Michael wrote:

Why do the planes cost so much? People blame lawyers, but that's
bull**** really. The lawyers are just as present in automotive
and boating industries as they are in aviation. What's
the difference?

Not really. The aircraft manufacturers seem to get sued almost
automatically, no matter what the cause of the accident was: A VFR
pilot flies into IMC and finds a mountain. What to do? Sue Cessna.
Pilots tend to have better than average income, so large rewards are
expected.

General Motors doesn't have anywhere near the same number of lawsuits
filed against it.

The bottom line is that the biggest problem killing personal aviation,
making it dangerous, expensive, and not nearly useful enough - is the
FAA.

The FAA doesn't force pilots to fly a perfectly good airplane into the
ground, which is the cause of a good proportion of accidents. How are
they to blame?

More to the point, can you imagine if private boats were regulated the
way private planes were? In other words, if there was an FAA for
private boats?

While private boats are coming under increasing scrutiny, they don't yet
have the fatality rate of general aviation. Alcohol seems to be the
biggest problem with boating.