A good point about improved engine reliability but there are very few jet or diesel engined C152s or PA 28s at flying schools! There are however a lot of pilots who still do not seem to understand fuel drains, carburettor icing and the requirement to manage fuel to keep the engine running! Of course It would also help if these vintage trainers actually had serviceable and reliable fuel gauges.
I believe that makes my point about the lack of experience from some instructors to hold their students accountable. Where I live we are having our first real snowfall today. If an instructor flying with a student today is not covering the possibility of fuel contamination when refueling the aircraft, carb icing when flying, or the change in fuel/air mixture with extreme temperature changes that are needed to keep the engine running smoothly, then it's not the student I'd be most concerned about. I do agree with the serviceability and reliability of fuel gauges, but even on a jet those gauges can be MEL'd with the alternate procedure being the magnetic dipstick and pen and paper for fuel burn, so teaching proper fuel management procedures from an early point in one's career sets a pilot up for success the whole way through.
You mention LOC, so looking at BPFs take off briefing for his Cessna 172, can you point out which parts covers possible LOC (I) including it’s mitigation and recovery? After all, it was a take off emergency brief.
Sure. If the pilot fails to properly adhere to the emergency procedures of the aircraft, many of which are memory items as laid out by BPF, that pilot might incorrectly manage an engine failure after takeoff which could lead to a stall, and thus a loss of control event. Had that pilot taken 10-20 seconds to mentally brief their DVAs, it is possible that the pilot would manage an engine failure or other systems malfunction better than they would had they not reviewed their procedures.
Part of what we have to remember here is that when teaching ab initio, you are not dealing with someone who has thousands of hours of experience to draw upon. If I suddenly forget every SOP my company wrote tomorrow, I know I can manage to fly the aircraft just fine, even if it's not the way Mr. Boeing wants. However, a student with 15 hours total time has no experience to draw upon and, as such, must be remindended at every opportunity so that we can quickly build that experience. Likewise, when you started flying your first jet with reverse and spoilers, I doubt that you managed to get the spoilers out following every RTO in the sim. If you did, you're a far better pilot than I. So taking a moment for most pilots to quickly refresh one's memory at the beginning of the day is not a bad thing, especially if that happens to be the difference between a successful outcome and a loss of control of any given day.