Wingo Wango
I shall try to make this clear.
Background
A few years ago I instructed at a reputable club that was forced to fly a large circuit and we got about 5 T & G landings an hour the average time to solo was about 16 hours.
I now instruct for a club that flys a very tight 800ft circuit , the average time to solo is about 11 hours.
So the first club takes about 5 hours longer to get a student off solo, it is my opinion that the number of landings that the student makes is about the same at both clubs but a student at the first club has to pay for about five more flying hours to reach solo.
Conclusion
The number of landings that a student flys are critical to progress.
Time in the air or taxing when flying circuits has very little effect on student progress.
The money issue
The time recorded in the aircraft and engine log book is take off to touchdown and that is what all the maintenance checks and time critical part lives are based on.
Most schools charge the student chock to chock time so the normaly flying a T&G circuit a student will get about 5-6 landings and 50 minuits in the air for an hours flying assuming about 10 min for the taxi time.
If the student has to taxi back each time the aircraft is only flying for about 20 minuits in each flying hour that the student pays for and the student is not getting the solo practice that they need.
Who wins?
Well lets think about this the school is now charging the same chock to chock rate but only putting 20 minuits of airframe and engine time on the aircraft they are also reducing the fuel burn as the aircraft burns considerably less fuel when taxing than is will in the air.
The student gets about 50% less landings per hour so will probably have to fly a few more hours to get up to the required standard.
As a money making scam its faultless!