On Sat, 08 Mar 2008 02:50:33 GMT, "Dale Scroggins"
wrote:
er!

How about this argument: Until a century or so ago, a landowner held rights
from the center of the earth to the heavens. Nothing could pass over his
land without his permission. Since there were no aircraft, the issue didn't
come up very often. When flight became possible, this property theory was
changed to allow overflight; however, overflight was not a right given by
God, but a negotiated privilege enforced by governments through legislation
and courts. Because flying over other people's property without permission
has never been a right, and certainly was not even a privilege at the time
the Constitution was written, how do you libertarians come up with any basis
for arguing that the government has limited authority in regulating
aviation? Aviation would not exist in this country without government
action.

In the U.S., with a few exceptions, flying machines need Airworthiness
Certificates to fly. Airworthiness Certificates are issued by the
government. They are not issued or denied arbitrarily. If you do not wish
to meet requirements for issue of an Airworthiness Certificate, your
home-built project could be a nice static display. That is the ultimate
penalty for ignoring or circumventing requirements.

Dale Scroggins

Interesting argument. Mainly the part about landowners that used to
own the air above their land. With the recent history of plane
crashes into peoples homes, I'm surprised the non-aviation types
haven't stirred up more ruckus about overflight. Such as the crash
near Sanford, Fla. by the Nascar C-310, and that recent crash near
Corona, Ca that killed those poeple at the car dealership. I just
hope things stay quiet about that, or it could make flying a real pain
if you want to go over just about any land someone owns. Countless
cars could crash into private property and no one will ever suggest
limiting where cars can drive, because just about everyone drives one.
But we are a relatively few that fly, so we could be scrutinized
pretty harshly.