Hi Kevin,
for almost 40 years I did my study for renewals and upgrades by hitting the books. Since 2012 I've been on the B737. Between it and my company, it has one of the worst manual suites EVER. I might be studying for my next check, let's say autolands. I have to reference the Boeing Vol 1 and 2, the QRH, the Flight Crew Training Manual, and the company Vol A1, Vol D1, and Jeppesen. We have to cross-reference between manuals to make sense of it all.
Can't do that on an ipad. The company went to ipads about 3 years ago. Hard to have 7 manuals open and cross-reference it on a tiny ipad screen... and that's for just one topic.
In flight, the optimum for me is the ipad for approach plates, and paper for maps. The problem with having maps on an ipad is you only have a tiny screen to display part of a map (big picture stuff when you're moving 8 miles a minute). And with Jepps, you only get limited information depending on your zoom level. Great if you're doing 100kt. Not so good at 465.
In my experience with teaching older people to fly, I found that they needed quite a bit more briefing than the sprogs. I used to give them a fair bit more homework to do as well.
In the practical, they would often take longer (some much longer) to get through sequences. It was also important for them to keep flying quite regularly, as this would minimise the time spent on revision.
Having said that, I found the more mature students safer and more conservative, and less likely to take risks.
When I was involved in pilot recruiting in the 2000's, I actually preferred pilots in their 40's and 50's. That was based on my experience as a captain who had flown with all age groups.
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