Soaring Not Dead Everywhere

Bring what you like.Â* We have an indoor range down the road, a block
from the brewery, and can shoot anywhere on public land.Â* Note the
brewery/shooting must be done in proper order...

On 4/5/2020 11:32 AM, wrote:
Will do. I might be up your way early june for a few 13m record attempts if our texas site is still in lockdown.
Dan

p.s. just to **** off the libs, I forgot to ask you what guns I should bring? lol

--
Dan, 5J

At 17:32 05 April 2020, wrote:
Will do. I might be up your way early june for a few 13m record
attempts if
our texas site is still in lockdown.
Dan

p.s. just to **** off the libs, I forgot to ask you what guns I should
bring? lol

It's not personal. It is a general criticism of the attitude that the rules

don't apply to some, that you can carry on with your normal life as
though nothing was happening.
I saw a comment that "it is not a problem in my area", to that you
should add the word yet. If we fail to heed the warnings it will become
a real problem. I have some sympathy with those in the USA, you do
not have a leader, you have the spinning orange man who used to be
indecisive, now he cannot make up his mind.
Over here the instruction is stay at home, every thing else is secondary.
There are exceptions but some people just have no sense of
responsibility and ignore the rules. That is a danger to us all. It seems
like what we are doing is winning, we will have fewer cases and deaths
as the result of staying home. To be clear I don't like it, I have just
bought a glider which I will not get to fly for several months. I may not
like it but I see the absolute necessity.
I know the US constitution makes it difficult for people to comply with
instructions to not do what they normally do, in this particular case it
may literally be the death of you, or your loved ones.
I don't think carrying a gun is going to save you from the virus either.

Let's also observe that the likelihood of virus transmission in the outdoors is vanishingly small where the lightest breeze will instantly disperse the virus.

Compared that to going to the interior space of a grocery store and the parking lot, which has other hazards:

"A 35-year-old woman is in hospital in life-threatening condition after she was hit by an SUV in a Cochrane, Alta., parking lot on Saturday.

RCMP said at 1:45 p.m., police responded to a report of a serious collision in the parking lot of No Frills, located on Fifth Avenue.

A pedestrian had been hit by a Ford Edge SUV, driven by an 83-year-old woman, and was taken by ambulance to hospital."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...rane-1.5522324

At 17:15 05 April 2020, Dan Marotta wrote:
Well, I tried to be nice, but...Â* Buzz off.

You are not nice, you are a selfish, self-centred, self-entitled arrogant
prick - a moron of the highest calibre, that is only thinking of himself
and not others. Maybe you'll change your tune and actions when colleagues,
friends, family members or indeed yourself start suffering from this virus.

On Monday, April 6, 2020 at 5:30:08 AM UTC-6, Paul T wrote:
At 17:15 05 April 2020, Dan Marotta wrote:
Well, I tried to be nice, but...Â* Buzz off.

You are not nice, you are a selfish, self-centred, self-entitled arrogant
prick - a moron of the highest calibre, that is only thinking of himself
and not others. Maybe you'll change your tune and actions when colleagues,
friends, family members or indeed yourself start suffering from this virus.

Wow! Bitter much?

Not every healthcare facility is overburdened in the US here. In fact, many facilities here are scrounging for work. Many doctors have asked their patients, especially the chronically ill ones, to stay home, and are doing appointments over Zoom or FaceTime, or some other equivalent video chat. While the stories of the healthcare system being overwhelmed in large population centers are true, there are many that are sitting around twiddling their thumbs. So... if you live in the rural parts of the US, and your local healthcare facilities are not currently being overburdened by COVID-19 patients, then if you WERE to have an accident, you would NOT be taking away from others care, or overburdening the system.

Where we live in rural MT, we have had a few cases. We expect to peak in our cases by the end of the month. If at that time our healthcare system is getting overloaded, then use common sense and good judgement, and stay at home. Otherwise, get out and enjoy the skies. It is a GREAT way to socially distance yourself, particularly if you have a motor glider and don't need to rely on anyone else to help you. You are NOT being selfish or self-serving by doing this. You are NOT exposing yourself or other people unnecessarily to increased risk. You "city folks" need to wake up and realize there is a whole other world out there and way of life out in the country, with a whole other set of issues than what people deal with in the city. And not everything that applies in an urban area applies in a rural area.

Social Distancing can be done in numerous ways. Maintaining airworthiness of aircraft and currency will keep our pilots, and aircraft flying safely after the epidemic passes. I’m not worried about spreading the virus when I fly my single Plane. Unlike when I go to work and “Potentially� carry 180 people in a confined tube 5 hours across the country.
Together we will survive this.
Howie

On Sunday, April 5, 2020 at 8:24:48 AM UTC-7, wrote:
Dear Dan,

and what happen if you have an accident?

Please do not involve anyone else. Stay there and....Peace.

Carlo (from Italy)

The same as if he had an accident driving to the grocery store or tripped and got a concussion walking around the block.

The one thing I'd add to this is that while we as pilots very much have a "Pilot In Command" attitude when it comes to risk-taking, public health emergencies with highly infectious diseases do not limit the risks we take solely to us. One person can spread an infection to thousands of people in a matter of weeks though the bucket brigade of human exposure and that spread can reach those thousands before there is any evidence it happened because of the time lags of incubation. In addition to this pre-symptomatic spreading, this sucker spreads in half the people (and probably the majority of cases) asymptomatically - it's how we get so-called super-spreaders.

If you have your own motorglider assembled in your own hangar and need zero help to get airborne you are probably a minimal risk to others. If you need to go to the gas station to get to/from the airport, require help getting assembled, pushing out to the line, getting connected to the tow rope, need a wing runner (did you wipe down the wingtip?), help getting off there runway after you land, help with disassembly, need to pay your tow bill in person, etc. you increase your risk of infecting someone or of being infected by someone, so you can begins the bucket brigade anew. Of course this is on top of (and more likely than) the already mentioned risk of an accident or outlanding.

On top of all this, there are state and local restrictions on "non-essential" movements outside the home. In many cases (even if you can convince yourself that flying your glider is "essential") the rules restrict you from leaving the county where you live to do it.

There are reasons why these restrictions have been put in place and it's not to protect you from your own foolish decisions nearly so much as it is trying to protect the rest of us from your foolish decisions.

Here is a link to state-level restrictions. Towns and counties usually have their own. If you plan to go flying (or do anything beyond get food really), read up before you venture out.

https://www.nga.org/coronavirus/#glance

Stay safe. The sooner we squash this thing flat, the sooner we can all get to the next step - testing and wearing masks for 18 months!

My new glider was delivered to the US in July 2019. I'm looking forward to flying it for the second time in Spring of 2021. Patience!

Andy Blackburn
9B

Originally Posted by Paul T[_4_]

At 17:15 05 April 2020, Dan Marotta wrote:
Well, I tried to be nice, but...Â* Buzz off.

You are not nice, you are a selfish, self-centred, self-entitled arrogant
prick - a moron of the highest calibre, that is only thinking of himself
and not others. Maybe you'll change your tune and actions when colleagues,
friends, family members or indeed yourself start suffering from this virus.

Having strong opinions and being unafraid to share them doesn't automatically make one a selfish, self-centred, self-entitled arrogant prick much less a moron of any calibre

Too often rules cater to the lowest common denominator and don't allow for people to engaging in critical thinking to evaluate their personal situation vis a vis COVID-19 (or any other situation) and employ, and let's use an aviation term here, an Alternative Means Of Compliance to meet the intent of the rule

I have recently come back to flying after a 3.5 year break and have had to fly club ships instead of either of my toys. My club operates in quite a built up area and as all of New Zealand is in a 4 week lock down I haven't been able to fly.

I'd be more than happy to local fly If I could and don't begrudge anyone who can still do that wherever they live if they can do so in a responsible fashion as many on here are doing

Colin

I have come to this simple realization.

If I were to bring back something deadly to one of my young grandchildren, and they should die due to my selfishness, I would never forgive myself.

I can wait.

John DeRosa (OHM Ω)