Do we, as a group, just suck?

Hi,

OK, you have to be pretty brain dead to live in Florida, fly near Pad 39B
and not know something is going to, or even may happen.

Shaw Pilots Intercept Plane Before Shuttle Launch:
http://www.wltx.com/news/news19.aspx?storyid=29178

I really don't want our airspace to be consumed by restrictions, but when
the Shuttle incident and the DC incidents seem to happen regularly... I'm
not even going to start about planes buzzing beaches and nearly hitting
people (Santa Cruz) and all the other 'bad for GA' stuff that happens. I
think that as a group, we need to take more responsibility for our actions
and I'm not sure if I see that happening.

Oh well, off to Oshkosh... If any fellow NGs are there, look for the guy in
the WingX for the Pocket PC shirt. Well, there might be a few of us, but
I'm the ugly one.

Hilton

OK, you have to be pretty brain dead to live in Florida, fly near Pad
39B and not know something is going to, or even may happen.

Every incursion - every clearing of the white house - every expensive
"intercept" - brings us one step closer to permanent grounding.

I give GA as we know it 1... maybe 2 years tops.

It's not Bush.

it's not stopthenoise.

It's not even Bin Laden.

It's all courtesy our "fellow" pilots.

The only reason GA is still around is because it's the training ground for
airline pilots.

The military can't afford to pump out all the pilots americans demand, and
GA is a self-funding training program. How else could someone come up with
the required hours for an ATP?

"JohnH" wrote in message
...
OK, you have to be pretty brain dead to live in Florida, fly near Pad
39B and not know something is going to, or even may happen.

Every incursion - every clearing of the white house - every expensive
"intercept" - brings us one step closer to permanent grounding.

I give GA as we know it 1... maybe 2 years tops.

It's not Bush.

it's not stopthenoise.

It's not even Bin Laden.

It's all courtesy our "fellow" pilots.

Yes, we do, on the whole. We're going to lose our privileges in the U.S. if
we keep this up, and we'll have nobody to blame but ourselves. For those
that 'get it', its up to you to help and mentor the weaker GA pilots, to set
the right example.

I disagree. We mirror society. We will have folks of all levels of
competence and common sense. Just like there are dumb car and truck
operators, so our group will have our share.

The problem lies in the fact that what we do is a privilege and since there
are relatively few of us, it's just easier for the powers that be to ground
us than fix the problem. The problem essentially is that we have this crazy
sense of fair play the won't allow us to protect our consummate rights by
employing racial profiling (it works) and when appropriate, nuking those
countries that won't play nice.

If you really think that North Korea and the Arab states wouldn't use
nuclear weapons on us, if give the chance, you live in a fantasy land.
"Granite" wrote in message
...
Yes, we do, on the whole. We're going to lose our privileges in the U.S.
if
we keep this up, and we'll have nobody to blame but ourselves. For those
that 'get it', its up to you to help and mentor the weaker GA pilots, to
set
the right example.

On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 08:45:58 -0700, "John Larson" None ... wrote in
::

The problem essentially is that we have this crazy
sense of fair play the won't allow us to protect our consummate rights by
employing racial profiling (it works) and when appropriate, nuking those
countries that won't play nice.

If you really think that North Korea and the Arab states wouldn't use
nuclear weapons on us, if give the chance, you live in a fantasy land.

So by your reasoning, our noble nation should abandon its ideals and
permit evil to corrupt its course?

John Larson wrote:

The problem lies in the fact that what we do is a privilege

so is driving a car by the way (though few people realize that)

--Sylvain

Granite wrote:

For those
that 'get it', its up to you to help and mentor the weaker GA pilots, to set
the right example.

The "weaker GA pilots" . . . those would be the ones holding the
"Darwin Was Right" flags?

Hilton wrote:

the Shuttle incident and the DC incidents seem to happen regularly... I'm
not even going to start about planes buzzing beaches and nearly hitting
people (Santa Cruz) and all the other 'bad for GA' stuff that happens. I
think that as a group, we need to take more responsibility for our actions
and I'm not sure if I see that happening.

another way to look at it though, is that there is very few incidents,
albeit all receiving a disproportionate amount of media attention for
the number of pilots overall. Try to think of any other group that does
as well... that said, yeah, we could improve things a bit by educating
ourselves and the journalists (hey, here is an idea, trying to convert
more journalists to flying, a bit like the Young Eagles program :-)

--Sylvain

Sylvain,

the Shuttle incident and the DC incidents seem to happen regularly...
I'm
not even going to start about planes buzzing beaches and nearly hitting
people (Santa Cruz) and all the other 'bad for GA' stuff that happens.
I
think that as a group, we need to take more responsibility for our
actions
and I'm not sure if I see that happening.

another way to look at it though, is that there is very few incidents,
albeit all receiving a disproportionate amount of media attention for
the number of pilots overall.

I can understand pilots clipping the edge of a 'hot' area, or flying through
an area that just became 'hot', and things like that. But buzzing the Santa
Cruz beach (the wheel reportedly nearly hit a young boy), having to evacuted
the DC buildings several times, flying near Pad 39B on launch day... I just
don't get it.

You know what, I think some of these incidents should receive a
disproportionate amount of media - like the ones mentioned above. Some guy
with no radio who has jets 'force' him down and potentially halts a shuttle
countdown should receive its fair share of media - that's a big deal.

It just frustrates me that most of us try hard to do the right thing (e.g.
noise abatement), then others make the news.

Hilton