Once a pilot has made the grade and taken that first lonesome flight, it then starts to get a little more difficult to measure their progress against time. Lots of factors may affect how quickly one person progresses over another, and it's not necessarily just down to ability. You may just be unlucky with the weather (my personal favourite). It may be the availability of a certain type of glider or some other factor, who knows? But if, for whatever reason, you have any concerns about your progress, you should talk to one of the clubs instructors first. All you may need is a refresher flight to look at one particular aspect of your flying, after which there'll be no stopping you. To help you keep a track on you progress "Post Solo", the club is now issuing Post Solo Progress Cards. These cards are very similar to the ones you were issued with when you first started your training. They list a series of goals, some of which you should be aiming for on each flight. They don't have to be completed in any specific order. Some things may be impossible to achieve on a given day due to weather conditions - a longer duration flight for instance. The important thing is to set yourself a goal on every flight no matter what that may be. This becomes more relevant when you start flying further a field.Now that you have reached that first important mile stone of "Going Solo", you should be think about equipping yourself with a deeper knowledge of all things Gliding. Your next marker on the way to airborne supremacy is the Bronze C. For this you will need a good understanding of the theory of flight, aircraft design, air law, navigation and meteorology plus a few other things! If you haven't done so already, you should get yourself a set of aeronautical charts and a suitable book that will explain all the theory that you are going to need for your Bronze and beyond. Your instructor will be able to give advice on what to buy and these are all available either through the club or directly from the BGA shop. Having been cleared to fly Solo, there are three main bench marks to measure your progress against.

• Getting off check flights. Once you are cleared for Solo flight, the Daily Duty Instructor will want to fly your first flight of the day with you. The purpose of this is just to make sure that you are happy with your flying and also to keep an eye out for any bad habits that may start to appear. Once they are happy that your flying is consistently good, they will sign you off checks.
  

• Bronze C. This is your first multi task flying qualification. It basically involves a few flying exercises which will include Spins, Stalls and Cable Breaks. It also includes basic Field Landing exercises, General Coordinated Flying and a written paper on many aspects of Gliding. There is also a requirement to have completed at least 50 solo flights or 20 flights with a total duration of 10 hours or more. There is a trial/ example paper called the Bronze Confuser which will give you a good idea of what type of questions to expect. By this point, you should already be familiar with Aviation Maps. It's a good idea when flying a Two Seater to practice navigation using a map, this will make things a lot easier for your next goal.

• Cross Country Endorsement. This is the final challenge before starting on your Silver C goals. The Cross Country Endorsement is what you need before you are officially allowed to fly away from your base airfield. To complete your Cross Country Endorsement, you must take a Navigation exercise, complete the Field Landings and Field Selection exercises and have two certified flights, one of at least a hours duration and the other being at least two hours duration.