Point taken Chuck, but then not everyone flying today is a "Top Gun" either. I'd also be interested to see the accident statistics compared with the 1950's.
Having said that, private flying costs money - the students money. In the services, a student can be chopped as it's the goverment paying for it, but not so in civil aviation. There is the pressure to get the student through in bare minimum time, from both the student and the flying school (it looks better on the recoords). I'm not saying that standards are being ignored, but I'm sure that over the years, commercial pressures have a "dumbing down" effect.
Yes, I wouldn't have liked to see my students with over 30* AoB (particularly climbing turns) in the circuit because they don't necessarily have the experience at that stage to do so and the ground hurts.
In terms of "Finger Flying" to maintain a S & L attitude, I needed 7! Guess it's a good opportunity to see if I had the aircraft trimmed or not.
The Finger method is just a starter to help the student build a picture. (The instructor most definitely not be using the method except as a quick demo to the student) Not recommeded in the circiuit though, and by that time, they should have learnt the correct attitudes anyway or more area work for them.
To demonstrate the point, I used to cover the ASI on base with a "post-it" note, say to the student, now set the correct attitude. They would and we'd check the ASI (and most likely be out by a few knots). Next circuit, same thing but probably more accurate. By the third circuit, they generally had the airspeed nailed and trimmed to boot. Their approaches were better too because they were looking outside the cockpit. Worked a treat for their flying (and mine
)
Cheers,
LP