I have around 1200 hours, a commercial MEL, IFR and private Glider
certificates. I have not flown seriously since 1973. I had a brief period
in 1980 when I earned a glider rating and again in 1991/92 when I joined a
glider club and was a tow pilot. In 2002 I helped a local FBO on weekends by
running the airport and being the gas geezer when he took time off. In
exchange I got to fly his Taylorcraft. Alas I was replaced by a computerized
gas pump in 2003. This year I managed to find a slot flying skydivers. Now
they have gone belly up.

As you can deduce, I have very little money for flying but truly love it. I
am considering getting a ground instructors rating in hopes of teaching
enough classes to earn a CFI. I never got my CFI because I felt that I would
not be a good instructor as I did not feel comfortable in letting a primary
student go wrong far enough so he would see his error. Over the years I have
seen enough instructors to realize that very few do that so why don't I try
my hand. I enjoy teaching.

In recent years I have gotten the feeling that FAA attitude has changed. I
remember that that FAA seemed to have the approach "We don't care if you
kill yourself, we just don't want you to kill anyone else or injure their
property." Now it seems that they are becoming a small town speed trap. The
idea is violate you. It is, to me a horrifying environment when major
aviation publications have a legal column and the AOPA advertises as one of
its benefits the availability of a 'lawyer Insurance" plan. From my very
limited recent experience, I find the working troops ( Tower, approach
control, etc) are still there as one of the few government organizations who
actually want and do provide help in an interested and friendly professional
manner. This is as I always remember it and is one of the enjoyable facets
of aviation. The only time I was ever requested "to call the tower" was
when I was flying airtaxi and had flown through a restricted zone. This was
a normal practice in which we called the controlling authority and got
permission before entering the zone. I had done so and when I told the tower
that I had received permission. They said "Oh, the Navy forgot to tell us."
All was well and nothing was ever said about it. But I keep reading these
stories of FAA vendetta against pilots.

I do not want to fly in an adversarial environment. I fly because I love it.
It is a challenging, always changing, interesting and beautiful
environment. It is not perfect but close. In all life there is always some
drawback. After cooking and eating a good meal, you have wash dishes and
take out the garbage. But if the stories of FAA brutality are true, it is
more that just taking out the garbage.

Now my question, is it really that bad or are a few incidents blown out of
proportions?
I'd like to hear some opinions and stories from the group.

(I will not go into the TSA debacle as that is a government driven by panic.
In such situations there is always stupidity, ignorance and fear )