[Brollyman]

After 20 hours of dual instruction, I was let loose on Saturday and completed my first solo at Liverpool! It was a fantastic experience, even though I had to do 10 touch and go's before I was allowed out on my own (nerves were causing me to over think my landings).

My instructor tells me I am now required to do 3 hours doing solo circuits at Liverpool which I am not sure is correct and I think I can do the circuits anywhere as the LAPL syllabus doesn't seem to say it has to be at the "home" aerodrome. At Liverpool, 3 hours of solo circuits is going to cost me a small fortune in touch and go fees - I estimate about £300,

Are there any FIs out there who can confirm if what my instructor is saying is correct (or not)?

[David Wood]

Technically you can do the circuits elsewhere of course. However, you will have to be authorised by your FI for each supervised solo flight until you obtain your license, whereupon you will thereafter be flying on your own license and not his. So if as part of that authorisation he specifies where you do them then I'm afraid that's that. Why not discuss it with him and come to some better arrangement?

[Balliol]

Your school will probably have defined procedures for supervising early solo flights based around your home airfield, this may also be part of the ATO course approval or club ops manual.

On a practical note you will not be allowed to transit elsewhere solo at this stage, and if you go elsewhere it will cost you more in flying time / your FI will have to sit around somewhere which isn’t ideal.

Good luck with it all and well done!

[Brollyman]

Thanks for the input (and the congratulations). I'm going to have a chat with my instructor on Friday and check the ops manual. That's one of the problems flying from Liverpool - touch and go's are £9.60 each and full stop landings are £16.79. That means that on some of my circuit bashing lessons, I've paid more to the airport than to my flying school! It would be nice if I could do more at Sleap where it's only £28 for a pack of 6 landings.

I have to say, my first solo was a great experience despite a few obstacles. I had to hold on the taxiway for about 10 minutes to wait for a couple of commercial arrivals which didn't do my nerves a great deal of good. The controller told me that she kept me waiting on the ground rather than me end up doing orbits which I thought was a nice thing to do.

I can't wait to get back in the air and feel the plane leap off the runway like it did on Saturday (my instructor, by his own admission is not a small man).....

[flybymike]

I’m guessing that you might have maybe 40mins flying time from Liverpool to Sleap and return again at dual instructor rates plus possible delays at both ends for traffic, especially at Liverpool.
I wouldn’t have thought the hassle and inconvenience was worth it.

[Cryogenng]

Congrats on the solo!

Having just done what you're describing, I share your pain. I managed to get the 3 hours done in 2.5 sessions - a quick dual to solo checkout and then a couple of pure solo sessions, so although it was expensive, it went pretty quick.

The controllers at Liverpool are fab, aren't they?

[Brollyman]

Yep, the controllers are brilliant and it was great to meet up with them on a tour of the tower last week. It's surprising how much it helps confidence on the radio as a beginner to be able to put faces to the voices!

I think I'm just going to have to suck it up and absorb the landing costs. It's a shame that Liverpool don't do a discount for volume....