Storm:If the OP had dialed in his skills using the BP/Wing, than there should be no reason to ask him to switch. If he can demonstrate the skills that the DM is supposed to in his BP/Wing, then there is really no logical reason to make him switch.
Agreed, there is no logical reason to make him change *if* he can do the demos in the gear he has... .
On the other hand if he can't do it in "any old gear" then he doesn't have his skills "dialed in" at all, now, does he..... ?
In this case it doesn't sound like this is the problem. to me it just sounds like he has a difference of philosophy from the LDS and there's lots of everything, on both sides, going on except listening....
From where I'm sitting it sounds like a bit of ordinary ego clashing -- like on the one hand "I've been diving in a BP/wing for 18 months and I know this stuff better than my instructor ever will" and on the other hand "we've always done it like this and no cocky newcomer in his fancy tek-lookalike gear is going to tell us how to train a DM."
The point about not wanting to pay for rentals is valid but if that's the whole point then this thread would have been over after three posts.
I think if he intends to become a good DM then it's worth the effort to work *through* this conflict instead of giving up, burning bridges and running to the next shop....but that's just me...
R..