The rarely used ARINC radio on a Louisiana FBO counter blared to life on a sunny February morning in 1984. It was Carl, one of my students. He was on his first solo to do air work in the practice area, and he had a question.
“I’ve done all the maneuvers twice. Stalls, slow flight, steep turns, ground reference, you name it. I’ve got the airplane signed out for another 40 minutes. What do I do next?”
We chuckled about it a bit in the office before I suggested to Carl that he fly around the edge of our practice area and enjoy the view, get a couple more landings, and call it a day.
Carl was one of my first students, and I soon learned that his question was far from unique. (No one else ever called in to talk it over on the radio, though.) Many people experience a post-solo letdown; I had a difficult time keeping some of my students in the airplane long enough to finish their private certificate. This was bad for business and a disappointment for the students who drifted away.
For some, flying solo was the goal. Once they had done that, the money and work to get the certificate became too much. These people moved on to other pursuits, and I couldn’t fault them. They had met their objective—flying a Cessna 150 by themselves.
For others, a lack of focus and targets between first solo and the start of cross-country work was the problem. Students often seemed unprepared for the first cross-country training flight, too. The issue here was that cross-country work introduced all at once was a classic example of an oversized problem.
I needed a plan to bridge these gaps.
The prescription
Cross-country flight can be simulated, in a sense, by flying to nearby airports. This breaks cross-country work into smaller pieces, separating flight to other airports from most of the navigation problem.
Four other airports were close to our Monroe, Louisiana, operation: Columbia, Hooks, Morehouse, and Farmerville. I decided to use these nearby fields to add some structure to the program, and eventually settled on this post-solo curriculum. I have modified the curriculum and endorsement sequence a bit to reflect today’s regulations, which have changed since the 1980s.
First, we made a dual flight to Columbia, Farmerville, and back to Monroe. Along the way we introduced sectional charts, weather reports, nontowered airports, and the rest of the FAR 61.93(e) requirements not covered in pre-solo training. We were able to do this in a low-stress environment (and save training time and money) because the distances involved were short.
I then endorsed the student for solo cross-country per 61.93(2)(i), but with a restriction to flights between Monroe and the four airports mentioned. Students were then endorsed for two solo flights, one to Farmerville, Bastrop, and back, then one Columbia, Hooks, and back. In each case, they first saw an airport we had been to previously on an instructional flight, and then saw another for the first time. (Note that FAR 61.93(b)(1) could not be used, even though the airports were within 25 nm. I had not provided instruction in both directions over the route, and the purpose of the flight was more than landing practice.)
We also conducted dual flights to Morehouse for at least nine night landings between the student solo flight there and the start of “real” cross-country work. The rest of the night hour requirement, and the tenth landing, came on the dual cross-country.
Results
This left students better prepared for true cross-country, to the point where I could almost always upgrade the restricted endorsement after just one dual flight of a couple of hundred miles, while two flights were usually needed before. Rarely did a cross-country student arrive over the destination still at cruise altitude, use an improper pattern entry, or commit other common errors.
Having this series of intermediate steps to cross-country flying had other advantages. Our flight school completion rate went up. It was easier to keep students motivated with attainable, intermediate goals from first solo to solo cross-country through checkride prep and signoff. Solo students no longer asked, “What do I do next?”
Carl, the first to ask me that question, finished his certificate on schedule. He moved quickly from first solo in February to passing his private pilot checkride on the first attempt in April. He also accidentally taught himself spin recovery sometime in March, but that’s another story.
Tom McDonald is a check captain and ground instructor for a regional jet airline, and a volunteer instructor at a large glider club.
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