JB / Boris - thanks for your responses and advice. From the sounds of things the 15 year age minimum (down from 16 years old) on first solo came in a few years back with the 16 year old restriction being maintained for a Restricted Private Pilots License (RPPL). Up until about 6 months back we were "chunking" up his hours to do a week's flying (5 * 1hr lessons) every 3 months. Possibly reflecting is age / maturity / lack of experience we found he was taking at least 2 lessons to get back in the swing of things... He now has just under 12 months to complete his RPPL training then we will see what happens. He has a week of work experience in early August at HMAS Albatross and he's also looking at the RAAF. Either way its up to him and the amount of work he wants to put into his studies and flying. It did take some time for him to understand that learning to fly was, potentially, the start of a job (as opposed to doing something for fun).