"Todd Pattist" wrote in message
...
I do. We draw similar lines with vehicles. I can't run a
taxi service or drive 18 wheelers for delivery of product.
I can run to the store to get a part for a friend. Similar
rules could (and should) be set that allow the use of a
plane to be more like the use of a car. We can have such
rules without risking public safety.

IMHO, the way the rules work for motor vehicles is a good argument for
having the rules interpreted the way the FAA is doing now. There are plenty
of people who stretch the concept of what's commercial and what's not,
engaging in commercial operations in motor vehicles without a proper
license. This is exactly the kind of stretching that would happen in
aviation if the FAA didn't take such a hard-nosed stance.

I'd love to think that pilots are a unique group and above that sort of
thing, but history says otherwise. Aviation has just as many scofflaws and
pretenders as exist in the general population, and those folks will take the
whole mile, given the inch. The FAA is well within their rights to not give
the inch.

As far as the claim that "rules could be set that allow the use of a plane
to be more like the use of a car", you won't get anywhere convincing me
that's true. It's my opinion that motor vehicles ought to be regulated MUCH
more strictly, and more like aviation is now. Especially with respect to
driver certification and the kind of training drivers are required to have
for various kinds of driving, as well as actually enforcing the laws we
already have and which drivers flagrantly ignore.

Finally, with respect to your example, note that while you can run to the
store to get a part for a friend, you are not allowed to charge your friend
for that service. So, the example you're providing doesn't appear to me to
offer any difference than what the situation is in aviation.

Pete