Erik writes:

Yeah, took me one painful half hour.

If you are disqualified, it'll be a lot more painful.

Don't need to own

Renting is expensive over the long term.

Nope, it's expensive, but worth it.

If you don't have the money, it doesn't matter.

But you're an American living in France

So? I still don't like to travel. I never travel anywhere.

Only if the pilot does something stupid or can't handle exceptions
and doesn't keep the plane up to FAA par.

If it's a rental plane, you don't know where it has been, which is one reason
why owning is better.

You can control when you fly, weird, isn't it?

You cannot control the climate of the place where you live. You cannot fly
VFR every day if you live in Seattle. You cannot fly in the Great Plains
during thunderstorms and tornados.

No, you don't.

Yes, you do. You may be affected as low as 5000 feet. And there's nothing
you can do about it, short of taking oxygen.

If I breathe the air in a public place, I might get a cold.

Yes.

I trust those tiny tin cans MUCH more than I trust those
big damn ATP planes.

Why? Statistically, the tin cans are far less safe.

Don't you know that when you step out of your door in the morning,
you can be hit by one of those french drivers?

I don't walk on the street.

Maybe you can catch a cold.

I regularly do.

You might slip on a stone.

Yes.

But I know the statistics, and the risks. I worry about a tin can flown by
anyone other than myself, and belonging to anyone other than me.

You lie. It's not that you don't want to fly, you're down
right frightened of it.

I like flying. But I don't like taking risks. If I were to fly a small
plane, I'd have to be the pilot and the owner. That puts the crucial
variables into ranges that I can assess.