dublinpilot
I think a big part of the cause of drop outs, is that flying schools are geared up for training and not for PPL's
Great points.
But isn't that because most PPLs never go anywhere? Indeed many never intend to fly (e.g. the PPL money was an xmas present). Because most PPLs never use their PPL for anything anywhere near their privileges, nobody complains that the PPL syllabus is so limited relative to required skills, the training so disorganised, the training planes so decrepit, etc. It's a catch-22.
Imagine a driving school, where most people never got a car, and the car rental firms were renting out 1965 Ford Anglias. Almost nobody would question the training standards. They could train in an Anglia too, and almost nobody would care. But nearly all people drive, so the whole business runs pretty well - it has to. You could not have say 30% of new drivers getting killed within the first few weeks. But let's say one forced every new PPL to fly 100 hours cross country in 3000m visibility (legal VFR) - how many would make it, honestly?
The one thing which CAN be done is for schools to encourage PPLs to stick around and participate in various things, and put some real effort into creating a decent social scene. PPL students could also go up with existing PPLs, to see that flying is actually fun. But in reality most schools want you out (unless you pay for more training) and they certainly don't want you messing with "their" students.
Last edited by IO540; 7th November 2003 at 04:44.