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Old 01-03-2011 | 06:13 AM
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Cubdriver
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Great advice Rick, and remember that part of your job as an instructor is to make that occasional tough decision that someone is NOT qualified to be a pilot. It is not a decision to be taken lightly of course, but it also not a decision to be mushy about because you may be saving a life. Airplanes are potentially dangerous machines and occasionally someone will present themselves for training and they are simply not made for it. I had a guy like that once, he had run through multiple instructors all of whom had dropped him and he had over 60 hours of flight training without soloing. I tried for ten hours to find the problem but after no progress was made I sat him down for a rather painful talk about things he can do besides fly airplanes. He took it well enough but I felt I did the right thing and may have saved his life. I also have had to shut down the Drop Zone I work at on occasion, and that is another tough decision that is never popular or easy.
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