That's, um, disingenuous at best. Would make a nice blurb on atp's marketing brochure though. I've flown with many dozens if not hundreds of students. Some are ready in 50 something hours, some take well over a hundred, and by well, I mean 200+. Same instructor, same methods. The psychology of the student and their aviation processing abilities dictate their rate of development. I've flown with recent ppl achievers who have no business being alone in an airplane. Passing a ppl checkride is a small piece of it.
Not sure why training at a towered field would make much if any difference. I've taught out of both. If my student isnt comfortable flying into a towered field they dont solo. Towered ops are part of the solo far, are they not? My boss came to me recently and told me my average for student completions is significantly lower than they've ever had, and they've been in business for 40 years. I thought he was mad. Revenue thing:) The owner of the airport sent his daughter to me because she was stuck and he knew i'd get it done. I know of which I speak. Average student, in a mooney, safe in 60 hours? Not likely. You want to quantify the risk involved? Look at the insurance premiums. Thats their job. Thats what they do all day long. That will tell you all you need to know. One of my students is buying an f. Cant get insurance at any price...yes, i called parker:) I've trained people to engage in high risk activities for 35 years. Training people in higher performance airplanes doesnt make better pilots, it makes worse ones. I'd train people in a j-3 if i could. The fundamentals get lost and they spend so much time behind the plane it creates an out of control feeling and fear. Remember "effect"? Fear kills pilots, plain and simple. The reasons against it go on and on...damn, I really didnt want to write a book about this...