Originally Posted by
TangoAlphad
your average uncurrent low hours guy could benefit hugely from a checkout and being shown the correct procedures for ... flight over water.
My first flight over the channel, solo in a rented aircraft, I didn't even see the water! - coast to coast fog. (I could see the land on both sides OK.) I think the only "procedures for ... flight over water" that I followed were (a) fly 1' below controlled airspace and (b) don't touch the engine controls over water. I probably tried to get in the coasting out/in and mid channel calls, but you know what LI's like.
I think I might disagree about sending someone solo on grass without having shown them that all the bumping around is normal and well within the aircraft's capabilities. Yes you can explain to them all the stuff about what to do when thrown into the air prematurely by a bump (not something that happens on tarmac) and so on, but I for one would have been disconcerted to experience all that by myself for the first time.