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How do I overcome my fear of flying alone while finishing my solo hours for my private pilots license?

Asked by: 4644 views ,
General Aviation, Private Pilot, Student Pilot

It sound weird but I have about 50 hours of dual and just finished my solo and passed with flying colors. I now have only about 4.5 hours of solo time, but each time I go fly alone now I scare myself by over thinking, so I am only getting about 30 min of solo each time I go up because I am scared I will do something wrong so I land and go back later. Any suggestions? My instructor and my grandfather both say I am a great pilot and have nothing to worry about but for some reason I scare myself, even a little turbulence alone is enough to make me go land and get out.

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2 Answers



  1. Dauntless Aviation on Jul 05, 2015

    This is a very difficult question to answer because it is very difficult to assess the roots and nature of your fear. All students are to some extent afraid. Any student pilot who didn’t have fear would likely be acting foolhardily or overconfidently, and the first solo and flights after that are certainly times when much is demanded of pilots.

    You mentioned “your instructor and your grandfather.” If your grandfather is not himself an instructor who has given you instruction/evaluation flights, then he probably at this point only has a very superficial knowledge of your actual flying, even if he himself is a pilot.

    Again, with very little to go on, I suggest that you fly a bit with another instructor or two. Be candid, open, and honest about your fears, and see if the other instructors can offer you techniques to get over your anxiety. At the very least, additional opinions / confirmation from alternative certified instructors can be valuable.

    If at any point your fear physically affects you – for example, if your legs start shaking uncontrollably or if you experience “panic attacks”, please be sure to mention this to your instructor. I believe that if the fear physically affects you in such ways, it may be wise to delay solo flight.

    I also encourage you to get as much landing practice as you can, dual (with your instructor) in gusty and crosswind conditions. You appear to be describing a fear that happens when you do maneuvers out in some training area by yourself, but perhaps your real concern is coming back to land; there is no substitute for practice and experience there.

    If you ever feel that there is a substantial real risk that you might not complete a solo flight safety, consider abandoning the flight or converting it into a dual flight. Flight training is never a race.

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  2. Mark Kolber on Jul 05, 2015

    It’s hard to answer that without knowing and talking to you. But it might be some comfort to know that some level of worry is both normal and healthy. Not only that, but a certain degree of self-doubt is actually a sign of competence. Basically, competent people challenge their own level of knowledge and skill; incompetent people don’t know enough to know they are incompetent.

    I always remember something that a professor said to my class before a big final exam that was all essay: “If you walk out of the exam thinking about how all the things you missed, you probably did well. It’s if you walk our thinking you did great that you really need to worry.”

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