What GA needs

Mxsmanic wrote:
Getting in is just the beginning.

The third class medical doesn't do much more than make sure you
won't have a heart attack or seizure at 5,000 feet ...

The medicals are excessively restrictive--reminiscent of military
requirements--and archaic, disqualifying some conditions that are
generally harmless while accepting others that can often be
dangerous. They are also unnecessarily repetitive.


Agreed but now we have LSA so that doesn't have to be an issue for the
average recreational pilot.


Red tape is abundant in certification as well, with special
procedures just for having retractable gear, excessive currency
requirements, heavy regulation, and so on.

Please give us an example of the excessive requirements? And the average
recreational pilot (which is what this thread is about) isn't going to be
flying retracts.



It's easier to become a lawyer than it is to become a pilot, and in
some respects it's easier to become a doctor as well.

Well, now you are getting into the professional side of things but you are
once again wrong. I'm sure some of the doctors and lawyers around here will
jump in on this one.

"Some Other Guy" wrote in message
...
Maxwell wrote:
Vibration - Hard for me to understand with today's technology, why we are
still flying aircraft with reciprocating engines, hard coupled to
flywheels (propellers). Every other vehicle I can think of provides some
kind of dampening between the engine and final drive. Would make a
tremendous deference in creature comforts, if not reliability as well.

Reliability? Wouldn't it just be adding another potential point of
failure?


Well I suppose it could, but certainly wouldn't have to be a given.
Torsional vibration devices in other vehicles don't seem to be common causes
of wear or failure. But the amount of vibration they can eliminate, could
very be helpful in reducing fatigue in other systems. It might even be
useful in reducing weight of things like the prop itself.

"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote in message
...
Maxwell wrote:

Noise - The need for wearing a headset has to go.


Oh you kids. When I got my PP-SEL back in 79 nobody at the airport wore
headsets. Of course we are all deaf today. But I don't see headsets as a
negative. Kids grow up wearing bike helmets and iPod ear buds. They are
used to wearing stuff on their heads.


I hear ya, I soloed in 71, and got my PP in 72. So spent a lot of years
flying without them too. If fact, if I could still rent aircraft with decent
overhead speakers, I probably still wouldn't use them. But it seems most
rental aircraft have the speakers blown out from renters wearing ear plugs,
and cranking up the volume.

But from my experience, noise levels have always been a consideration to a
lot of the people I have introduced to GA. And the world is becoming more
demanding of creature comforts every day.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
writes:

Such as?

The entire process of obtaining a license, for example, as well as the
endless
currency requirements, medical exams, type ratings, and so on.

No problem. Fly and ultralight, dip****.

On Sep 12, 1:01 pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
writes:
Such as?

The entire process of obtaining a license, for example, as well as the endless
currency requirements, medical exams, type ratings, and so on.

Its mainly Phil Boyer's fault, for publishing patent lies about the
utility of GA for travel. VFR GA is for recreation only, unless you
have a big budget pay whopping fuel bills and have unlimited time to
get to where you want.

When people realize that GA Serving America is just lies, they quit.
Most people, though, are smart enough not to believe that BS from the
start.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...

It's easier to become a lawyer than it is to become a pilot, and in some
respects it's easier to become a doctor as well.

Once again, a brand new high water mark for illustrating your complete
ignorance and incompetance with regard to all three persuits.

You fancy yourself such a genius, yet you can't comtemplate the rigors of
something as simple as getting a private pilots license. You're an ingorant,
arrogant moron. Thanks for a new example to remind us just how little you
understand.

On Sep 12, 1:06 pm, Mxsmanic wrote:
Jeff Dougherty writes:
Eh? All I had to do to get in to flight school was show up with a
check in my hand.

Getting in is just the beginning.

Believe me, I know. After all, I didn't finish. :-) And I did go to
college, where getting in wasn't even the beginning of the work I had
to do.

The third class medical doesn't do much more than make sure you
won't have a heart attack or seizure at 5,000 feet ...

The medicals are excessively restrictive--reminiscent of military
requirements--and archaic, disqualifying some conditions that are generally
harmless while accepting others that can often be dangerous. They are also
unnecessarily repetitive.

We could argue about whether or not certain conditions should be
automatically disqualifying for quite some time. I have a few pet
peeves there myself. However, according to statistics at
http://aviationmedicine.com/articles...e&articleID=19,
only 1.5% of those seeking medical certificates in 1998 (the last year
they had available) were denied one, and that included applicants who
didn't fill out the forms completely or include the appropriate
documentation. When you take those away, there were about 800 denials
out of about 450,000 applications. It doesn't sound like getting a
medical is all that restrictive.

And has been pointed out, if you don't think you can get one, fly as a
sport pilot. It's what I'll probably do.

Red tape is abundant in certification as well, with special procedures just
for having retractable gear, excessive currency requirements, heavy
regulation, and so on.

I'm afraid that I can't really say much to these unless you're more
specific. As far as I know, once you have the PPL you can fly any
single engine landplane without retractable gear or a variable pitch
prop. There are enough gear-up landings each year that some
retractable-gear training certainly seems to be a good idea, and I
don't think anyone would argue that seaplanes and multiengine
airplanes shouldn't have their own training requirements.

Currency requirements? The only requirement for a VFR private pilot
is a checkride once every two years, requiring you to pay for a couple
hours of an instructor's time. It's every six months for IFR, but
only if you haven't logged a certain amount of instrument time. How
could those requirements be profitably reduced without compromising
safety? (Sure, it's more often if you're an ATP, but that doesn't
really apply to recreational GA)

As for "heavy regulation"...well, any amount of regulation can be
claimed to be heavy. Unless you're more specific about which regs you
consider unnecessarily burdensome, I can't really offer
counterpoints.

It's easier to become a lawyer than it is to become a pilot, and in some
respects it's easier to become a doctor as well.

Er. As a current applicant for medical school, I've gone through a
year of premed coursework (after finishing a bio major at a liberal
arts college), followed by a yearlong application process that
involves a lot of paperwork and some not inconsiderable fees to get me
the chance to fly at my own expense somewhere for an interview, after
which the school might or might not admit me. I've definitely spent
more than 90 hours on the application process, and my total bill
probably won't come out to be much less than a PPL once I'm done
interviewing all over creation. (With the amount of flying I need to
do soon, I'll have my multiengine pax rating in no time! ;~) ) It's
taken two years on top of the four I spent in college, a lot of money
and skull sweat...

....and that's just to get *into* medical school. When/if I start,
I'll then do four years worth of intensive coursework, followed by at
least three years of residency pulling 80-100 hour weeks. Followed by
a licensing process that will look at my health at least as closely as
an FAA medical.

(And oh yeah, I'll be paying for it all too, at about $40K a year.
Debt, here I come!)

The above is not a complaint by any means. I can't wait to get in and
start my journey towards being a physician, and I knew what the rules
of the game were when I started the process. But in consideration of
the above, I would be interested to know what part of becoming a
doctor you consider easier than becoming a private pilot.

-JTD

Maxwell wrote:


But from my experience, noise levels have always been a consideration
to a lot of the people I have introduced to GA. And the world is
becoming more demanding of creature comforts every day.

No Sh!t, how do you think Bose gets away with selling $1000 headsets.

"Some Other Guy" wrote
Maxwell wrote:
Vibration - Hard for me to understand with today's technology, why we are
still flying aircraft with reciprocating engines, hard coupled to
flywheels (propellers). Every other vehicle I can think of provides some
kind of dampening between the engine and final drive. Would make a
tremendous deference in creature comforts, if not reliability as well.

Reliability? Wouldn't it just be adding another potential point of
failure?

Plus the big killer of airplanes and "improvements" - WEIGHT !

A vibration isolator/dampener would have to be extreeeeemly robust, to
handle the torque pulses, and would weigh a significant amount.

A properly indexed and balanced prop is not going to be worse than a prop
isolated from the engine, either.

There are some devices that bolt on the backplate of the spinner, (as I
recall) but I don't remember the name. They work by letting some weight in
a viscous fluid find the right place to settle and balance the system out,
automatically. I do recall that people that have used them rave about them.
Anyone?
--
Jim in NC

"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote in message
...
Maxwell wrote:


But from my experience, noise levels have always been a consideration
to a lot of the people I have introduced to GA. And the world is
becoming more demanding of creature comforts every day.

No Sh!t, how do you think Bose gets away with selling $1000 headsets.


But if people will pay $1000 for headsets, what would they pay for an
aircraft that doesn't require them?

And how many more people would be attracted to GA, if they didn't have to
decide between noise - and the discomfort, cost and inconvenience of
headsets. And before you answer, consider the battle in the motorcycle
community over helmets.

I really believe most pilots today, are pilots because they love to fly. And
most would continue to fly even if they had to wear a space suit. But we
will never know how much noise, vibration and inconvenience has handicapped
aviation's ability to compete with other pursuits, until we have eliminated
them.