My concern is when we see, in a very competitive market, a flight school that can issue visas insisting you need one, vs flight schools that can't, arguing you don't.
People should indeed only listen to the INS or US Embassy, you can read their rules on the web and if it isn't crystal clear then you should obviously call them up and/or seek legal interpretation.
So why talk about the Homeland Security Dep't, and refer to a whole load of stuff about changing B category visa status? The facts plainly stated by the INS and US Embassy are that the visa waiver program extended to UK citizens staying less than 90 days is category W. Only those from high-risk countries or staying longer than 3 months might have a non-immigrant B-visa. So, factually speaking, all of that 'information' quoted above is not applicable and thus not helpful.