Who is responsible?

Well said, Bob.
What a frustration and all regarding "standardized" procedures.
This is why flight reviews have been a high stress event for me over all of my flying life. Doesn't matter how I fly it will be incorrect. Such comments as "who taught you THAT!" and "I have NEVER heard/seen/taught/read that" are pretty standard.

Even boxing the wake. Everything Bob said I have experienced PLUS two places where I have been told that "we never do that" because it overstresses the towplane or has no value in demonstrating flying skills.

In the end...I have always successfully completed flight reviews and field check-outs.

On Monday, August 3, 2015 at 5:53:13 AM UTC-7, wrote:
Well said, Bob.
What a frustration and all regarding "standardized" procedures.
This is why flight reviews have been a high stress event for me over all of my flying life. Doesn't matter how I fly it will be incorrect. Such comments as "who taught you THAT!" and "I have NEVER heard/seen/taught/read that" are pretty standard.

Even boxing the wake. Everything Bob said I have experienced PLUS two places where I have been told that "we never do that" because it overstresses the towplane or has no value in demonstrating flying skills.

In the end...I have always successfully completed flight reviews and field check-outs.


It's probably good to differentiate as much as possible safety considerations from operational procedures from personal preferences.

On Monday, August 3, 2015 at 9:12:14 AM UTC-4, Andy Blackburn wrote:
It's probably good to differentiate as much as possible safety considerations from operational procedures from personal preferences.

even the definition of what is a "safety consideration" or an "operational consideration" or a "personal preference" varies from place to place.

take something fundamental like boxing the wake. if you can't fly it exactly the way the CFI wants it flown, maybe you don't know how to tow, and will cause ____insert failure here___

One solution to all this discontinuity is fundamentally anti-American.
National standardization of CFI training and pilot performance standards.
We are talking way beyond FARs.
Take France as an example.
All CFIGs are recertified in central locations by a national staff.
That way the training, training requirements,and performance standards are the same throughout the whole country.
The good part is that it dramatically reduces the unpredictability of what a pilot is going to face during flight reviews and local field check-outs.