ChickenTrainer -
sounds to me like your small flying club
WAS a chicken**** tinpot training institution. However, the fact that there are shonky small operators as well doesn't necessarily vindicate "sausage factory" training. The place where I was at also had "theory deluxe", the level of detail they went into in briefings, nav exercise planning etc. was phenomenal. Doesn't excuse them from the fact that I had
fourteen different instructors by the time I passed my PPL! My theory is that they go overboard and throw everything they've ever learned or read about at the student in the briefing room in the hope that some of it sticks in the air. They're trying to cover for the fact that no instructor is taking a long term interest in the student (except for the amount of dual time they can be milked for).
I'm not going to go too far down the road of blaming the instructors though - so much of it comes back to the way people treat their staff. I was on less than 10 bucks kiwi an hour (paid for flight time only). We had in excess of thirty instructors on our books at one stage and probably about ten full time students, and a couple of dozen weekend pilots. People who have committed fifty grand to get to the "new instructor" stage don't take too long to get demoralised, pissed off and cynical. That attitude rubs off on the students very very quickly. And it does have a profoundly lowering effect on training standards.
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Talk to me!!
http://wwp.mirabilis.com/26038235