Chuck,
I didn't say the FAA had any common sense. They're just a bunch of beaurocratic weenies that attempt to regulate our passion and punish those who break their arbitrary rules.
The guy who sold me my 150/150 TD wasn't an instructor, but he had many thousands of hours in that very airplane. I learned more from him in the couple of hours I flew with him than I remembered from the TW instruction I got 7 years ago. Besides, it was airplane specific...not learning in a Cub, then trying on a pitts...
Seems like you're a little disgruntled at the FAA's current system. I agree, it's a waste of super knowledge if someone thinks you have to have an instructor's license to pass on your experience. But, that's our system here in America. Like it or not, we're stuck with it. And, before anyone says we should unite and stand up for a change, you can't get ten people in this country to agree on where to go for an evening's dinner, let alone uniting to challenge a well entrenched beaurocracy.
