Maybe it's just newbie nitpicking, but having read the last few posts I get the impression that they refer to two different aspects of flying/instructing:
- maybe unglamorous but potentially live-saving skills like partial panel UA recovery (am I the only one not to know what two- and three stage amber means?
), systems knowledge (including GPS), flying the airplane first in case of an emergency, recognizing and correcting spiral dives vs. spins
(the last one wasn't explicitly mentioned here, but got frequently cited by Pace in previous threads IIRC)
- the fine art of minimum-speed greasers, three point landings etc., basically just about how smooth and well-controlled the aircraft (which should apparently present a "challenge" in this respect) settles back on the earth.
Certainly, both ingredients of a competent pilot, but I wonder whether they should really indiscriminately be put in the same basket, and if the latter doesn't sometimes attract disproportionate attention compared to the former, especially when talking about the "good old times".