I wasn't there, but I keep reading, "The kid is out of control!" etc.

It just seems incredible that anybody, regardless of their generosity, would hand him a TX.

Twice.

Hey, I'm a generous guy, but I do have a little bit of a limit to my generosity. If the kid has some skills and wants to hone them, let him do it on his own plane.

As for paying...if he crashed the guys plane (I think I have done business with Barry..his name sounds familiar..), this should have been resolved (one way or the other) before he ever had a chance to fly it again..

In the immortal words of Gomer Pyle, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me".