Check out Rides

[richmond45]

I went to a local FBO to check rental rates on a C-172 and checkout requirements. I have about 2,500 hours in Cessna's between the C-150 and the C-172. They see that I am also an ex CFII. They see I have a recent Biennial in a C-170 and recent flying time in a Cessna 172 ten hours in the last 2 months. They still want to turn the Check out into a mini-Biennial and charge me for 1 hour at least of Dual. Told them I had no time for that. I could see that if I went up and blew a landing approach that I would need more time,but they were going to give me an hour of checkride no matter what. I could see it for an inexperienced pilot - the instructor doing the checkout had 400 hours maybe. Any Comments on this?

[djschaut]

It's their airplane, so they're calling the shots. There are a lot of instructors out there with many hours who aren't very good pilots. For example, consider the instructor flying cross-country with that 7 year a couple of years ago who crashed shortly after takeoff in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He took off in a thunderstorm with hail, but had 1100 hrs. and was an instructor. That was in a Cardinal 177. If it's the only FBO with rentals around, I'd just keep quiet, pay for the dual time, let them see that you're a qualified, experienced pilot, and they'll probably leave you alone after that. Who knows, the 400 hour pilot giving you the check-ride may be the brother or son of the owner, the son-in-law of the owner, the nephew--someone intrinsically trusted. You're a complete stranger. Again, it's their airplane. Keep on good terms with them and the airplane will be more available to you than it is to someone else.

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DJSchaut

[richmond45]

You can learn a lot from how someone flys a pattern and lands. I've checked out at a lot of FBOs. None of them required one hour of check ride. These people are not special and I don't have to fly their airplanes. So I'll take a pass.

[djschaut]

I understand. I've been to FBOs that are the only game in the county with one plane to rent. But, I've also rented where they just know me and don't need any check ride.
Happy flying.

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DJSchaut

[pawpaw]

I regularly fly with an instructor at least one hour per month. This keeps me from picking up any bad habits and taking those easy short cuts. Even if the instructor has only 400 hrs, I would bet he is a better pilot than 75 percent of the pilots on that airport. He is paying attention to what you are doing, not how well he flys. I've flown with 200 hour private pilots that fly light airplanes better than 15000 hour airline pilots.

I have 7500 hours flying in all conditions, have owned 172's 260 Comanches, 414 Cessnas, and 401 Cessnas. I'm no "rookie". My instructor regularly points out thing I could do better. A pilot who thinks he can't learn any thing from another pilot or instructor, doesn' need to be flying anything. He is an accident waiting to happen. Read my comment under the Emergency section of this forum and you will see why I started flying with an instructor once a month for an hour. Please do not take this the wrong way, we can alway learn and we can learn everytime we fly.

[richmond45]

I have flown about 6 hours in the last two months with instructors in a Cessna 150, Cessna 170, and Cessna 172, including a nice Biennial Flight Review.

The point I was trying to make is that the Instructor at the airport voted him/herself out of a regular user of the aircraft, because he was "automatically" going to give me a full Biennal type of ride no matter what. If I messed up in flight or looked weak in my proceedures then he could say lets go out and look at steep turns, slow flight, stalls, etc, that would have been fine. That understanding would have been ok.

I was an CFII for 20 years and I can ride with someone around the pattern and tell if they are competent. It's not rocket science.

By the same token I can listen on the radio to a pilot and tell if his license should be jerked right out of his hands on landing. How many pilots have you heard like that on the radio.

But I really don't fault the instructor - its was the rules. It just did not fit into my plans for the day.

Have we beat the dog to death?