Well, yes, but I hate having to pay someone sit like a lump.

He's not sitting like a lump. He's saving your ass if you screw up when
you practice landing without being able to see well (enough). That's
worth money. And whether a CFI is a time builder or not won't really
matter in this application. He's not =teaching=, he's acting as a
safety backup. Maybe you'll learn something too, but that's not the
primary intent.

It's either see through the distortion or have zero peripheral vision, both of which are bad for flying.

I posit that you need to be able to overcome this, so that you can
safely (and confidently) fly and land the plane under these conditions
should they arise. It's like instrument flight, or partial panel.

Jose
--
The monkey turns the crank and thinks he's making the music.
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