MattL wrote:@Paul_Sengupta I get your logic, but honestly as @lobstaboy says, this is probably the worst reason anyone can become an instructor. Flying is actually a tiny part of the skill set and commitment required of instructing.
In the mid 70's, still living with parents, I spent every last penny on flying instruction, but unfortunately I was in the hands of an hour builder .... at the time I thought lessons were fun, but in truth we weren't following a program and I'm not sure how much I really learned. The instructor, 'Clive' was an amiable chap, but he really wasn't interested in my learning, it was all about flying and hours of his experience clocking up at my expense.
Arriving into the control of Manchester approach (for 24 as it was at the time) we were asked if we had a transponder ... Clive responded 'yes ... do you want to buy one'
On another occasion we set down before the numbers of 24 (before the hump on 24 was ironed out) and then ballooned up to land halfway down 24 ... we ended up with a full emergency services arrival .
And then there was the low level flight over a naturist resort somewhere out near Blackpool, we were down to 250 feet and he was holding a huge degree of slide slip, saying have a look, they wont be able to see our reg ...
So I spent, what at the time, was a huge amount of money and didn't really learn from it.
A couple of year later I thought I'd bite the bullet again and went across town to Barton. I was met with the most indifferent response, I did three hours which left me feeling I was simply wasting my money, for some reason it appeared that no one was interested in really teaching me .... I gave up.
I have a very good understanding of flying, I became a very competent RC model flyer, but I lost my confidence in anyone trying to teach me full size. There is only so much money one can afford to waste.
I'm 65, there is nothing in this world that would give me the satisfaction of completing just one solo circuit, the reality is it will not happen.
I have several PPL friends, so I've spent many hours in the air, but my own experience of the 'tuition' system is that it was cr@p for me.