Originally Posted by
comingup
Common misperception. You learn a ton in the pattern. Cross country flying is, of course, necessary but that's the easy part. After instructing for a 1,000 hours or so, I found the pattern is where you hone your skills that you will need outside the pattern. Anybody can fly A to B.
I'm curious, convince me. Could you tell us the valuable "skill" you honed in the pattern?