What did he do wrong? Did the students not have all of their required 7 hours? If that's what Transport's upset about, they should revoke the float rating of everybody that got theirs back when it was only 5 hours. Face it, after a bare float rating, a pilot knows next to nothing about float flying ...

As time goes by, tailwheel time (and basic stick & rudder skills) have become less and less important. Unfortunate, perhaps, but true. I flew with a newly-licenced commercial pilot the other day that didn't know how to land in a crosswind. Seriously. Had to give a fuggen lesson on how to put a littl...

Why do you ask the DFTE? He's just a passenger. Why not ask the PIC?

When you're flying, and you encounter unforseen circumstances (eg bad wx) do you ask your pax what to do? I guess that's called CRM these days.

Where does it say that the x/c has to be 25nm to count for the private pilot licence?

I've always been puzzled by the interest shown by Canadians in Top Gun. Canadians are generally pacifists whose idea of heaven is to fly large multi-engine aircraft in a straight line. It's been a while since I saw Top Gun, but I don't recall that movie dwelling on that portion of aviation.