Who and how do they make decisions

[Goldfish Jack]

Had the pleasure of working tower the other day(with a tower like ours and the amazing views, it is always a pleasure to work there), during the winter with heavy rain showers continiously passing through, when a student called the ground controller and asked for taxi instructions for a training flight to another local airfield (Fisantekraal). He was quite keen to go and told the ground controller that his instructor said it would be fine. (Even the sea-gulls had cancelled their training for the day!)

A quick look to the west revealed a huge black cloud dumping some rain on the local area! When queried if he still wanted to go, the student asked the ground controller what he should do! The ground controller correctly said the student should consult with his instructor before getting airborne.

It was not 10 mins later when the vis was reduced to 5000m in rain and the cloud base was down to under 1000ft.

My question is: How can an instructor allow a student pilot to go flying in such weather? Having worked here for a few years what would have happened had that student have gotten caught in the rain showers and what would he have done? Do you think a student pilot with under 20 hours would know what to do?

One wonders how that instructor achieved his qualification and whether or not they care for the safety of their student and the people on the ground below the aircraft?

Needless to say the student did not go flying! One also wonders if the interference of the 2 ATCs concerned prevented a possible accident from happening?

And to think ATC is an easy job!!!!!!!!!!!! Ag it is really - the humour and the chirps keep us going, make no mistake.

"Druk die groen knoppie, die groen een............."

[sky waiter]

Instructors i think tend to forget that the student does only have ten or twenty hours and expects them to handle the situation, in that scenario however i think the instructor was a bit careless and with that the school too, surely a bit of knowledge of the weather conditions in the area and the tendencies are required, most pilots learn that after working at thier local airport. Instructors especially because you hardly ever go furthere than the GF anyway...

That being said maybe im over cautious weather checks are done before every flight regardless, and after all its my licence that goes under the hammer every time i sign a student out to go solo anyway... :ok:

[Exhaust Manifold]

Bad decision by the instructor. But what could of influenced his decision was the flying school he works for, alot of flying schools are just interested in how many hours their a/c do per month.

Not that that makes his decision any better.

[cavortingcheetah]

:(

Funny that ! Instructing in England can be very different from any I ever did in ZA. It seems that quite a lot of flight school owners in the UK are not pilots themselves. I wouldn't have thought that a flight school was a great investment house but certainly profit motivation does seem to get in the way of a student's best interests from time to time.

I had a serious arguement with a flight school owner in East Anglia once.

I turned up to take a new (to me) student out for solo consolidation. It transpired that she had over forty hours of dual time. Each ocasion on which she had turned up to consolidate her solo achievement and the weather was not too good, guess what, into the aircraft for another dual cross country.
I refused to do this and, after consulting with the Wx gurus, suggested an alternate day on which to finish the solo excercise.
The owner was livid that I refused to fly her up to have another look at the Norfolk coastline. The pupil was livid at him and so we both left the confines of that particular school. The owner has moved on now.:D