I think the same question could be asked of any test.

There are clearly two distinct opinions on how to pass a test.

1) There's the "accellerated" camp. The way these couses work is to
teach the student how to pass the test. A typical example is revising
the question bank. Come the day of the test, the student knows whats
required and without much thought or understanding just rattles off the
answers.

and then;

2) There's the "normal" camp. These courses teach true understanding of
the material the test covers such that the student is able to draw his
own conclusions on the material presented to him. Come the day of the
test, each part of the examination presents a problem that requires
solving. A student who understands the material covered by the test can
then solve the problem.

When you couple 1) with experience gained after the test, the student
will learn why the answers he has memorised are the way they are - but
there is always the danger that when a student under 1) comes across a
problem that he hasn't memorised, his judgement, with lack of experience
in solving problems, will be impaired.

Clearly, when you couple 2) with experience gained after the test, the
student is able to build confidently upon that experience because when a
new problem comes along, this experience serves to reenforce his ability
to solve the new problem.

With that in mind, we return to the original question,
and I'm not sure that there's an easy black and white answer to it.

Either the written & checkride that is used as the sole measure to
gauge pilot capability & proficiency is sound or it isn't.

Given that graduates of both 1) and 2) can fly the plane to the required
standard at a point in time, it is a sound measure. It's what happens
afterwards that worries me.

You only have to look at car drivers to see this - they all passed the
driving test, but clearly not all of them should be on the road.

A responsible pilot/driver will take additional training and advice as
nescessary. The sad truth is, there will always be irresponsible ones
that dont.

Paul B
4 Hours so far!


Cecil Chapman wrote:

"Either the written test & checkride is a joke and jillions of "pilots"
unworthy of the privilege are swarming over our heads or the test & Ride
are
effective enough to weed out the worst of us and send them back to the
drawing board.


Sounds like a sensible and direct question to me,,,, I too, would like to
hear a simple straight-forward answer to that question.

Either the written & checkride that is used as the sole measure to gauge
pilot capability & proficiency is sound or it isn't..

.. So far the 'answers' to your post, sound more like the 'non-answers'
from political candidates when asked a direct question.

P.S. as a fellow IT nerd, I am rather fond of 'words' like 'jillions'...
g