I used to be a TRE in the PPL field prior to JAR FCL coming in. In the UK system it was possible for a PPL post-licence issue never to EVER fly with an instructor ever again. As others mention, this "privilege" was in practice only available to owner-drivers.
I experienced a number of PPL owner-drivers whose flying capability was woefully out of practice. They could "pole along" OK, but emergency procedures were so distant to them that many would have been of little use if a real emergency had occurred.
The obvious example was autorotations. In any light single, the response to an engine failure needs to be prompt. If the lever does not go down, anything subsequent is hypothetical and pointless, of course!
For me, the LPC was one of the few positive benefits of JAR FCL - it has mostly been a catalogue of disasters, increased costs and admin to no good purpose.
Of course, the ones to be worried about were those who could not be persuaded to do continuation training at all!
Most of the TREs/examiners I know are fairly thorough. If you come across one who, at the least, does not do a thorough post-flight bebrief then complain. I think they will be rare though, because it is a great pleasure to do that sort of work!
I used to worry most about student's attitudes. With a suitable amount of practice, most students could learn to "make the moves". It would not always be pretty, but it would work. But people's attitudes were much more difficult. It is easy for an instructor to have a bad effect on a student's attitude (poor example etc.) but so so difficult to change a person's attitude for the good.
The successful, pushy businessman type used to forcing his way to a successful conclusion in business deals was my nightmare. I was always worried about him pushing on into bad weather beyond his capability.
Incidentally, I recently renewed my fixed wing licence which had elapsed about 5 years ago. I could not believe how straightforward (by comparison) the equivalent emergencies were in a plank, and how much time there was to sort out an engine failure.
Last edited by Helinut; 2nd Nov 2003 at 00:51.