So, none of your comments actually say that an unpaid or PPL FI is "better" than a paid or CPL holder?
Correct.
unpaid volunteers, who are less accountable than paid staff.
I am not sure because you pay someone they are more accountable. In what way do you imagine this to be so?
You cannot expect someone to be there full time and not get paid.
Agreed. Almost always true unless they are retired.
Who is going to chat to the walk in customers. Do you just shut up shop on poor days? Could you really expect someone who's a volunteer to sit there bored out of their mind from 9-5 during the long and very boring winter months?
.. .. .. but how many flying schools pay their staff when they are not working?
How many flying schools pay their staff a living wage? I dont mean a wage that they can live on when they are 20, but a wage that makes it a worth while career when they have a mortgauge to pay and a family to look after. What type of instructor does that encourage?
When I did my BSAC course it was done in a first class club enviroment. The instructors were excellent. They enjoyed passing on their skills, they enjoyed teaching. They accepted significant responsibility - at least as much as a FI. They were paid their expenses. The club produced excellent divers. When I "qualified" as an instructor I didnt expect to get paid for the instruction I gave because I enjoyed it, and I felt it was an opportunity of returning the time others had put into my training. It worked because it was a club enviroment. Most flying schools are not clubs, but if I startyed a flying school staffed by "volunteers" (at least in so far as the FIs were concerned) I suspect it might do as well as conventional schools. Such a school would offer a different "product" and therefore whether or not it would undermine traditional schools I am less certain. I suspect there are plenty of enthusiastic pilots who would enjoy a bit of instruction for expenses only.