Ron Wanttaja wrote:
On Mon, 31 May 2004 16:58:19 GMT, "Dude" wrote:


Unfortunately, the average citizen cannot be trusted to maintain his plane
well enough to keep it safe. Also, even if you make a redundant autopilot
system, the pilot has to be able to fly if it fails.


Actually, I don't agree with you, there. That's what ballistic chutes are
for. Second autopilot fails, the onboard processor blows the chute.

Ron Wanttaja

I'll side with Ron, but for a different reason. Even the people with
airplanes bought and paid for have to use the excuse of a $100 hamburger
as some sort of 'justification' of the enjoyment of getting off the
ground. Until Alcatel builds a runway that terminates in their parking
lot, the airplane will not be useful as a reliable mode of transportation.

Cars were only marginally useful until Uncle Sam decided that his troops
needed a better way to get their big guns to the sea ports. If the
decision had been that planes would do the job better than cars, we'd
all have a runway in the backyard now. And we'd live clustered around
steel tracks if the decision had been for trains.

--
http://www.ernest.isa-geek.org/
"Ignorance is mankinds normal state,
alleviated by information and experience."
Veeduber