I have to concede… my basic, instructor and commercial GFT/instrument rating training was on the whole done by two ex CFS instructors (all be it in a Civilian environment… the GAC Oxford), Hamish Logan and Mike Vickers… the standard of instruction was unquestionably EXCEPTIONAL, even I managed to pass all the flight tests first time!
These two gentlemen were/are quite obviously very talented aviators… above all they knew how to pass the information/skills on in a format that the student could easily understand.
The area that ex mil instructor probably does not have the upper hand is that of more specialist instruction… say Advanced or Unlimited aerobatic training.
Here I think you have to have done it (at competition level) to teach it… as far as I’m aware the air force doesn’t teach Negative snap rolls, Torque rolls or the Double Eventail (a gyro figure, for the uninitiated)?? So Ex Mil does not automatically give you the edge… Here this is best left to the Cassidy’s and the Elfimov’s of this world… these specialised areas are dangerous and best left to people with significant experience in this type of flying. Both these gentlemen provide this training to a very high standard and neither are from ‘true’ military flying backgrounds.
In the civilian airshow world an ex military background may well be a disadvantage??… you are largely unsupervised thus you have to set your own standards and limits (and importantly know your own limits). I think the military is more regulated here… certainly civilians have the skill to fly to this level… just look at the competitor listings at Advanced/Unlimited Competition Level in the UK. If you think it’s easy to fly to this standard… go and have a go…
Rob