"'Vejita' S. Cousin" wrote in message
...
That's good to know. On balance, do you see any difference between
owners and renters? Does the owner's extra familiarity with the plane
make any practical difference?

LOL, so you think owners make better pilots than renters just because
they own a plane. A fair number of owners fly very little, these lease
back their planes to FBOs so to keep it in the air.

He asked a question. He did NOT make an assertion. He didn't say anything
about what he thinks.

But since you got all hot and bothered, I'll go ahead and point out that
I've learned FAR more about my airplane as an owner than I ever would have
as a renter. Being the person who oversees and pays for the maintenance
provides a MUCH better education with regards to aircraft systems than any
renter would get. That's important information that comes in handy if
anything should go wrong while flying (and before flying, for that matter).

As far as your claim that "a fair number of owners fly very little", I guess
you'll just have to define "a fair number". Certainly some owners do lease
back their aircraft and do not fly any more than the typical renter might.
However, that hardly characterizes the majority of owners. When speaking in
generalities (such as I assume David was), a minority -- even if it's a
large one -- isn't really all that relevant to the question.

Finally, the issue of whether a pilot is more familiar with an airplane is
significant, even for planes that are essentially the same. Over the years,
various controls and capabilities of the C172 (for example) have varied
somewhat. A person flying the same C172 (for example) all the time is going
to be much more familiar with where things are and how to react in a given
situation than someone who flies a variety of C172s and has to adjust for
the subtle differences in each airplane.

I know this is semi-OT but renter v owner has nothing to do with being
a safe/good pilot.

Nobody said it did. I'm guessing you don't own an airplane, but rather rent
one, given how primed you appear to be for inferring offensive where none
was stated or implied. Next time you think someone's pushed one of your hot
buttons, you might take a look around and see if anyone's standing anywhere
near it first, before flying off the handle.

A relative lack of familiarity does not imply that a pilot is neither safe
nor good. It simply is a relative lack of familiarity. It may or may not
translate into better piloting, but one cannot question the presence of that
difference in familiarity.

Pete