Todd Pattist wrote:

My view of accelerated training mirrrors Dudley's.

First, let me say that I have nothing but respect for both Dudley and
Todd - I rarely disagree with either of them (which, of course, means
that they're both right most of the time :-) ).

... I heard long ago that most of the students in the
AF Academy solo from ab initio in only 12 flights....
...Finally, they do a very rigorous intensive program aimed at
the solo with a very limited solo of around the pattern and
down.

I learned to fly gliders at the age of 16 at a soaring "camp" in
Franconia, NH, near Cannon Mountain. There were about 8 - 10 of us,
with three or four instructors. We each got ONE flight each day for 21
days (if we were very lucky, two, but that only happened a couple of
times) in the morning, before the tourists showed up for glider rides.
Each ride averaged about 10-20 minutes, depending upon tow altitude and
lift conditions.

I soloed on my 11th flight - I had 10 landings TOTAL before my solo.
Before anyone says "well, you must be above average in skills", there
were one or two out of the 10 folks that soloed on their 9th or 10th
flight, and the rest all soloed before their 15th flight. I hardly
think that ALL of us could have been above average in pure flying skill.

This type of instruction is what I would refer to as
"semi-accelerated" - one flight per day, but EVERY day.

I guess I just don't see why flight instruction is any different than
any other type of instruction. If someone want to learn to be a doctor
or a lawyer, they go to school all day, every day, and practice the crap
out of it. They don't go to one class per week, or maybe two, and think
that they're getting the same education. It's the same with sports -
intensive sports camps/training facilities produce much more highly
skilled athletes than those that practice on their own every once in a
while. No one would suggest that college should be an 10 year rather
than 4 year ordeal to allow folks to "absorb and digest" the material -
that's why you study in the evenings.

Personally, I wouldn't have any reservations about doing the 7-10 day
IFR training (and might, in the near future), and if I had had the $$ to
do an intensive PP class back in 1974-1980 when I trained for my glider
and SEL ratings, I would have jumped at it.

I guess all the defense of the "traditional" system of flight training
just sounds like the classic "that's the way we've always done it around
here" defense, and that's rarely, if ever, a good reason to do anything.
Try to think out of the box, and compare flight training to every other
form of training out there. People learn best (and retain more, IF THEY
CONTINUE TO USE THE SKILLS) in an intensive environment. Flight
training, whether advanced or basic, is no different, IMO.

--
Marc J. Zeitlin
http://marc.zeitlin.home.comcast.net/
http://www.cozybuilders.org/
Copyright (c) 2004