Yes there are a lot of good PPLs in aero clubs but there are also a lot of down right dangerous ones who are only alive due to blind luck.
I wasn't suggesting that PPL's mentor anyone.
As low time pilots, it would be safe to assume we have just shelled out a huge wack of cash to our respective flying schools - would it not be wise to call those who know us best if we are in doubt IE our instructors?
Thats fine if the instructors are experienced enough. I was envisaging the mentors having between three and 25,000 hours.Also, the type of advice I imagine giving would be guidance as far as making sure the low time pilot had thought of everything that needed to be considered. A helping hand in identifying the threats to a particular flight. In the end a go/no go decision always lies with the PinC, after all, they have been issued the licence.
I'm a 737 F/O with no instructing time at all ,but I have a few thousand hours GA and regional turbo prop command time.I consider myself pretty inexperienced but I feel like I am now reaching a stage where I could give sound advice to someone with little experience. The majority of instructors now days don't have much experience. ( I know some have huge amounts but the
majority don't).
I fly with captains every day who make me realise I am just at the beginning of building up experience and decision making skills and I imagine many of them would take a keen interest in someones progress if this scheme was available.
Weather is one of the biggest issues for low time pilots. Commercial pilots who have been flying into as many as five different centers in one day for years on end can look at a synoptic and a TAF and drag so much information out of it in five seconds that it would blow most of todays instructors socks off. That has got to be worth something right there.
I have a lot of respect for instructors, I think many of them would be great mentors. I also think that there is a wealth of knowledge and experience belting around in Dash 8's, Embraers, 737's etc etc that is not tapped into when it could be.
Framer