WWW
You were obviously at Welshpool before my time, so I've never met you. I happen to agree with your philosophy of being straight with people if they are obviously not going to make the grade - personally, I'd definitely want to know, (and did in fact once ask, to make sure, but was told you're OK - carry on). If at any time now or in the future I think I'm not going to be safe, I'd like to think I've got the sense to call it a day, and not put other lives at risk, or become a needless statistic.
My gripe with what I call 'hours builders' (this only applies to the ones I've met), is this: In my <humble> opinion, MOST, (not all), of them are not really in it to ensure 'Bloggs' is OK. They are there mainly to get the required amount of hours to enable them to be accepted into an airline, and as such, are 'flying on the students back'.
During my time at the above establishment, I had 2 instructors, (as stated on my previous post). Instructor one was 'persuaded' to take me up, even though the weather was bad. (At this early stage, I needed to have a reasonable horizon, not cloud coverage). Sometimes, instructor one himself didn't want to get airborne - HE told me that. This happened a couple of times, and on one occasion, instructor one actually nearly panicked when coming down to land in bad visibility. Obviously, what I actually learnt from these sessions was zilch - zero - nothing. The school had their money, instructor one had his hours, (and shattered nerves), and me? - bereft of a couple of hundred pounds, and nothing else to show for it.
Instructor two was somewhat better. A nice chap, but forever moaning about the school, (what they paid him, how they treated him, (and others), how he couldn't wait to get to an airline etc...). In fact, every lesson, I got an up-to-date progress report on his aspiring career. Very nice, except for the fact that I wasn't actually learning anything at all!
WWW, faced with instructors like this, how is one supposed to progress? I don't know, please tell me. With retrospect I should have put a stop to it and either gotten yet another instructor from this school, (third time lucky?), or gone elsewhere. BUT because of my inexperience, I did nothing, 'secure in the knowledge' that they knew best.
It wasn't just here that I felt let down: My very first lesson was at a different school, with a maniac for an instructor - he thought it funny to drop the plane out of the sky, and dive at the ground with absolutely NO explanation of what he was doing, (presumably effect of controls?). This one very nearly put me off for life, but I persevered.
You can all say what you like, but there is absolutely no comparison with my present instructor, who CAN teach, and will not waste your cash by:
a) bleating on about himself,
b) sending you up in cr@p weather unless contributory to the lesson
c) giving false promises.
My post is not in any way, shape or form meant to tar all 'hours building' instructors with the same brush. I'm sure there are a lot of chap/esses who want to gain hours to get that airline job, but who do a damm good job of instructing. Similarly, there are probably 'professional' instructors who are no good. All I'm doing is making a comparison based on my own experiences, and trying to stop other people who are trying to learn to fly from making my mistakes.
Pity you weren't there when I was, WWW, maybe you'd have restored my faith!
ariel