NW_Pilot writes:

Wow what a weird conversation today!! A few reps / attorneys in my district
were at the bar were talking about the latest GA crash in NYC so I had to
listen in so I bought one a drink at started to mingle a but. They were
talking about making flight plans mandatory and mandatory VFR reporting
points/routs in large city's & near schools.

No surprise here.

By this time I had to interrupt
them and tell them how the voting general aviation public would frown upon
them rules....they were not assertive and were not willing to listen and
told me that the general aviation part of the public is to small to make a
sway in this argument ...

They are right.

... and they will do what ever that they decide they think
is right for the rest (majority) of the public.

More specifically, they'll do whatever they want and rationalize it as
being for the public good.

These guys had no idea about what general aviation really was until I
brought up that the small jets that they fly in for their spur of the moment
trips is considered general aviation then they started to listen a bit.(yea
because now it concerned them)

Yup.

I explained how it would make it more time
consuming to the pilots and also, over load the already stressed controllers
by dumping hundreds or even thousands of extra VFR traffic in to the system
for them to deal with. They responded that it's their job and they would
have to deal with it!

Did you tell them that they'd have to plan their trips a lot further
ahead if flight plans were mandatory?

Gawd I hope the U.S. don't end up like the European bureaucracy when it
comes to VFR flying!!!!!!!

Bureaucracies never shrink on their own.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.