at a school i taught in for many years..we a) had to have commercial licences and b)a level of knowledge above what we were teaching....thats the theory behind having the written exams done but not holding the commercial licence..but we still felt one should not just have the exams done for the CPL but also to hold the licence.
That was fine when to get a CPL you were likely to have accumulated at least 700 hours. However what does a CPL prove these days? The average established PPL has more experience than most fresh CPL holders. My PPL instructors were all far more experienced. A couple were wartime RAF pilots, and the others were either experienced PPL's or ex-forces/airline PPL's who either no longer could meet the medical requirements for ATPL or had left the services and opted for PPL. The one CPL/frozen ATPL instructor I had was rubbish. He was trying to teach me IMC, but was far more interested in keeping his own IR skills up to date at my expense. It was only after my lack of progression and the CFI deciding to fly with me that I suddenly realised what a plonker the other so called "instructor" was. I guess I should have complained, but I was far more shy and timid then.
MC Sunny,
Look at glider towing. It's not quite the closed shop some say, and in the summer months some of the busier schools are very keen to take on a full time tuggy. If you have tailwheel experience or at least some glider time you will be even more likely to get in.
SS