Originally Posted by
s10an
Well i have to disagree.. I assume you have been an instructor yourself in the past. I was teaching at a 141 school where you follow a syllabus. You absolutly have to approach different students in different ways. This applies from a fresh student pilot to someone going for a type-rating. I personally know 200 hr pilots making it through the sim and 2000 hr pilots busting in sim.. It isnt as black and white as you make it sound like.
Well in 121 training the airline, not the student, is paying the tab. As a GA cfi you can tailor all of the extra training that the student needs AND is willing to pay for.
Level-D sims cost as much as small airliners, and cost about $1000/hour to operate. Airline sim instructors have a very packed syllabus which they are required to cover. Some of the syllabus is checkride prep (ie practice) and some of it is just one-time-only "exposure" events (like dual-engine flame-our, loss of all AC) which doesn't help much with the checkride but still has to be covered. The instructors DO NOT have any discretion to provide addtional sim sessions for those who get behind. Management makes that decsion based on your percieved attitude, ground school grades, and affirmative action modifers. If you get any extra sessions, it will be one or just maybe two at the most.
About the only thing an instructor can do is tailor his "bedside manner" to match the students personality.