Now now chaps, calm down, calm down. It's a whole other topic but BEagle does have a point, unfazed. When I first became an instrutor the CFI took me aside and gave me several tips, one of which was 'if a guy comes to you with a US PPL, BE CAREFUL. They may be just fine but they may not - be on your guard'. I thought that piece of advice a little strange until some years later when a chap did just that - wanted a checkout to hire an aircraft with a US PPL. When you've been instructing for a while you get know the difference between someone who is not very good and one who has been badly taught. This guy was the latter AND HOW! It's hard to expain if you haven't experienced it but I knew that is he was turned loose he WOULD crash, not to mention busting all manner of airspace and not being able to talk to anyone while doing it. Truly remedial and when I debriefed him on UK standards he agreed and was retaught - turned out fine. It's not a myth and it's by no means widespread but some people come back from America with a piece of paper that is literally worse than useless.
Now back to the original thread.........