If they cannot use a lathe safely, they should not be operating an
airplane,
or possibly even driving a car.

"Well that has to be one of the ten stupidest things I ever seen on
Usenet. The knowledge skills required to safely operate a lathe are
significantly
different from those required for flying or driving. People who are
highly competent as pilots may still not know a damned thing about lathes."

Response:

Implicit in the word "safely" is the knowledge of how to operate it. It was
not a statement that someone should be able to operate a lathe without
training any more than they could operate an airplane or car without
training. As a matter of fact, people who are highly competent as pilots
may not be able to fly many aircraft - without training for that particular
aircraft. So, I shall restate it - if someone can learn to operate an
automobile or airplane safely, they can learn to operate a lathe.

As to the "well that has to be one of the ten stupidest things I ever seen
on Usenet.", I am not sure that added anything to the conversation other
than a public demonstration of improper grammar.

My chuck key had a spring in it to prevent leaving in the chuck. Problem
was that it would fly out after removing the chuck and I would spend a half
hour trying to find the spring and pin. I finally just glued it in and hang
it next to the switch. I did have a problem once with a hand drill. I was
wiring my house and up on a ladder about 15 feet and drilling through a beam
with a 1/2" drill. The bit caught on a knot and ripped me off the ladder
and started spinning me around. While I was turning, I realized what the
screw on handle was for. I managed to avoid injury, but felt stupid.

Colin