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INTRODUCTION: This study involves an investigation of accidents of student pilots flying solo. METHODS: We analyzed NTSB probable cause reports of 390 crashes that occurred in the period 2001-2005. RESULTS: The results indicate that despite the apparent dangers of unsupervised flights, this type of accident manifests lower rates of injuries and fatalities than those found with other types of instructional flights. A relatively high number of accidents occurred in the landing phase, particularly during the flare maneuver, which confirms earlier research on accidents with instructional flights. Compared to all solo pilots, student pilots on their first solo flight had a relatively low risk of injury, while students with more than 100 h of flight experience had a relatively high risk of injury. CONCLUSION: More research is needed into methods for teaching the flare maneuver to student pilots. Furthermore, there is an important role for the flight instructor in continuing to check on solo flying student pilots, in particular when they have accumulated a considerable number of flight hours without obtaining a private pilot license and in remedying planning and decision-making errors by assisting in flight preparations.
Uitdewilligen et al. (Sat,) studied this question.