IFR/Flight Following -- ATC Preferences?

Jose wrote in news:H1Baf.9040$Lv.1764
@newssvr24.news.prodigy.net:

The controls functioned properly. They performed as the pilot
controlled them.

The same can be said of a car that is skidding off the side of the road.
The steering wheel didn't fail, and the wheels are still obeying the
laws of physics.

But the car =is= out of control.

Jose

That's not accurate. If the car is not travelling in the direction is
pointing it it is out of control. There is no evidence that the plane was
flying in a direction other than which it was pointed.

A better analogy would be a driver who drove his car into a guardrail
because he was "hypnotized" by the lights from the oncoming traffic. The
car did not lose control, the driver simply did not drive safely.

A plane being out of control implies a problem with the plane. A pilot
flying incorrectly implies a problem with the pilot. I believe the JFK Jr.
case is a case of the latter, not the former.