You'll meet bad instructors...and good instructors everywhere. Just because they tend to wear shorts and T shirts in the US, as opposed to a tie and a couple of stripes on their shoulders as they tend to in the UK doesn't automatically make an FAA instructor any less professional. . .. .Anyone who suggests that the general standard of training in the US is lower than in England is quite frankly talking out of their arse. There may be bad schools, or bad instructors, just as in the UK but on the whole the standard is excellent. . .. .I'm a great advocate of flying in the US (as if you couldn't tell) and I suggest that anyone who has not flown in the US should go and try it. Its is excellent fun, it is easy (less bull), it is far cheaper, and it is just as safe as in good old Europe. I think anyone who criticises the US GA has either had a bad experience with one particular school, or simply cannot handle "complicated" procedures like "talking to air trafic control", having only flown from a small 'radio' field in the UK.. .. .Cheers. .EA