What is the cost comparison between operating a glider compare to a C172?
Depends upon how you measure it - add in hangerage, and the fact that there are far more days per year that you can fly a C172 usefully than a glider, and it's not clearcut. Anyhow, this was about the instructor.
True, but they only need 150 PIC / 200 TT, to became a flying club hero!
Having been a member of a few "real" flying clubs, I'd dispute that. The club membership will know generally who the good experienced pilots are, and who aren't. If the good experienced pilot happens to be an instructor, excellent!
Taildragger's are [FONT="]differences training only , not much to it really. In fact the 5 groundloops that I have seen myself was done by PPL holders.
Not much? I wonder why all those books about it are in the various aviation bookshops then? More seriously, a lot of taildraggers are also "interesting" older aeroplanes that require a degree of finesse in operating them which benefits from having spent a fair bit of time about them.
Strip sense, well its EX 17 and 2 hours circuits on a grass runway should do it.
Sorry, but no that's just not true. Strip knowledge is about PPR, reading waterlogged runways, making your own fly/no-fly decisions where there's no formal source of information, working without radio, fuelling from jerry cans.... - a lot of stuff that goes far beyond circuits and precautionary landings.
Of course most instructors know and recognise that this significant body of knowledge is needed, which is why many instructors wisely recognise that their experience is all about a narrow range of aircraft types and certain types of airfield - so they don't get involved in this sort of instruction.
But that does create a gap, which the 1000+ hr club PPL might fill very successfully. This of-course is one of the reasons for the CRI qualification or the LAA Coaching Scheme.
The 300 hour CPL guy is better than the 200 hour PPL, he has been trained better, knows more and will have a more professional attitude than the almighty good old boy from the flying club with his PPL and FI ticket.
That is *probably* true; but the almighty good old boy may have spent many hundreds more hours building, maintaining, calming down locals upset about having their house overflown. And will probably know that strip extremely well. So it's not always all that clearcut. It's certainly not just about stick and rudder skills.
I have nothing against experience ( 1000+ hrs) ppl holders that can be paid for flight instructing, I think its a disgrace that a PPL holder less than a 1000 hours can be paid for instructing.
I have a lot against any system that thinks that hours are everything to be honest. Let's assess ability.
If we have two 500hr pilots:
(1) PPL, owning and maintaining his own aeroplane, flying for 9 years, very careful and consciencious, spends most of his spare time around his airstrip.
(2) fATPL, never owned, very well trained, been flying 3 years did integrated then FI, never really flown outside of the flying school environment - very precise and punchy, excellent at doing things by the book.
Both of those pilots have a great deal to teach a newbie - but in very different ways. What would be really good would be to give them opportunities to learn from each other!
G