor endorses them for the solo privileges. Use a syllabus to help both you and your CFI  keep track of your progress. You will note that each flight includes the learning of or practice of at least a few of the items listed under 61.87.

Pre-solo flight training begins with proper flight preparation procedures, including preflight planning and preparation. You will learn how to acquire a weather briefing and how to interpret the weather. Your instructor should also be getting a weather briefing prior to the flight. 

Note: “Looks pretty good” is not a weather briefing. You need to know current conditions including visibility, winds aloft temperature, and altimeter setting as well as what weather is forecast and could potentially impact the flight, along with Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs), which include runway closures and navigational aid outages.

By your third flight lesson, you should know how to acquire an aviation weather briefing. Listening to the automated weather at the airport or looking out the window is not enough.

Before soloing, you need to know how the powerplant (engine) and aircraft systems work. Although you are not training to be a mechanic, you need to know normal operations, along with how to recognize and troubleshoot any problems, such as a rough-running engine. You don't want to be the pilot who does an emergency off-airport landing after running a fuel tank dry (with the other tank full of fuel) because they didn't know how the fuel system worked or how to reposition the fuel selector.

Pre-solo flight training includes taxiing or surface operations, including run-ups; takeoffs and landings for both normal and crosswind; straight and level flight, and turns in both directions; climbs and climbing turns; airport traffic patterns, including entry and departure procedures, collision avoidance, wind shear avoidance, and wake turbulence avoidance; descents with and without turns using high and low drag configurations; flight at various airspeeds from cruise to slow flight; stall entries from various flight attitudes and power combinations with recovery initiated at the first indication of a stall, and recovery from a full stall; emergency procedures and equipment malfunctions; ground reference maneuvers; approaches to a landing area with simulated engine malfunctions; slips to a landing, and go-arounds.

It often takes several hours—meaning several lessons—to learn how to do these correctly and  develop safe procedures. These maneuvers should not be "one-and-done, check-the-box" instruction. You need to know how to set them up, beginning with the clearing turns at an appropriate altitude and identifying an emergency landing area, as well as configuring the aircraft. Unfortunately, sometimes both the learner and CFI are in a hurry to make the first solo happen, and that can result in a student pilot being unprepared or underprepared because it was rushed.

It's painful to hear a first solo learner in the pattern struggling with radio calls or to comply with instructions from the tower. I was in the pattern on a dual instructional flight when the tower asked the solo student from another flight school to perform a 360-degree turn on downwind for spacing. The student pilot replied that this was his first solo and he did not know how to do that. The controller became cross. My student gave me a worried look and asked if he was going to be taught how to do this before I cut him loose for a solo. I assured him I would, saying he would be able to fly safely on a bad day with a nosebleed. The whole idea of the first solo is that the instructor is no longer required to be there because the student is ready to face the challenges.

Physical flying skills aren't the only requirement for a first solo. You must also demonstrate satisfactory knowledge of airspace, weather, airport procedures, emergencies, and rules that govern aircraft operations at the airport where the first solo will take place.

This is measured with a CFI-created knowledge test that includes the aforementioned items, as well as applicable sections of Part 61 and Part 91, along with flight characteristics and operational limitations for the make and model of aircraft to be flown. The instructor administers the test, then goes over it with the student line by line to ascertain that they have the correct information, understand it, and can apply it. 

The savvy instructors require learners to note where they obtained the information from. For example, "Cessna 172 POH, page 24" or "Chart Supplement page 18." Warning: "My instructor told me" is not an acceptable answer. Nor is Google. Don't go online looking for something to copy because the test is airport specific. I stress this, because I had a client flying out of an airport near Seattle who very proudly submitted test answers he copied from an online pre-solo test he found from Orlando, Florida.

It is not uncommon for the CFI to throw in questions about nearby airports, such as radio frequencies for the automatic terminal information service (ATIS) or automated weather observing system (AWOS), unicom or tower, along with runway lengths, and pattern altitude.

I always do this, and it comes in handy for two reasons. The first post-solo dual flight consists of flying to a nearby airport so they get comfortable entering and departing the pattern. It helps if they already have a basic understanding of the pattern and operations. 

If they do well, it allows me to endorse them for solo flight at another airport within 25 nm. 

Secondly, if they are out of the pattern in the practice area and the home airport is closed due to an accident or incident, they will have foreknowledge of the alternate airport. This came in handy the day an airplane flipped on its back on the runway, closing the airport while two of my freshly soloed learners were in the practice area. When they realized they were running low on fuel, one diverted to Tacoma Narrows (KTIW), a Class D airport 15 nm to the northwest, while the other landed at Auburn Municipal (S50) 14 nm to the north. Both sent me a text telling me where they had diverted to.

If you are using a private pilot syllabus, by the time you are three lessons in, you will likely be about a third of the way through the required maneuvers for solo. That's just part of the equation. Before your CFI will endorse you for your first solo you must demonstrate flight proficiency and safe aircraft operations.

If you demonstrate a hazardous attitude, such as anti-authority by refusing to go-around with the instructor or tower tells you to, or have a bad habit caused by poor training or a lack of understanding of aircraft systems (like pulling the mixture out on downwind to check it), don't be surprised if solo privileges are withheld until you unlearn and correct that behavior.

One of the common complaints from almost-soloed or freshly soloed learners is that they often have to repeat pre-solo training if they change schools. You may have logged 10 hours doing the maneuvers, but the new-to-you instructor will likely want you to go through them again to prove you can do them and have the corresponding knowledge and proficiency.

If you change instructors within a school, in particular a Part 141 school, there should not be a “repeat all the training” requirement. If there is, it could be that the new-to-you instructor is just looking for more hours. Ask the chief instructor to do an evaluation flight with you to determine your skill set to avoid padding someone else’s logbook.

Become familiar with the requirements per FAR 61.87. Compare tasks required with tasks performed as entered in your logbook. 

Make sure you have your logbook (where the CFI will record the endorsement), your photo ID, student pilot certificate, and medical certificate (if required) with you during every flight lesson. These are required items. You won't want to be told you are ready to solo and realize you left your medical or logbook at home. 

As you learn each maneuver, note that lesson will likely end with a few laps in the pattern. After all 15 things are taught, you can expect lessons that will consist entirely of takeoffs and landings. Some will be full stop and some will be touch-and-go. Know how to do both. Know how to do a go-around and commit to a go-around if the approach is unstabilized and not on speed when you are on final.

It is said the best way to achieve mastery of something is to teach it. By the time most people are in their late teens, they have taught something to someone. It can be something as simple as teaching a sibling how to play a game or training someone to use a piece of machinery at work. You may find if you "teach-back" each maneuver and landings to your instructor, it adds to your confidence in the aircraft.

And here is the big thing: The first solo doesn’t come with an hourly metric. It takes as long as it takes, but it very often marks the halfway point of your private pilot training.