A solo flight is one the student flies without an instructor on board, under authorisation and supervision of the school. First solo is a defining training milestone, and every solo requires verified prerequisites — endorsements, medical, recent experience and weather limits.
A solo flight is flown by the student without an instructor aboard, under the authorisation and supervision of the training organisation. Every solo rests on verified prerequisites: a valid medical, the required endorsements or instructor authorisation, recent experience, aircraft checkout, and weather within the student's personal limits — plus, in the FAA system, a student pilot certificate and current solo endorsement.
First solo is the emotional summit of early training and a genuine risk-management event: the student is alone precisely because the system has verified they are ready. Subsequent solos — pattern work, local area, cross-country — each carry their own authorisation requirements.
Why it matters for flight schools
Solo operations are where a school's supervision system is actually tested: the legal and insurance exposure of an unauthorised or out-of-limits solo is severe, and the verification burden — medical current? endorsement in date? crosswind inside limits? — is exactly the kind of multi-factor check that fails when performed from memory at a busy dispatch desk.
How FlightLogger handles it
FlightLogger enforces solo prerequisites at dispatch — medical, authorisations, recency and per-student weather limits checked automatically — so a solo that shouldn't launch, can't.
Frequently asked questions
What is required before a first solo?
Demonstrated readiness in the pre-solo syllabus, a valid medical, the organisation's authorisation — and in the FAA system, a student pilot certificate plus the instructor's solo endorsement, valid 90 days at a time.
Can a student pilot carry passengers on a solo?
No — solo means solo, and student privileges exclude passengers everywhere. The first passenger flies after the licence is issued.