"Shirley" wrote in message
...
"Marty" pyromarty wrote:

he went on to say "How many times have you
gotten into a car with someone, and by the
time they had backed out of the driveway, you
wished you were somewhere else?" [snip]
as I soon found out, "a 10 day wonder".

That's precisely what I meant when I asked, if you didn't know how to
fly,
would you rather go up with someone who went from start-to-finish in
*10 days*
or in a couple of months?! Moreover, the people to ask how the
majority of
10-day wonders compare with those whose training progresses over a
period of
several weeks or months would be the DEs. Do these accelerated schools
have a
specific DE on staff? or do they choose from the pool of DEs that the
traditional schools pick from? I'd like to hear from a DE that has
tested
students coming from both re skill, knowledge/understanding, safety,
and
confidence. How do the majority compare?

"Shirley" wrote in message
...
"Marty" pyromarty wrote:

he went on to say "How many times have you
gotten into a car with someone, and by the
time they had backed out of the driveway, you
wished you were somewhere else?" [snip]
as I soon found out, "a 10 day wonder".

That's precisely what I meant when I asked, if you didn't know how to
fly,
would you rather go up with someone who went from start-to-finish in
*10 days*
or in a couple of months?! Moreover, the people to ask how the
majority of
10-day wonders compare with those whose training progresses over a
period of
several weeks or months would be the DEs. Do these accelerated schools
have a
specific DE on staff? or do they choose from the pool of DEs that the
traditional schools pick from? I'd like to hear from a DE that has
tested
students coming from both re skill, knowledge/understanding, safety,
and
confidence. How do the majority compare?

This is a valid question, and difficult to answer statistically, because
part of the answer is subject to individual interpretation by a specific
examiner. You can get a figure on a pass/fail rate based on the
accelerated program vs other methods, but that's going to be conclusive
enough for a complete quality check.
The problem is that the test standard is a minimum standard. You will
find that the pass/fail ratio only gives you a number for the fail side
of the equation. The other side of the equation is much more difficult
to ascertain since it deals directly with an unknown variable on the
pass side only; that being the ACTUAL QUALITY of the pilot who has
passed the test.
The DE is looking for a minimum criteria. If they find it, you have
passed. The ACTUAL quality of your performance and comprehension at the
time of testing is something else altogether.
The reason this data is inconclusive is this;
Assume a scenario with one individual pilot taking a flight test with 10
different examiners; one right after the other. Also assume that the
pilot's performance will be good enough to pass the minimum standard as
determined by the flight test directive. The pilot will pass by all 10
examiners (if the examiners are following the guidelines), but if you
ask all 10 examiners to sit down and write their opinion on exactly how
good this pilot ACTUALLY is in the air, the data recovered from this
exercise will be all over the board as far as determining a constant
data point is concerned.
The pilot may possess a quality of performance and comprehension WAY
beyond the minimum standard, but the exact point where that quality can
be firmly established is extremely difficult to determine.
To determine where the pilot's actual performance level is, you need the
services of an extremely good check pilot who is NOT looking for the
minimum standard but rather the upper end of the pilots actual
knowledge, comprehension, and performance levels.
Doing this is a highly specialized skill. It requires pushing a pilot to
his/her absolute limits and discovering what they are. There are very
few check pilots who work in this environment.

It just happens that this exact type of check flight was a specialty for
me, and the pilots who worked for me; as much of the checkout work we
did involved checking pilots out in extremely high performance
airplanes.

Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired
For personal email, please replace
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