SSD WROTE:
No, not really. Alien to me, that was.
I came to GA with my eyes open. I'd done gliding in the late '70s (a bit - 'till I got pissed off driving tractors and pulling private owner gliders around for a few precious minutes in the air). I'd spent 3 full weekends, 07:00 to 19:00 each day, before I even got into a cockpit! Thanks a bunch, D&L! (It WAS a long time ago!).
So I went to Barton in 1978 for a PPL determined not to be pissed around again. Made that clear, in the crowded clubhouse one wet Sunday afternoon after calling in to Barton, to the chairman of LAC. He promised me they would not piss me about as D&L had done.
So it did ring bells but it was better second time around at a good school once you'd been bitten, by your own admission? Not quite the same, is it?
Truth is, all schools DO NOT carry out what they promised and the GA scene has shrunk incredibly since the '70's ie less competition etc. so 'screwing the incumbents' will be more prevalent:
Loyalty costs.