signing off my first solo student...

flyboywbl

3rd regional in 1 year
Well i'm signing off my first solo student today. The weather looks good. He has about 25 hours TT. I'm confident in his abilities. However he is French so english is not his first language. The last three times i flew with him he ran the radios perfectly with out any mishaps or misunderstandings. I'm a little nervous the tower is going to ask him to do something i've not taught him though. We have done LASHO (or how to decline them). 360's and 270's back to final. Extending downwind, Short approaches, "bringing it to the numbers".

Here is what i'm going to put on his limitations am i missing anything?

Day VFR, 5 kts x-wind, 10 kts total wind, 5000 foot ceilings.

Anything i'm missing?

thanks
-Matt
 
Just sign the logbook x2 and the back of the medical. The restriction sounds fine. And remember, that restriction is as much a restriction on you as your student. When you sign a student off it is the only time when you are flying, without actually flying.
 
I used to go up in the tower when I had my student do their first solo. Small class D airport, I dunno if you can do the same. 10 kt total wind seems kind of stringent and you're setting him up to bust that limitation whenever he goes on cross countries (in the air at least and probably a couple of times at the surface). Also Day VFR is redundant.
 
When I did my CFI checkride the FAA ASI said that I could change the limitations on the student. That way I could allow the student to "earn" a wider margin of conditions that they could operate within. That it would also show progress to the student when they are feeling down. Everybody on the first student gets a little freaked.

Later you can always increase the limits on that student. Just remember that before they takeoff like SM said.
 
My private instructor required his students to call him before soloing to discuss wx, etc.

After a while it was like:
"I'm going up for a bit, the weather is...."
"Ok have fun"
 
So did I. I wanted to know what the forecast was so that I could make sure they wouldn't hurt themselves.....or me
 
I'd specify the visibilty in SM...I wouldn't want a low time student pilot up by himself in anthing less than 5sm.

I am sure you did this but make sure he knows the word UNABLE if he isn't comfortable with something and check on with "Student Pilot" most controllers will try to help out as much as possible.

Going up in the tower is a good idea too.
 
I was extremely confident about my first solo as a student but... after I did my solo my instructor told me that I was her first student to solo.. Now THAT was pressure (after the fact anyways...)
Did you tell your student that he was the first?
 
Be sure to update us. I'm not a CFI yet but I keep imagining when I become one how nervous I would be about letting a student solo.
~D
 
I used to go up in the tower when I had my student do their first solo.

Going up in the tower is a good idea too.

I don't understand this. What can you do from the tower if something goes wrong???? Granted I was a CFI at an uncontrolled field, but I would usually listen to the handheld radio while sitting on a bench outside (unless I had pre-called family to come watch) just to hear their calls, and after the first landing say something smart to them. When we went to a controlled field for the required TO/LNDGs, I never tried to go to the tower.

Once you leave the plane, you better be sure they are competent to bring it back. I don't see the need to get in the tower.
 
I don't understand this. What can you do from the tower if something goes wrong???? Granted I was a CFI at an uncontrolled field, but I would usually listen to the handheld radio while sitting on a bench outside (unless I had pre-called family to come watch) just to hear their calls, and after the first landing say something smart to them. When we went to a controlled field for the required TO/LNDGs, I never tried to go to the tower.

Once you leave the plane, you better be sure they are competent to bring it back. I don't see the need to get in the tower.

You never know. If it goes south the CFI may be the only person he/she may listen to or if he/she has an equip malfunction ATC has a trained pilot in the tower and the CFI's voice may keep the student calm. It was common at my flight school for the CFI's to be in the tower during the 1st solo.
 
Well the Solo went well today. Thanks for all the input! He did three take off and landings and came back alive. The weather was perfect and there was no traffic. I flipped the radio on in the office and listened in to tower. He was off to a great start when he contacted tower for taxi :D. After an apology he was off.

I called the tower before hand to tell them i had a first time solo student. They said they had no IFR inbounds for the next hour.

Man i was nervous! I remember when i first soloed how excited i was. I was so happy. I did not realize the stress the instructor goes through.

I think i'm going to put a limitation on his endorsement "Must be dispatched by myself" or something to that effect.

When i was soloing i would just wait until the weather was good, rent the plane, and go fly without talking to my instructor. I like the idea that he has to talk to me first.

Anyway thanks everyone.

-Matt
 
Man i was nervous! I remember when i first soloed how excited i was. I was so happy. I did not realize the stress the instructor goes through.

I think I can safely say that soloing my first student as the most nerve racking thing I've ever done in my life.
 
I think I can safely say that soloing my first student as the most nerve racking thing I've ever done in my life.

i would say so. I felt ill this morning. I kept trying to think of things that could happen. Then i was like, ok, i need to cut the cord, he is ready.

-Matt
 
Glad to hear all well today. Like you said, you could find any number of reasons not to sign the student off, even though you know they are ready. Sometimes you gotta let go.

Personally, every student I have gets the "must have verbal permission" with the limitations. Phone call or in person, I don't care. I just want to talk to them.
 
Man i was nervous! I remember when i first soloed how excited i was. I was so happy. I did not realize the stress the instructor goes through.



-Matt
I don't think a lot of people do. So far, student pilots solos are the most nerve racking thing i've done in aviation. I can tell you, while the student is taxing to the runway i usually manage about 2 FULLY smoked cigs with only about two drags.

Seems like I always get out of the airplane and start feeling like i forgot to teach them something important. Did I teach them how to use flaps? What about how to recover from a bounce? Engine failure on takeoff? Oh crap...did I teach them how to land??? After a second or two i start calming down then it's just the unexpected.

When they land, though, and you go shake their hand...HUGE feeling of accomplishment. I just taught someone to defy gravity!

Grats man. Now just wait till solo x-country... ;)
 
I don't think a lot of people do. So far, student pilots solos are the most nerve racking thing i've done in aviation. I can tell you, while the student is taxing to the runway i usually manage about 2 FULLY smoked cigs with only about two drags.

Seems like I always get out of the airplane and start feeling like i forgot to teach them something important. Did I teach them how to use flaps? What about how to recover from a bounce? Engine failure on takeoff? Oh crap...did I teach them how to land??? After a second or two i start calming down then it's just the unexpected.

When they land, though, and you go shake their hand...HUGE feeling of accomplishment. I just taught someone to defy gravity!

Grats man. Now just wait till solo x-country... ;)

Good thing he is going back to France since his exchange is up in two weeks when he graduates :D.

No, he is a good pilot but his accent is thick. I went up and visited the tower afterwards and they said they at first they could not understand him at all. Now the said they can. I still hear the other tower guys laughing in the background when he talks to the tower. This is Montana so i guess they don't get many foreign students. I've heard there are some flight schools where you can't understand anything that is going on.

My favorite maybe real, may not be conversation, is this

Tower. "Say intentions"

Foreign Student, "I want to be commercial pilot".
 
Tower. "Say intentions"

Foreign Student, "I want to be commercial pilot".
haha that's very close to jokes you see posted on the internet that you just assume are urban legands...like the "silliest things heard on the radio" thread a while back.
 
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