Michael wrote
And that is as it should be

Michael,
I guess I"m a bit torn. I 100% agree that we should reduce procedures
for the purpose of procedures. However, as an former AF checkpilot in
west wing we did see some pilots that had trouble with landings and
some even required the checkpilot to grab the controls. Perhaps the new
minimum hours is good enough to take care of that. The idea is that
when a person shows up to receive an AF flight, they have no way to
determine the ability of the pilot other than the fact that he's
wearing an AF ID card on his shirt. The feeling was that if we were be
given that responsibility, we should ensure pilots were ok. The rides
were NEVER intended to be an FAA checkride, a BFR, an IPC or any of the
horror stories I've heard. It was supposed to be just a quick check
around the pattern. I actually don't have a problem with accepting any
PPL with miminum hours, my problem was AF asking me, as a CFI, to sign
an orientation paper stating that I found the applicant to have good
flying judgement based on a reading of his log book.

-Robert, CFI