By teaching people to fly from A to B I am referring to the endless posts on the forums, and endless cases I find personally, where a pilot is unable to plan a route from say Goodwood to Norwich. This is inexcusable, since it renders the PPL license virtually worthless. The evident inability of so many fresh PPLs to go anywhere guarantees they will chuck it in almost right away.
IO,
To go back to the original question: I personally find this and the other places gold mines for practical flying, particularly when flying to a new destination. Sometimes what's written in the AIP or a flight guide is out of date, or just inaccurate and getting comments on an internet forums can help shed light on local custom & practice.
To give an example: I flew to Dinard this summer. Before I went I had a little search around the forums and picked up that one must knock on the door of the customs office to get attention if there's no-one around. There are no signs at the airport (that I could see) and it doesn't mention it in the French AIP entry for Dinard. Practical real-world experience from the internet community, without which I would probably have strolled through the terminal without properly clearing customs.
But I'm frequently put off contributing (particular on pprune) because of the tendency to criticise other pilots. How many threads have there been on: other pilots not reading NOTAMs, other pilots pressing on when they shouldn't, other pilots flying too big a circuit, other pilots flying too tight a circuit (i.e. cutting in), etc etc? (And I note, it's generally "other pilots"; the internet is populated solely by pilots who "always" display excellent airmanship and begin their posts "I always". Apart from me: I
always consider myself fallible...
)
And to take the quote above. I'm sure you intended it as a well-meaning example to make your point. However, people like me will come to an internet forum to ask advice on routing A -> B, not because I can't plan a viable route; I can probably think of several. But I'm looking for local practical advice that might not be apparent from published information.
Phew, managed a post on pprune.
DR