Stealth Pilot wrote:

On Wed, 02 Jun 2004 14:22:56 GMT, "Dude" wrote:

While I am admittedly pessimistic, there are a few things that make the
average EAA guy different from the average citizen.

Number one would be a love of building and flying. EAA people are
intimately involved in the way their planes work. They do not see them as a
bland appliance that gets them from point A to point B.

The guy I am worried about is the one that can't fix his car properly, but
thinks he can. Or he thinks that every mechanic is trying to rip him off,
and wants to use the cheapest repair he can get by with.

Now you want to put him in charge of a plane? For Pete's sake, have you
seen the cars on the road?



your carbeques caused us some amusement on the trip from sandiego to
route 66 :-) :-) and watching something like 3 cars sitting there
calling out the road patrol to change a flat tyre was astonishing.
my last flat tyre took me 2 minutes to swap on the shoulder of a busy
freeway.
I'm sure urban americans dont realise how dumb they look to the rest
of the first world. :-)

relating to aviation.
look there is a pervasive view that all owners are into clueless
shonky maintenance. the hard evidence is quite different though.
South Africans have owner maintenance and discussing this with some of
the pilots who have emigrated tells the same story. when an old
aircraft enters owner maintenance you can watch it develop over the
next few years. the deterioration gradually winds back as the guy
fixes more and more of the effects of age on it. many aircraft in
owner maintenance end up as stunningly restored showcases that are
flown for real pleasure.
The Canadians north of you wouldnt stop maintaining their aircraft and
in their remoteness could operate an aircraft for it's entire life
away from civilisation. Transport Canada changed the rules when the
statistics for illicit maintenance proved to be no different than for
certified maintenance. The sky certainly hasnt fallen in for them.
The brits, we australians and the kiwis all have the same basic
pessimism in their regulatory authorities. they all still have a
mindset from 1918 when it really was dangerous. most of us just ignore
the authorities, close the hangar door, and just get on with it
anyway.

pilots are not the general unwashed of life. they have all been
trained and assessed as competent aviators. isnt it time you had some
confidence. all you need to do is put competent information before
them and they soak it up. pessimism and aviation are poor bedfellows.

Stealth (optimist) Pilot

I'd like to address your first gratuitous whack at the way some
americans choose to fix a flat tire. Many pay an annual fee for
roadside assistance. It's a nice little card that goes into the wife's
pocket book that has an 800 number which along with a cell phone gets
the nice man out to fix the tire, bring gasoline, get the damn thing
started and/or tow it to the garage. It stops the need to leave work
and go listen to a diatribe about how SWMBO really should have a new SUV
instead of this crappy BMW/whatever. The diatribe is now put off to
when you return home and you can listen to it on your own unbillable
time. This saves the annual fee in one whack ;-)

Gary Thomas