I would just like to agree that instructors Should have CPL knowledge to teach PPL's.

Try asking an old timer PPl who fancies doing "a bit of instructing" about a drag curve or any fundemental POF subject and I bet the conversation will last about 15 seconds and then knowledgeable PPL person becomes a mumbling blagger.

Remember these people last studied technical PPL knowledge many years ago, probably to a syllabus that is probably not taught any more and havn't done any structured flying for ages prior to starting a course.

Top teach at a level you need to surpass your students level of knowledge and be able to answer the awkward questions. Thats why people with degrees teach high school students, would you wish to have your sons and daughters taught by 6th form graduates?

At least a newbie CPL/FI has had to demonstrate a good standard of accuracy and flying TWICE fairly recently to get where he's at.

There is a country mile between how seriously a CPL skills test and an FIR test are taken by examiners there certainly was with both of mine (Both CAAFU).

Just my £0.02 worth, that said, the old BCPL type scheme should be brought back and a training credit given for the IR after 6 or 700 hours, this would settle down the instructor market and get rid of this phenomena of people instructing until the 737 job turns up

Going Cheap
 

At the end of the day its all a matter of economics and professionalism.

If we want a cheaper faster route to train PPL Flight Instructors then the quality will be affected

Some guys who support the hobby FI era will look back wistfully back to those days when they could tip the balance back to paying the aircraft owner a greater percentage of the overall fee.

That said I think the content of the CPL exams and flight test could be looked at with a fresh eye.

Which is the wholepoint. EASA requires appropriate knowledge whereas JAR-FCL requires commercial level knowledge.

No-one will accept any reduced FIC output standards, of that you can be sure.

RVR

Good point well made, lest we forget that to make any changes to the exams and test format would involve ALL member states, being as the UK is the only country to be more or less fully JAR compliant.

It is unlikely that the UK would make changes on their own.

Im almost sure instructors in the USA have to do 2 CFI exams, one of which is about the method of teaching and getting the message across and the other a technical paper that deals with issues pertinent to the kind of aircraft you will instruct upon.