Have pilots lost their sense of adventure?

[Colonel]

[quote]I don't blame the insurance though[/quote]

A little honesty goes a long way.  It grinds
my gears when people lie and blame other
people for what they do.

Show me the insurance policy that says every
renter pilot must complete every task on the
entire flight test guide.  Doesn't exist.

The lying, chickensh1t CFI has taken the
position that all pilot licences are worthless
which is stupid.  As I said before, if you can't
figure out if someone can or cannot fly in
15 minutes, you're the one with the problem.

[Colonel]

[quote]you got to do a full check out[/quote]

Really?!  The entire flight test guide for their
licence (PPL, CPL) like a 5 yr flight review?

Don't you think that's kind of a waste of time,
doing (e.g.) the stupid short/soft/obstacle
clearing landings that are a complete waste
of time during flight training?

Me, I'm happy if they can fly a normal landing
and a crosswind landing to a long, paved certified
runway ... because I see a lot of new CPL's
that can't.

What about full spins as per pre-solo PTR
checklist and the CPL flight test guide? 

Don't get me wrong, I love upright and inverted
and acclerated spins, and tumbles and tailslides
and torque rolls:

www.pittspecials.com/movies/tumble.wmv

but they are a complete waste of time for a
straight and level renter pilot that simply needs
to know how to avoid a fully-devloped spin when
he is low and slow.

[Colonel]

[quote]the majority of renter pilots? ... making them do a little bit of dual[/quote]

While that sounds good, the specific case
I was quoting was a guy that had just gone
through the wringer with me on the Maule
and the Pitts.  It is very hard work, flying
with me.

[img][/img]

And with all due respect to his leather-jacketed
flight instructor who himself was a recent
graduate of a puppy mill, I suspect the guy
getting the 172 FTU checkout who had just
survived training with me could probably fly
rings around his instructor, when it came to
stick & rudder skill.

But no, the CFI lied to him and said that
their insurance company required a full
flight review of the entire flight test guide
for a renter pilot.

And that's what pisses me off - instructors
lying to students, and milking them for
dual.

Whether we attribute this to incompetence
or malice, it still pisses me off.

I'm not happy when someone takes 100
hours of dual to get their PPL.  These are
the same instructors.  Are they incompetent?
Are they malicious?  Hard to tell.

All I know is that the CFI at that FTU is a liar.

And if I can't trust him to fly a 172, I sure
as hell can't trust him to fly anything more
expensive.

I know it's probably quaint, but I strongly
believe that you should do a good job, at
every job that you do.  Even if it's not a
very glamorous one, and even if you don't
have any honour or character, remember
that people are watching and observing
and concluding.

I remember a few years back, a well-connected
friend of mine (who knows all sorts of people
that employ pilots) asked me about a particular
flight instructor's work ethic.  I silently moved
my head back and forth.

[Colonel]

[quote]Why is your experienced fellow looking to rent a 172 anyhow?[/quote]

It's all that's available in that area.

[quote]Question: Did they actually go out and do said full check out?[/quote]

Yup.  What a waste of his money.  Which
is kind of typical - efficiency comes dead
last in flight training (if it's considered at
all) ... to the point of outright milking.

[Colonel]

[quote]Isn't the obvious solution that your friend needs to own an airplane?[/quote]

Actually, his family does - just not where he is.


[quote] If you're going to rent airplanes, you have to make money at it[/quote]

Sure, but a couple of points:

1) there are a whole lot easier ways to make money.
If maximizing your IRR is your sole objective, you
are in the wrong business.

2) why the weird milking ripoff at the start?  Why
not just charge him market rate for the aircraft?
Why is all the lying and milking and deception
necessary?  I don't get it.

PS A guy I know, runs a flight school:

http://attitudeaviation.com/ourfleet.html

I flew with him in the 90's when I was working
at cisco in SJ, now Eric is flying with him nearly
20 years later.  Sure, he's making money at
it but that's not the only reason he's in aviation.

I get the feeling that aviation is like a Walmart
job for an awful lot of people, and I'm pretty
sad about that.

It sounds stupid when you try to put it into
words, but I'm not competing with Walmart.

I'm in the business of creating the best pilots
in Canada.  Not the most.

Looking over my right shoulder at one of my
students flying right echelon on me:

[img][/img]