and FI hours do not make you any better HANDLING pilot
Thread drift.
...sorry to ruffle feathers, but the above statement is absolute tosh as far as I am concerned. I probably wasn't that good to start off with but I am a much better pilot now than I was before I started instructing.
The approaches that used to be flown 'about right' in terms of speed are now spot on. The heights that were +/- 50 feet before are much tighter now. The whole shooting match is a much more polished affair. That 1/2 dot on the CDI - gone. I'm far more spacially aware of what's happening - not just to the aeroplane I'm in but to others in the vacinity. I know where I am all the time.
Why? Because I fly much more regularly now, professionally - I instruct. IMHO - flying of any kind makes you a better handling pilot.
Rant over