Originally Posted by
Timbo
The biggest difference is between GA training and other pilot training is;
with the Military, if you don't -get it- right away, they'll send you home.
In the Major airlines, if you fk up they'll fire you.
But in GA, if you keep showing up an an FBO with money, but you're an idiot, they'll just keep giving you flying lessons until you pass the check ride and then you'll go out and kill yourself.
I know lots of excellent GA pilots, most are, but there isn't really much of a screening process to weed out the idiots, other than natural selection.
Well, I know a certain minority occasionally appear rankled that I participate in these forums, but that is pretty much why I returned to discuss aviation here. On the major GA forums, the topics are stuff like "I HAVE DIFFICULTY JUDGING FLARE PLZ HELP" or non-physics based debates of "Is it THROTTLE or PITCH for airspeed", or my favorite "Should I buy a cirrus or bonanza"*. Aviation tends to attract a lot of "interesting" people, in all meanings of the word.
*(The threads here are much better, my favorites are "I'M IN LOVE WITH DEBBIE HERSMAN PLEASE HELP" or "Tell that Doctor guy with the hot wife to go to the BONANZA forums" or "Where can I find pics of that NTSB lady".)