Well, I'll be a bit of a doomsayer here. Merely getting a plane up and down one time, and in one piece is NOT usually considered soloing. In this case lots of time on the simulator and a good bit of luck have meant the plane survived. The typical criteria for soloing is that the pilot can demonstrate that he/she knows and follows proper safety procedures and can repeatedly takeoff, fly, handle emergencies such as deadsticks, and perhaps stall/spin, and land in a safe, controlled manner.

People trying to learn on their own, perhaps in a park or school yard, rather than at a club with an instructor, need to think very carefully about the consequences of their actions. One minor mishap, perhaps a plane hitting a car, window, or worse, a kid playing soccer, could be all it takes for the town, city, or county to adopt a negative stance toward R/C flying. Obviously if one lives out in the middle of nowhere these issues don't apply, but there's still lots of things to be learned from a GOOD instructor that a person just can't get from a sim or via email from someone hundreds or thousands of miles away.