Practice Makes Proficient in Pilot Training

Consistent study and readiness are the keys to overcoming the pre-solo plateau.

Meg Godlewski

Tuesday, December 30, 2025 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

In ground school, student pilots learn important skills such as how to access and interpret weather, calculate aircraft performance, and use a checklist. [Credit: Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

Solo flight readiness requires students to achieve a high level of proficiency in all cFAR 61.87 tasks through consistent practice and repetition, not just completing them once.
Frequent breaks in training and a lack of dedicated study time for essential aviation knowledge (e.g., weather, airspace, aircraft systems) are significant impediments to a student pilot's progress toward solo.
Instructors should utilize performance metrics like the Airman Certification Standards (ACS) early in training and vary lesson environments to help students overcome learning plateaus and build confidence for their first solo.

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The student pilot was looking for a new instructor. He said he had been flying with the same one for a few months and had logged about 10 hours of dual instruction given, but his CFI wouldn’t let him solo.

The learner produced his logbook showing he had performed all the tasks under cFAR 61.87, solo requirements for student pilots. The learner suggested his CFI was intentionally holding him back to pad the bill and get more hours.