
Um.
That sure is fun, but... :-/
I guess he has a great deal of confidence in that engine!! I hope that confidence is justified... I couldn't see any safe place to pop up and glide to if it quit and no, water doesn't count as a safe place; not in a 150 anyway. :-/
I have a lot of confidence in my instructor, he has done every job in prop aircraft from stunt instructor to crop dusting and is almost at 14,000 hours, i certainly wouldn't let a "young" instructor do that.
Your correct about the engine failure, if we survived a crash landing in that water the sharks would eat us. ;)
A couple of other things come to mind. Flying close to the tree line like that, what happens if a large flock of "something" decides that it is time to up camp and turning around the headland, what happens if a mast suddenly appears in view. Just food for thought.
Matt
He did mention as we were flying over birds that were taking off as we flew over them, that they usually move earlier. :D
The thing that got me thinking afterwards, was what if another crazy pilot is doing the same thing in the opposite direction. :o

The island is a designated low flying area, but i don't know if it is meant to be that low, on the way back to land he said, don't tell the boss. ;D

Back to real lessons next week, still no first solo because my medical is delayed, but hopefully soon.
It's always wise in such an area, if there is no advisory frequency, to have a look at your planned route before descending; maybe he did that. I won't judge him; not enough facts.
You probably have a lot of good reasons to trust his judgment.
But I'll share an old saying with you that's worth considering:
"Never fly with someone braver than you in the cockpit."
