Exams
I'm appalled by the some of the questions on the new exam papers.
Questions about meridians, declination, local mean time in other parts of the world, distances in the southern hemisphere far exceeding the range of any helicopter are completely irrelevant to a PPL H student in the UK.
Crosswind vs runway direction calculations in a PPL helicopter paper???
Really? Shouldn't we be teaching them to land into wind?
I agree with Rotorvation, who in industry was consulted about the relevance of such questions?
I think that the powers that be should be ashamed of themselves that they have squandered this chance to revamp the PPL papers to be more relevant to the modern world. As Paco observes, all they have done is create more of a barrier to candidates completing PPL exams and ask some truly daft questions (lazily nicked from the CPL's) which are neither appropriate or useful to a modern PPL.
Why is it so difficult for the authories to understand that there is life outside of airlines and that there is a whole sector of industry that relies on teaching recreational pilots to fly.
It merely confirms my suspicion that the Authorities want to drive all small flying schools out of existence and be left with one or two training organisations with lots of satelite operations that are easy to inspect.
It should not be the role of an overseeing authority to regulate the industry out of business until it fits what is easy to oversee.