Recently, Bela P. Havasreti posted:

On Tue, 24 Oct 2006 17:38:17 GMT, Don Tuite
wrote:

On Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:01:11 GMT, Jose
wrote:

Back to one sip of beer seven hours before takeoff, vs two glasses
of beer eight hours before takeoff. One's legal, one's not. The
one that is not is probably safer than the one that is. But how
far down the line are you willing to go? And once you decide that,
why not "just a little" further?

Does avoiding the slippery slope lead to "zero tolerance"?

(Pick your favorite idocy associated with zero-tolerance
enforcement.)

That's why I keep coming back to the tit on the bulb. My mechanic,
at least, is convinced that if I get hit by lightning and crash, if
the accident investigators find a titless bulb, they're gonna hang
him out to dry -- even if he didn't know about it and it had nothing
to do with the crash.

So when it comes to owner maintenance, I find it easier to tell
myself that any non-approved part can have a "tit" that I don't know
about and that I don't want to be responsible for messing up
somebody else's life -- even if it's a pretty long shot that I will..

I find that easier to wrap my head around than taking an approach
that in other situations leads to throwing a kid out of school
because there's no semantic difference between a butterknife and a
K-Bar.

Apologies if my strawman doesn't apply to your version of slippery
slopes.

Don ("Semantic"? There must be a better word.)

That's not typically how it works.... If you crash, the lawyers will
go after deep pockets (if there are any). If you're mechanic doesn't
have deep pockets, them finding the wrong landing light bulb on
your airplane isn't going to make a hill of beans difference....

Bela P. Havasreti

Perhaps not to settle a damage lawsuit, where the "deep pockets" make a
difference, but if that kind of thing is found during the investigation,
then the A&P's credentials may be in jeopardy. At the very least, it would
raise a cloud of suspicion about the quality of work done. Not being an
A&P, I don't know how strict the FAA's regulations are in this regard, but
if the line of responsibility is anywhere near as stringent as they are
for pilots, it would be a bad risk to take.

Neil