>It is possible for the new Pitts owner to sneak out to the airfield and fly his new Pitts >Special without the rating. 5 minutes later he is (To steal Aggie Dave's sig line) "Dead >surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." >What happens then? A major investigation eventuates, lessons are learned, >regulations are overhauled and (maybe) sanctions are applied. This happens even with >injuries.
No, it doesn't - not when the final conclusion was "he was an idiot." The Bonanza wasn't called the "doctor killer" for no good reason, and nowadays it's the Cirrus that's killing people disproportionately. It's a sexy plane that people with C152 skills can buy and quite quickly get in over their heads.
People with more money than sense regularly buy aircraft they can't handle and kill themselves. Indeed, on a fatality per-participant basis, general aviation is more dangerous than skydiving.
So if your point is "you have to self-police to get to the safety level of general aviation" - we've already done it. And if the FAA really is going to get involved with something, it's going to be general aviation, so they can bring it up to the safety level of skydiving.
(Needless to say, neither is a safe sport at the end of the day.)
(This post was edited by billvon on Dec 4, 2011, 9:13 PM)
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Post edited by billvon
(Moderator) on Dec 4, 2011, 9:13 PM
