What you have experienced is the result of the UK CAA allowing training for JAA licences in the USA without suficient oversight.
Thus we now have the situation where US flight instructors who have no knowledge of European procedures use local US procedures while teaching UK pilots for flight in UK airspace.
Am I missing something? Is that UK student in the US seeking flight instruction under a US instructor and certification as a pilot by the FAA? No, really... I'm asking. I might be unaware of the deal here. If he or she
is in the US to get a US ticket, then the aeronautical knowledge portions of Part 61 seem pretty clear: this applicant has to have specific knowledge regarding the US system. US flight instructors have to have knowledge of the US procedures. Whether they have knowledge of European procedures or not is immaterial to the student getting the US ticket.
That having been said, I'm open to becoming educated on this subject. Are there instructors in the US who are also certified by the CAA to do something in particular as far as additional, Euro-centric instruction? Are they failing in that regard? If there is nothing which requires US instructors to teach European procedures to specific students, isn't it a bit much to browbeat them for failing to do so? IMHO, absent specific requirements, I would think it would be sufficient for a US instructor to mention to a UK student that "I think this might be done differently outside of the US, but I don't know for sure." Granted, a student needs to have information and training appropriate to the environment in which he or she intends to fly. But in a case like this one, if the US instructor is teaching as he or she is required to teach under the rules of the certifying authority, I don't see how you could ask for more. If the CAA has dropped the ball, blame them. If the student doesn't care enough to seek out the info he or she needs to be safe, deny certification. Yes, I understand the part about allowing traiing "without suficient oversight." What I don't buy, however, is that US instructors are "teaching UK pilots for flight in UK airspace."
What am I missing?
Dave
