Then perhaps you can understand my position? Why are the youth of today
so far out of touch with common decency in society and seem to have
lost any sembalance of moral compass?

I'm with ya on this one Rocky. I've asked the same thing in one of my
earlier posts. IIRC I was commenting on the suspected "reality
disconnect" that it seems many kids have today. That, and the seemingly
complete disrespect for other people and their posessions. It seems
like there's no regard for the potential consequences of one's actions,
and that doesn't always just mean juveniles. Consider adults that f-up
and refuse to take responsibility for their actions.

When I was a kid (I'm 37) just taking Dad's car for a joyride before I
had a license was a hoot. I can't imagine having the stones to take his
plane (if he'd had one) I guess I never lost sight of the huge
potential downside to doing something as stupid as that. Consider again
the cases of acft being stolen last year alone (here in CT at my
airport - that guy's still in jail) . Juveniles looking for a thrill
thinking (maybe?) they can handle anything that happens just because
they have MS Flight Sim 5.whatever. Unreal.

Whew. Didn't mean to vent and I'm certainly no authority on this, but I
get really steamed when something like this happens because it just
makes GA look bad no matter what the outcome.