"Jay Honeck" wrote
Oh well. I, too, know pilots who hop in their plane every sixth month, and
fly off to Timbuktu without a second thought. It's good to have CFIs
keeping a closer eye on those folks, I guess...

But are the CFI's actually keeping an eye on them?

The truth is, there are a lot of people out there who couldn't pass a
private checkride but are flying anyway. That's really pretty scary.
The private PTS is a VERY minimum standard. It's kept minimal so it
doesn't take forever before a pilot can be cut loose - to reduce costs
and frustration. We know a newly minted pilots is somewhat dangerous,
but it's assumed that he will keep developing his skills as he flies
and become safer.

In reality this rarely happens. In my experience, most pilots
backslide because they simply don't fly enough. There is simply no
way you're going to progress on 26 hours a year, and that's all the
average private airplane flies. The average private pilot flies less.

If the BFR really did what it's supposed to - grounded those pilots
who can no longer meet minimum standards until they COULD meet minimum
standards - I suspect there would be a massive reduction in accidents
per hour flown. However, it would also ground most private pilots,
and GA as an industry just can't afford that.

Michael