RE: Is it customary
I never have nor never will expect to be compensated in any way for teaching someone to fly. The reward I get is seeing that I could pass on something that someone else enjoys. As far as being sued for giving somone a certificate for soloing, there are more than enough things that a person could sue over and have a better chance of getting something out of it. They would have to be pretty hard up to look for "deep pockets" there....[:-]