notice, I disagree.
the school/ CFI/ FI/aircraft owner have a financial interest in maximising the hours you need
This is simply not the way that professional instructors operate.
One instructor who I know well is very proud of the fact that her average time for getting students through a PPL is several hours lower than the schools average. Other instructors have a "model student" who progresses faster than average, and is ready to take their skills test very shortly after reaching minimum hours.
Instructors may tell prospective students about these things as part of their sales pitch... but they are also genuinely proud of every student who pass the skills test without requiring excessive hours, and will aim to get every student a PPL in the minimum number of hours possible for that student. I know this because, despite the fact that I have my PPL, and I'm therefore not a prospective student, instructors continue to proudly tell me "Jim's doing his skills test next weekend - he only needed 47 hours."
And a personal experience which happened to me recently: the club I hire from has a "28-days currency on type" rule for hiring. I had gone out of currency on the Super Cub, due to a combination of weather, flying a Warrior insetad due to the better nav-aids, and the plane having technical problems. When I was next able to fly the Cub, it had been 29 days since my last flight on type. According to club rules, I needed an instructor check-out.
I asked my instructor to arrange a check-out. When she heard I was only one day over the currency requirement, she refused to fly with me. She said it didn't make sense - she had less total time on the Cub than me, was less current than me, and knew my standard of flying well enough to be happy that I'd be safe, so she signed me out without needing a check-out. Does this sound like an instructor who's got her own financial interests at heart? No! It's an instructor with enough common sense not to make me waste my money on instruction which isn't required.
Sorry for the long rant, but I read a lot about flying instructors, especially hour-builders, who are only out to get as many hours and as much of our money as they can - and it annoys me because, certainly for all the instructors that I've ever flown with (hour-builders or otherwise) it couldn't be further from the truth.
Having said that, I do agree with notice when he says that "35 hours is a joke." Very few people will get an NPPL in 35 hours, IMHO. This is not because of the greed of schools or instructors, but because, for the majority of students, 35 hours is not long enough to learn to fly safely. Those naturally-gifted students who can fly safely after 35 hours may well get an NPPL after that time - but there will be very few of them.
FFF
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