On Thursday, August 2, 2018 at 9:16:22 AM UTC-7, Charlie M. (UH & 002 owner/pilot) wrote:
There is a "FAA minimum, then there is suggested".

You think you are good, current and safe, maybe a single flight to get the pencil whip is OK.
Yes, maybe you are, I have no clue.

As an ex CFIG, I will chat with candidate, look at logbook, then maybe throw "stupid crap" at them for a review.
It is considered a learning experience. Doing things outside of your normal. Some may call it sadistic, maybe it is.
Then again, having someone push your limits (ummmm.....within some reason) is a good thing since you may have not had to deal with unusual in quite a while.

Not saying you are unsafe, have bad habits, or could use a second opinion..
Just saying that getting the "biennial" check mark is not the real goal, the goal is finding things that may need a nudge.
Some fail upfront, some need more than one flight to test things.

My opinion, FWIW, would you rather have a good biennial just before an incident, or a pencil whip? The FAA may not be happy with the later.
When I do mine, I have a hefty yardstick to be measured against. Thus far, I have passed. And yes, I learn things at times.

As an aside, I have missed some of the recent "glider related" wings sessions, I have the new one listed as an event.
I used to do them (20+ years ago) when it was all SEL power and up.

These can also help edumacate power guys. A couple months ago in the AOPA magazine, there was a letter/article that talked about what to do on takeoff to help with a power failure. Most glider pilots would say, "well, duh......". But different perspective.

The goodness and the logic of flight reviews isn't in doubt.

But, back to my question, how does it make sense that anyone would bother with an alternative way to meet the biennial review requirement with Wings if they'd be required to do three flight activities with an instructor under Wings rather than one flight activity the old way? There must be something I'm missing. Does the flight activity part get reduced in later Wings segments maybe?