Is the pilot license needed...?

Jim Logajan writes:

Mxsmanic wrote:
If the unlicensed pilot is wealthy enough to pay the fines, what
prevents him from flying indefinitely without a license and just
paying the fines whenever he is caught?

Flying without a certificate/license can and has resulted in jail time.
Here are a couple cases where the defendant got a fine and six months jail
time:

http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1004
http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1633

I note that both involved other offenses as well, however.

--
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Flying without a license will often result in death. The regulations
stipulating requirements to operate an aircraft under it's own power
are for your own good. An aircraft is not a tractor, car, truck, four
wheeler, motorcycle, or wagon.

Learn to fly, and learn to fly right from a qualified and dedicated
instructor. That will protect aviation's reputation, both private and
commercial.

If you want, visit our website for an excellent article on the basics
of VFR flight which have to be mastered (and often aren't)

www.pilotweb.org

PilotWeb.org writes:

Flying without a license will often result in death.

This type of exaggeration only encourages people to be reckless. When
they discover that the dire warnings they've heard are all out of
proportion to reality, they start to take a lot more risks, including
risks that they really shouldn't take. The net result is more danger,
not less.

I expect that most people flying without a license are people who have
lost their licenses for some reason, or people who have trained but
been unable to get a license. While neither category is likely to be
filled with stellar pilots, the notion that complete novices are going
to try to fly planes is a bit unrealistic. Most people aren't even
interested in flying a plane, and many are afraid of doing so, so even
if you plopped them in the cockpit and told them to have at it, they'd
refuse.

The regulations stipulating requirements to operate an aircraft under
it's own power are for your own good.

In theory, but they aren't necessarily congruent with reality. Some
of the regulations are good ideas, others aren't.

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

Mxsmanic wrote:

Flying without a license will often result in death.

This type of exaggeration only encourages people to be reckless. When
they discover that the dire warnings they've heard are all out of
proportion to reality, they start to take a lot more risks, including
risks that they really shouldn't take. The net result is more danger,
not less.

I expect that most people flying without a license are people who have
lost their licenses for some reason, or people who have trained but
been unable to get a license. While neither category is likely to be
filled with stellar pilots, the notion that complete novices are going
to try to fly planes is a bit unrealistic. Most people aren't even
interested in flying a plane, and many are afraid of doing so, so even
if you plopped them in the cockpit and told them to have at it, they'd
refuse.


I can think of three different instances within the last 2 years that
were well-publicized where individuals (dumb-ass kids and one drunk
dirtbag doing community service) with no flight training stole aircraft
and took them for a joyride. Amazingly nobody was killed, and that
includes the idiot that stole the 172 from Danbury CT and took his
drunk buddies for a ride at 2am only to land on a dark taxiway at White
Plains. I'm not sure which deity was looking out for all these idiots -
all the more incredible when you consider how many trained & licensed
pilots have died while flying due to things that may have been out of
their control. Regardless... I don't think the idea that flying w/o a
license will often result in death is exaggerating.

PilotWeb.org writes:


Flying without a license will often result in death.

It almost never does.