SEP revalidation and training flight question

[Say again s l o w l y]

enq, it is very easy for an FI to know what is acceptable when it comes to general handling. We do it daily.

Personally, the primary aim in a PFL is of course to walk away and as long as that is achieved, then I couldn't give a fig how it is done, but a few thing I like to see are mayday call when appropriate, pax brief if time, an attempted restart if the failure isn't obvious and turning off of electrics and fuel before touchdown.

For example, what checks the person uses to achieve that, I don't care. I'm not there to change what someone is doing if it is safe and they are comfortable with it. We all have our own ways of doing things and no-one has the monopoly on the "only" way of doing something.

If they miss something, then I'll mention it in the debrief or after the excercise has been completed. ie when appropriate, but if the excercise has been completed to a good standard with only a few comments, then it's just a debrief item. If they make a complete horlicks of it and we'd have ended up buried in a hill or in a totally unsuitable position, then we'll climb back up and do it again.
If it falls to pieces again, then often I'll demonstrate one or talk them through what they are doing as they have another go, explaining all the way what is happening. In exactly the way I would do with a student.

If we have to spend 30 minutes to get it right, then so be it. It isn't a test, it's about getting the person upto standard if they aren't there already. As long as by the end of the flight, we've fixed the problem, that's all that matters.

I won't give up on someone just because they make a mistake or have gap in their knowledge, it's the incredibly rare situation where someone pitches up and flies so appallingly that a simple bit of tinkering won't work. Basically, they need a whole load more than one hour with an FI to bring them to anything like good enough, but these people are fortunately few and far between.

One or two mistakes doesn't make someone a bad pilot. I make them and I don't know anyone who doesn't, but if you fly with someone who is awful, but thinks they are the next Bob Hoover, that's when I get nervous.

It's what happens between the ears that I'm really interested in, not if someone is competent but makes the odd boo boo.

youngskywalker, I think it's a pilot thing. No wonder there are so few women involved in aviation when you have to deal with such spotterish arguments about stuff that really isn't that important. I was thinking about why I rarely post on this bit of Pprune anymore and I think I've got my answer!