Why 10 hours for a newbie and 30 days for a "programmer"

[Ken Norris (dialup)]

Hi Judy, Mark, sims, et al,

> Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 18:14:06 +0200
> From: sims <sims at ezpzapps.com>
> Subject: Re: Why 10 hours for a newbie and 30 days for a "programmer"

> Then Mark Brownell wrote:
>> If you let it ring ten times before answering it then you get an
>> extra ten Rev frequent traveler miles, really.
> 
> Cool!
> Do I get to fly with one of those "students loose in an airplane with
> just eight hours flight training"??
> That should be a real trip!    ;-)
=============

> Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 09:15:35 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Judy Perry <jperryl at ecs.fullerton.edu>
> Subject: Re: Why 10 hours for a newbie and 30 days for a "programmer"
> ?
> To: How to use Revolution <use-revolution at lists.runrev.com>
> Message-ID:
> <Pine.GSO.4.33.0409010913450.15935-100000 at titan.ecs.fullerton.edu>
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
> 
> The difference is that,  in flight school, the person has a dedicated 8 to
> whatever hours of instruction.
==============
> 
> On Wed, 1 Sep 2004, Mark Brownell wrote:
> 
>> If you think just ten hours is not enough consider this. There are two
>> schools for pilot training. In the less expensive, less structured
>> version the instructor evaluates the student to consider the student
>> ready to solo. There is an allowable window of eight to sixteen hours
>> of actual instructed flying/training where the instructor determines
>> when or if ever the student is allowed to solo. If you can turn
>> excellent students loose in an airplane with just eight hours flight
>> training then ten hours might be a pretty good window into DreamCard.
>> Anyway, what's to stop them from getting the thirty day demo version of
>> Rev after that.
=============

Well, I don't have a copy of FAR/AIM 2004 in front of me (it's at the studio
with my other flight gear I think), but IIRC there is no such washout
'window' in FARs (it would probably be in Part 61 if there is) although
there is now a new requirement for a pre-solo written exam administerd by
the instructor, the point being that I think Judy is right, i.e., the
decision to solo (NOTE: solo is _not_ the same as Private Certificate which
requires 40 hours total) a student is up to the instructor, because
different people will be ready at different times.

If a person has to leave the program to do something else, how much time
will be wasted trying to review what they've already done but forgotten
because they couldn't assemble it right then? What are their skill levels
and background training? What if they _have_ no skills or background
training in developing, but want to learn? Can such a person evaluate their
own ability to work with DreamCard in 10 hours?

I also think it's a mistake to assume anyone who wants to will consider it
affordable to blow a C-note before being confident that they can use it.

I've spent more than 10 hours trying to get just one stupid thing I hadn't
tried before to work, having no idea at the outset that what I wanted to do
would be that difficult or take so long.

But, that's just me.

OT ASIDE: I'd flown with an instructor for several weeks, spread out over a
number of lessons, before he let me go off into the wild blue (well, just
close to the landing pattern) on my own -- "I'm getting out, but you stay
in. I'll hook you up." -- happened too quick to be nervous. Actually, I got
to solo twice, once in a glider (Schweizer 2-33), and again in a powered
aircraft (Piper Dakota). I love sailplanes after releasing, but I always
feel like being towed is scarier than powering my way off the runway.

:-)
Ken N.