Optimizing the solo hours

[rezaf_2000]

The sport pilot certificate requirements mention 5 hours of solo flight, with at least one 75 nautical miles solo cross country, which might fill more or less 1.5 hours. The first solo flight, for me, was another 0.5 hours. That leaves 3 hours of solo flight.

What is the best strategy for that remaining 3 hours? Practicing touch and goes in the pattern means more statistical risk (assuming there is increased risk for a rookie student pilot in each take-off and landing). Should I do a longer X-country solo instead? After all, the majority of the X-country is straight flying at a cruising altitude, which is fairly safe compared to landing?

[designrs]

Perhaps consider the reasons for obtaining your pilot's certificate to help you with this decision and beyond.

Are you looking for the quickest and most risk-free way to get your ticket? Perhaps as a personal or educational goal, and then to move on to further training or other things?

Or are you seeking to earn your ticket to become a safe pilot to fly on your own?

Landing skills are important and require lots of practice. Every landing is a bit different based on airport, winds, visibility, runway size and conditions, etc.

Cross-country requires a different set of skills, mainly judgement and evaluating many different situations. Weather is very challenging. Misjudging weather and hitting IMC can be far more risky than landing.

Get as much different experience as you can.
Solo when you and your instructor feel that you will be flying within your ability.
Take an instructor with you to challenge yourself and learn more.... safely.

The best solo hours are those that help prepare you for your flying goals.

[FastEddieB]

Practicing touch and goes in the pattern means more statistical risk (assuming there is increased risk for a rookie student pilot in each take-off and landing).

I find that logic weird.

Perfecting any skill involves testing and then expanding one's limits, which may entail a tiny modicum of risk.

But your instructor would not have turned you loose to practice any specific maneuver if he or she did not think the risk was vanishingly small.

Even so, assuming a tiny risk now lays the groundwork for you to be a more skilled and less risky pilot going forward - ideally for the rest of your flying career.

In any case, even if your instructor is not following a syllabus, there should still be structure to your solo flights. Ideally specific maneuvers to practice and a debriefing after each flight to see how it went. Please ask your instructor what they want you doing on each flight - don't just "wing it".

[SportPilot]

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[CTLSi]

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[Vance Breese]

I love practicing takeoffs and landings.
It seems to help me with all phases of flight.
I found value learning about the weather and how it affects my flying. I have discovered that just because the weather is nice where I take off it may not be ideal where I land.
I find value in planning cross country flights. It is a way for me to spend more time involved with flying without spending more money. If I have a complex cross country flight I have usually flown it several times before the tires leave the runway.
I like to fly with the charts seeking my waypoints like hidden treasure. My GPS is just a back up.

[FastEddieB]

In almost 40 years as a pilot, I bet I've done in excess of 15,000 landings. In probably a couple dozen aircraft types.

Yet on a nice day, I'll still take the little Sky Arrow up to practice landings. Normal. Power off. Forward slips. Crosswind. Partial or no flap. Accuracy. Soft/short field.

Extra risk? Hard to see it after all this time. I think there would be far more risk not practicing and getting rusty!

[AJChenMPH]

I spent a lot of my solo time, particularly right before my checkride, practicing maneuvers to PTS. My school doesn't allow student solo touch 'n' go's, so I had to do full stop/taxibacks.

I did *a lot* of simulated engine failures, as I discovered that I wasn't good initially at judging when to roll out on the downwind and then time the turn to base and final, and I found myself either too high or too low on short final. In fact, even now licensed, I took a plane out the other day and did another simulated engine out just to keep from getting rusty. If the weather holds out and I go out to see Paul on the 27th (see the thread in the Fly-Ins forum), I'll likely do one over his airfield if it's not busy.

Bottom line is you'll discover some areas of your flying skillset where you can use some practice, so practice them during your solos.

A cross-country flight for sport pilot purposes must be at least 25nm from the airport.

Interesting...I had learned that a XC flight was 50nm or more. Didn't realize the regs (for sport pilots, at least) call for 25nm or more. (61.313.a.1.i)

[drseti]

I had learned that a XC flight was 50nm or more. Didn't realize the regs (for sport pilots, at least) call for 25nm or more. (61.313.a.1.i)

The reason for the SP reduced XC requirement is that those many Part 103 ultralights and "fat ultralights" converted to ELSAs (before that window of opportunity closed) were probably incapable of making it 50 miles without running out of daylight...

[Jack Tyler]

"What is the best strategy for that remaining 3 hours?"

I think Sport Pilot's suggestion is the best response to your original Q. Practice what you have the most problems with - e.g. if you aren't yet feeling comfortable working with ATC and/or a Controller, fly to a towered airport and fly several patterns there before returning. Is dead reckoning still unfamiliar territory for you? Turn off the tablet/whatever and fly a longer distance while ticking off your preplanned visual waypoints along a triangle flight path (so returning is just as challenging as departing).

[CTLSi]

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[3Dreaming]

First off your instructor should be telling you what they want you to do on the solo flights, because it is part of your flight training. You are still under their charge, because their signature is stating you are safe to make these solo flights. You need to take a look a CFR part 61 sub part C, and check out the restrictions you have as a sport student pilot. Some of the suggestions made here could be contrary to the regulations, and you don't want to have any issues this early in your flying career.

[drseti]

I concur with Tom. For my students, every solo flight up until satisfactory completion of the checkride is logged as "supervised solo." That means I'm there on the airport to brief the student before the flight, debrief the student afterward, and monitor him or her in the performance of the assigned tasks -- sometimes by watching from the ground, other times by listening in on the radio or following the flight on FlightAware. But, it's still instruction - I don't turn the student completely loose to fend for himself or herself.

Have you ever noticed how a mama bird sends her chicks out of the nest for flight practice? The chicks are always under her watchful gaze, and she's always chirping encouragement to them. Instructors and student pilots are no different.

[AJChenMPH]

The reason for the SP reduced XC requirement is that those many Part 103 ultralights and "fat ultralights" converted to ELSAs (before that window of opportunity closed) were probably incapable of making it 50 miles without running out of daylight...

Ha! Fair enough.

First off your instructor should be telling you what they want you to do on the solo flights, because it is part of your flight training.

True. I should have clarified that I made the sim engine out solo's with my instructor's blessing.

[rezaf_2000]

Thanks everyone for chiming in with your thoughts, and sorry for the late reply. It was a hectic week, one in which I flew twice as well.

By now, I agree with most of your comments. After discussing this with my instructor, I came to the conclusion that the probably the best way to spend the solo hours is practicing take off and landings after a couple more hours of dual practice. I'm still not very good at crosswind landing, and it was only yesterday, after almost 27 hours, that I "got it" that in a crosswind slip configuration, the rudders adjust the nose heading while the aileron adjusts the position. My solo endorsement says "limited to 3 knots cross wind" at the moment, which I guess is about as much crosswind I can handle safely. Clearly I need more practice in this, and this is what I'll work on.

My guesstimate is that I'll take another 8-10 hours of training before I'm ready for the test. Maybe more, doubtful if less. By now I have fulfilled my 2 hour dual cross country training requirement. So what remains (minimum) is 3 hours of flight training in preparation for the practical test, 3 hours of solo landing work, and one solo cross country (for about 1.3 hours) as the last item before my check ride.

The insistence on counting the hours and optimizing it is because I'm spending too much time commuting to and from my current flight school (5 hours per each session), which also adds up the expenses. Once I get my sport license, I will look for more budget friendly ways of flying closer to me, maybe even going the private pilot route (this is a good subject for a different forum thread). In any case, the current setting is just too costly and time-consuming, and that's why I try to optimize my hours.

In any case, thanks for all your replies. Merry Christmas, and happy new year!