On Apr 29, 10:16*pm, Michael wrote:
On Apr 29, 10:39*pm, wrote:

Once in a
gider he popped open the airbrakes and then said "hey, what does this
do"

Seriously?! *I've only had two lessons, but I know those things stay
closed and locked until the PIC deems them appropriate in a landing
pattern!

Actually, I've seen some reports on the web that when doing the
preflight one should consider the Examiner a "unfamiliar passenger"
and give her or him some form of "don't touch this...don't touch that"
talk. *Is this good advice?

--Michael

seriously yes. It was my commercial checkride. It was a nice reminder
to brief the customer. It was fine. He held them open, I did an
abbreviated pattern. We landed, we fley some more, I passed and
learned another great lesson.

BTW, I'm not an instructor, but there a plenty of times when the PIC
might want or need to open the brakes before entering the pattern.
Keep your options open and use all the tools you have when you need
them.