What represents value to a student pilot?

[stol701]

I'm interested to hear from students, from people who were recently students, and from instructors...

What is of most value for a student going for PPL?

But not "what should be of most value"... just "what is".
What do students actually value, what would they least compromise with?

[PilotDAR]

Two of the selections focused on experience. I did not choose the selection which also included "self confidence", because although I think I know what was meant, a fresh PPL with too much self confidence can be a bit of a hazard to themselves. Capable, because of good and broad experience yes, but still humble, and self aware as a new pilot, while they gain more of that valuable experience on their own. As I review the requirements for a PPL, in the context of what I have learned following my PPL, there's a lot of "Oh my gosh, the things which the PPL curriculum has no room to include"!

I continue to hope that student pilots are asking and paying for a few extra hours of training beyond the basic PPL curriculum, as there is so much more out there. I hope experienced instructors are offering up tidbits along the way, to encourage their students to want to learn more than just the minimums.

The PPL is still a license to learn - or to gain more experience

[I_Drive_Planes]

When I did my PPL I was making 19 and $8 per hour at a couple crap jobs. Doing everything as cheap as possible was king then. If I were in that position now (with a vastly different economic situation) I would still be looking for value in training, but I would have more of an eye toward the experience of the instructor and the quality of instruction provided. The type of equipment that I'd look to do my licence on is irrelevant to me (though given the choice I would take a taildragger). A clapped out 150 with nothing but a KX-170 in the panel will give you the same licence that an SR-20 with a glass panel will and the bit of Scottish blood in me likes the way the invoices look after flying the 150 better.

Of course, where I am there is only one flight school so you take what you get! Choice isn't really a luxury that those who live outside major centres enjoy.

[stol701]

Thanks. Changed it to "self-awareness". Didn't think of this negative aspect that "self-confidence" might cary.

[stol701]

This seems to be a stable trend and I think with 30 responses it's about as good as it needs to be. This poll can probably be closed.

This result is useful, as I think this is a missing point in training programs and methods - to convey to the student the experience that they are actually getting. (I admit I don't know that many people who instruct so my assumption is definitely skewed by my own experience)

I think people actually get much more experience than what they perceive. People probably need some extra reassurance and validation of their own experiences in order for these experiences to register...

The instructors should break it down after a flight or ask the students to break it down themselves. But not only in terms of what happened and how, but explicitly to discuss "experiences"... as in "What experiences do you think you got with this flight? What do you think you'll remember for your future flights?"

If students can't come up with enough then the instructor can probably bring up some experiences that might have gone by unnoticed by the student. I think this act of verbalizing the experiences may be the thing that makes the difference between people feeling they lived the experience and people not feeling that way.