Meanwhile in the instructor office:
"I just did a checkout flight with this right muppet I probably shouldn't have signed off. He hadn't bothered to flick through the checklist to see how we do things, I prompted him 3 times and he still was going to take off with the transponder on STBY. He left the landing light on for 45 minutes even after I gently asked if he completed all his after take off checks. I asked for a short field takeoff and he forgot the flaps. He stopped dead on an intersection blocking a 737 taxying out to do his after landing checks...................."
The truth will be somewhere between. I've done plenty of checkouts where the guy/girl has flown like a complete pillock and then been totally offended when I didn't sign the logbook and throw them the keys. I'm sure I've been the "Horrible Instructor" a few times.