Wow, left after one lesson after seeing a kid (who'd been at it for a while) fly? Probably a good thing, they would have left after their first real crash anyway. At least now their used gear is worth more to some other newbie and not broken into small bits.

I was out of the hobby about 10yrs, and I picked it right back up, but I was a pretty good pilot then, an instructor and flying a variety of planes. I'm a much better pilot now than I was then. On the other hand, it does vary a lot by person, and seem to depend a lot on how much flying you'd done before you left the hobby. I've had several guys come back at my club after having been out for a while, and most of them do struggle a bit at first, but I don't think any were as far along as I was when I left