BPF,
Apologies if you felt my post was a mockery as it was certainly not intended in that way. Rather, with due respect to you (and others on here) with significantly more experience than myself, I wanted to put my point across as I see yet - being a new PPL. As a new PPL, I felt compled to respond when you said
My experience is if you ask the average PPL who is one year (or even a few months) after their PPL flight test "what would you do if the engine failed at 500 ft after takeoff ?", you would get a long pause with lots of umms and errrs.
. I have the utmost respect for all instructors out there who are not hour building, as lets face it; they're not here for the money - but for the passion. Therefore, I have no intention of arguing a point with any, either here or at the airport. (That's not to say I won't do so in 10 years time however
)
What I wanted to clear up was that you cannot ask a person a question and then moan about their lack of response or attribute this to a lack of knowledge as this is what I took, rightly or wrongly, from your comment quoted above. I agree entirely with following the checklist and please do not think I would ever disregard one.
However I like to think that my students are the least likely to actually have to deal with the EFATO scenario because I teach them to pay attention to what really matters on the walk around, teach real world fuel planning, and how to do a proper run up including understanding what the engine is actually telling you as well as ensuring the engine is delivering full static RPM at the beginning of the takeoff run..... or in other words eliminate the pilot induced engine failures caused by ignorance or "It is only a spamcan" hubris
I am a keen pilot and a dedicated student (I say student because I am, like everyone else, still learning). I pay close attention to all aspects of my flight, before, during and after. I pay particular attention to the cause and effect of my actions and I am constantly looking at ways to improve and further this knowledge. Therefore I regret to say that 'your' students are not alone in being the 'least likely to actually have to deal with an EFATO" - it can happen to anyone and I for one also pay attention to what my aircraft is telling me not only during the power checks, but all the way down the runway too!
I flew yesterday afternoon in the clubs PA28 - just myself and 3 year old son on board. I can tell you know, if the engine stopped on the runway I'd be stopping the role in my own manner before looking for a checklist. (I would also vacate the aircraft and get him to a safe distance before securing the cabin and performing checklist items per the POH) Equally, in the event of an EFATO I would hope to god my training kicks in and I would do as I was taught, but to be honest, my priority is getting back on the ground in one piece and I will use whatever is available to me at the time to do so.
I you feel the need to further mock me, go ahead I do not care as I have explained my position and do not see any point in further comment.
Again, I do apologize if you felt my post was in anyway derogatory toward you as this was not my intent, but I do feel its only fair to be able to respond to your comments in a constructive way.
Regards,
Ryan.
EDIT: I should probably take the time to realise that I am not posting in the Private Flying forum, but rather the Instructor section, so I should probably take less heed when instructors talk about students, new PPLs etc. Well, I live and learn...