How Do You Turn Them Loose?

[designrs]

Here's a question for the CFI's! Rather than contribute to thread-drift a new topic is started here.

What are your thoughts as you turn a student loose for the first solo and subsequent solo flights? You trained them well. They have demonstrated enough skill for you to feel that they are ready. Yet that skill set and experience is pretty minimal. You even know that they need further training, but it's time to step up the game with the solo. I liken it to turning your teenage daughter loose in the car to go to the mall. Hopefully your student has more maturity, but the skill and experience does not come anywhere close to yours. Sure they know how to glide and have done a mock off-field landing or two, but God forbid a serious emergency came up of such a nature that would challenge even your skills! Then there is a bit of unknown about how the student will perform in the solo environment. How do you do it?

[Merlinspop]

How do you do it?

Good question! Looking forward to some CFI's answers. If it were me, there'd be a rosary in one pocket and a 'paid in full' receipt from my CFI insurance policy in the other.

[Helen]

Lots and lots of explicit limitations on their endorsements.