I'm not a pilot, I've never been to flight school, but I have served (USAF) and I have been employed all my life in various careers which require discipline and constant learning.
Some comments:
I make full use of all the time for the oral, I have been known to go for 4 hours on more than one occasion mainly because I do not want to rush the process
That's a very comforting thing to hear - you must have realized at some point that ANY final exam is only the first part of the next level of training, not the end of training. I'll bet that a student learns quite a bit during one of your "slow cooker" exams - and certainly comes away with the idea of how important the whole gig really is.
Next, there have been a few comments about low-hour military pilots, and I truly don't believe there is a parallel; shorter training times and performance at lower experience hours are possible because of the whole military culture. Discipline, must not fail, et cetera. Not so much that all the skills have been developed - but the attitude is different.
I think the whole of the problem is that so many folks have begun to think of flying as so every-day, so mundane, that we are seeing more people getting into the right and left seats as a "job" rather than out of a true love and respect for aviation.
Hence, the underachievers, the folks who can throw money at the problem, the glory seekers (as one post mentioned) are not as diluted by exemplary pilots as they once were.
Couple that with the huge economic squeeze, and lower skill levels can find the way in, unfortunately.
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