Did I miss the Era of GA?

Mxsmanic wrote:
Larry Dighera writes:


While I can understand your desire to get some feedback from those
currently enjoying the joy of flight before committing the not
insubstantial time and resources required to obtain your airmans
certificate, if you would let their input, or indeed that of your
wife, stand in the path to your dream, you may not have the requisite
'fire in your belly' to make a good airman.


Why must one have "fire in the belly" in order to be entitled to fly? Is it a
hazing ritual, or is it a hobby?

There may be some justification for certain qualifications to be required when
one is doing something that directly affects others, such as flying a
commercial airliner. It's difficult to see any justification for this when
one is doing something as a hobby that affects essentially no one else.

Suggesting that someone needs arbitrary qualifications or must overcome
arbitrary hurdles in the latter case is simple elitism.


The path to an airmans
certificate is expensive, and donning the responsibilities of becoming
a 'pilot in command' is, or should be, a life-changing event.


What responsibilities? If you are flying on your own, they are practically
nil, not any greater than riding your own motorcycle.


Becoming a responsible airman is not really at all akin to becoming a
licensed motorist.


Sure it is, fundamentally. But many artificial barriers exist in order to
ensure that only certain people are allowed to join the club. A lot of
aviators do _not_ want other people to fly, as this would lessen the ego trip
they get themselves out of flying. The idea of anyone being able to do it
bothers them. And just about anyone _could_ do it, if the artificial barriers
were removed. It's not that difficult.


And it's not possible to be a dilettante airman; it requires constant
exercise of your right to fly, almost weekly ...


See above. More of the treehouse-club effect.


You will have to MASTER several disciplines to achieve the status of
pilot.


No, you won't. All you have to do is pass the tests. If pilots _mastered_
the skills that are supposedly represented by the tests, they would have no
accidents due to pilot error.


You will not only need the motor skills necessary to control
the aircraft ...


Which anyone who can ride a bicycle or roller-skate already has.


... you'll need to acquire mastery of the fundamentals of
meteorology to read mother nature's ever churning skies ...


Fundamentals is an overstatement. I'm sure many meteorologists would agree.
And many pilots barely manage that, as accidents regularly prove.


mastery pilotage, dead reckoning and several types of radio navigation,
mastery of voluminous aviation regulation details, mastery of radio
communication techniques and operation, mastery of a myriad of
aircraft systems, how to effectively employ cockpit resource
management, and most importantly, you'll need to learn how to be a
CAPTAIN capable of abandoning your pride when safety demands that you
make a socially unpopular decision and sticking to it in the face of
what will feel like overwhelming social pressure.


Pride seems to be the predominant characteristic under discussion here.

Maybe some people should become doctors instead of pilots. From the way you
write about it, becoming a doctor sounds a lot easier.


In addition, you'll need reasonably good health over the entire time
you exercise your right to ply the skies.


More like robust health (far in excess of what would actually be required to
fly), thanks to archaic rules and more of the treehouse-club mentality.


If you have what it takes, do it. If you lack TOTAL commitment, don't
waste your time.


In other words, if someone isn't as fanatic as you think they should be, you
want them to stay out of the club.



There may be some in the community who feel more special because they
fly, but that is not the norm. If so, it is not unique to pilots.
However, that has not been my experience. I think your view is skewed
because you feel ostracized by those whom you belittle and whom you
think you are better than because yo have 10000 hours in barons and 747s
and they have just a few hundred hours in old cessnas with old analog
radio tuners and no autopilots...

What would you say to someone who said he knew Paris better than most
Parisians, yet had never been there. THis person watched videos of the
Eifel tower, read about the Louvre, ate french bread from the local
bakery from his local town in the USA. He/she also had "conversations"
in french with his computer language tutor program. He/she even took
lessons in how to surrender and hold his/her hands up so he/she would be
more French. Does that help you see how your claims are viewed by
pilots? Perhaps not.

Getting a certificate in the US is a challenge and if that is the goal
it should be understood that it will take a lot of motivation. There
are many factors that inhibit achieving the goal - outside of money and
skill/learning. Contrary to what you might think it is not a bunch of
hazing rituals or secret handshakes. The process of taking lessons,
dealing with cancelations due to weather, instructors, maintenance,
shceduling, etc wears one down and makes getting a pilot certificate
more an acheivement of persistence than one of skill or talent or
learning. It is not hard to fly. Most people can learn to do it.

Most people though have false notions that it is overly complicated, too
expensive or something that is too dangerous.

I've never met a pilot who wasn't thrilled to meet other pilots or who
disuaded others about learning to fly. On the contrary - all the
members of this "elitist club" (that you like to call it) usually go out
of their way to introduce others to the joy and fun of flying and will
mentor, give free flights, teach, talk about it or do anything else to
promote this passion of theirs.