Just listened to CNN over the lunch hour...even though they are saying the guy( they had a name) was pissed at the IRS and he flew his plane into the building as a suicide......they are already hitting on the small planes and the small "uncontroled" airports and that GA is absolutely uncontroled. Fellow pilots put on you cast iron underware..I think we are going to take it in the shorts...again!

hicountry wrote:Just listened to CNN over the lunch hour...even though they are saying the guy( they had a name) was pissed at the IRS and he flew his plane into the building as a suicide......they are already hitting on the small planes and the small "uncontroled" airports and that GA is absolutely uncontroled. Fellow pilots put on you cast iron underware..I think we are going to take it in the shorts...again!

I've been watching FOX from the beginning. Fox has been very responsible about there reporting and GA!

Fox reporters have many times stressed that this is an "isolated event by a small plane and people do many more crazy things everyday with many other means".

Shame on CNN and another reason why I don't watch other news networks much. Fox is fair and balance!!

I just saw this too, its awful for everyone concerned, including the family of the pilot. As for the remaining sane pilots, it may be we will have to start studying now to pass the mental illness portion of our upcoming medicals. Mine comes up in September.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/18/texas.plane.crash/index.html?hpt=T1

CNN wrote:The pilot evidently did not file a flight plan, the FAA said.

Death from Above. Another nail in the coffin of GA public relations. Thanks, buddy.

I knew when I saw this that the fallout was going to be bad for GA. The local news just had some talking head form the Homeland Security agency on there talking about how steps need to be taken to prevent this kind of thing in the future. Translation to me means they are thinking up brand new ways to restrict the freedoms of General Aviation. It is unfortunate that the few crazies that we have in this world can so successfully mess things up for the rest of us. Whatever measures they come up with we can be sure that they will do little or nothing to prevent this kind of tragedy while removing freedoms from the rest of us.

Ok rant over.

1SeventyZ wrote:http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/18/texas.plane.crash/index.html?hpt=T1

CNN wrote:The pilot evidently did not file a flight plan, the FAA said.

Death from Above. Another nail in the coffin of GA public relations. Thanks, buddy.

Again, I strongly feel that FOX News had the most responsible reporting of this unfortunate event. The reporters (at least one was a pilot) explained very well about the procedures of flying a small plane in different area's.

So a big applause and a double thumbs up to FOX News.

Again, I strongly feel that FOX News had the most responsible reporting of this unfortunate event. The reporters (at least one was a pilot) explained very well about the procedures of flying a small plane in different area's.

In one interview the local congressman stated that they would implement rules to prevent this from happening again, and the interviewer stated that one of her coworkers is a pilot, and is convinced the govmint will overreact and create useless restrictions. Caused him to backpedal a bit.

Still, this has the potential to be REALLY bad for GA...

I guess it's time to build all Federal, State and local government buildings underground. Come to think of it any office building that normally has more than 7 people should probably go below as well. Then all we have to do is worry about the Chinese digging up from underneath.

It seems as though it is still safer to be around small planes than to deny a broad tenure...was it three she killed last week....one day of coverage and it was over....bet this won't go away in a day....it's the press that is ruining this country more than lawyers...

How about no fly zones around ALL city, county, and federal installations. Not limited to buildings. The new No Fly Zones should include but not limited to schools, parks, dams, power plants, an building or place a government employee could be found. So I guess we need to include donut shops and coffee shops.

Probably need TFRs over ares where the government employees are at for short periods of time. Oh and of course the homes of all IRS and building inspectors.

Then thou shalt be on a flight plan at all times and be escorted by a armed FAA flight supervisor paid for by the pilot.

Hey look at all the new government jobs that would be created, it could pull us out of this recession.

Or maybe the government could lower taxes and leave us alone. Nah to simple.

IMO You can not stop a person who wants to perpetrate an act of violence and kill them selves in the process.

Today looks like a 9. I think I need to fly to the beach while I still can.


Oh by the way. I DO NOT! think the FAA will over react on this.

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff02192010.html

Death from above, that's all we represent to John Q. Public.

I'd like to think that this guy is heavy on the sarcasm, but the alarmist tone just doesn't allow enough opportunities for the reader to enjoy how ridiculous it is.

You know I read Mr. Linderoff's article and I think he hit just the right tone. On one hand I can take it as an extreme form of sarcasm meant to make a point. On the other hand, given the way a lot of folks think now days, I can read it as a serious set of suggestions! That people actually think that way can frighten me if I let my guard down!

It amazes me how irresponsible some of the media outlets can be towards GA when there's a lot of big media company's that have helicopters and corporate planes themselves!!! Most of the media company's benefit from most GA operations as the rest of us do. I don't get it!

Maybe that's why FOX was responsible on covering the Austin, TX accident. Because at least one of the reporters is a private pilot himself and Mr Rupert Murdoch fly's around the world in his own BBJ.



Oh but wait.........the government will make special rules for them (media outlets) so they can continue flying there helicopters where ever they want. And special rules for corporate operations, too. But the little guys flying there Pipers, Cessna's, Experimentals, etc., oh no, we got to stop them! The little guys are a danger to our national security!!!! Errr!! I'm just getting madder and madder.......so I'll stop before this goes to 'Hot Air".

I don't seem to remember any restrictions on rental trucks after the Murrow building in Oklahoma City was destroyed.

GA is an easy targets for the strutting peacocks in Washington (DC not State). There really are not enough of us to make a dent in the election results and we do not give millions of $$ to PAC's and lobbyists. As a result they can beat their breasts and make all sorts of insane rules without suffering any consequences to their cherished seat in Congress.

A beautiful example of the best government money can buy, and the Supreme's just made it worse.

TD

So, 58Skylane, how do you feel about FOX news?

Maybe those of us who haunt the frozen Arctic wastelands of Alaska and the wilds of Nevada, aren't as crazy as some you think we are for living so far away from "civilization."

If I sound cynical it's because I am. But this country is dumbing down more and more each day, and the middle-class world most of us live in is shrinking rapidly. The BBJs and Citations will always be allowed to fly. For a price. But the rich don't care if there's more paperwork or Jet-A goes from $2.50 a gallon to $20.00 a gallon. It's all chump change to them, and they have "people" to do all the work. Life is good.

And the stupids... I mean the poor. Hey, why should they care about a bunch of old white guys with airplanes. They have the local ER to provide them with unlimited Vicodin and Xanax for free, WWF and all the other bloodsports on their flatscreens, and a guvment check coming every month to buy Pepsi products, chips and cigarettes. Life is good.

I got my mountain top all picked out so I can sit and watch when it finally hits the fan. I don't really give a shit what happens to me. I'm old enough and mean enough I will always survive. But my kids and grandkids I do worry about.

Gump

Do you remember where you were on 9/11? Most people do and so do I. I had been to Canada and now I was returning and pulling a trailer back 1600 miles from Dawson Creek, BC reentering the US Border and on the trailer was, of all things, an airplane. I even had my paperwork in order when I was told in a more than businesslike - I - mean - business tone that lets you know you are in trouble before anyone says so. Once inside they looked at documentation for my long saved for CH 701 and then asked how I paid for it. I told them that since the seller would not take a personal check, my banker suggested a cashiers check made out to myself and told me, that way, if I didn't buy the plane, I would not have to rely on the seller to sign the cashiers check back to me since normally it would have been made out in his name. I then showed him the copy. The Border Patrol then said that since the cashiers check was made out to me it was actually my money and it was in excess of the limit of $10,000 that I had carried across the border without previously declaring it to the IRS and he would now seize the aircraft and it would become US government property and I would face additional criminal investigation. The supervisor of the Border Patrol station was called out who ordered a full search, which really means drug dogs will climb into the cab and cockpit and anything that was recently yours including seats and all else will be randomly strewn around on the ground. Meanwhile back in the office the questions continued. When the head patrol guard was near done he said he had one more question for me. What side of the US border were you standing on when you endorsed the back of this cashiers check and do you have a witness? I said I was standing in the bank at Dawson Creek, British Columbia and both the owner of the aircraft and the teller saw me sign it. He then made a call to the bank and verified what I told him. Then he said since the cashiers check was not endorsed until I was in Canada it was not a negotiable currency when I carried it across the border. It was just a worthless unsigned check like any other until I signed the back and it became cashable. He said that is not a violation and I was free to go. And brother, it didn't take long.

I tell this because the US Border Patrol was singled out early by the public and media for not scrutinizing hard enough the people it let in. I believe those first border agents that saw my cashiers check knew well what the law allowed but continued to go above and beyond because that is a reaction to pressure and fear from the public. Sometimes government agencies, in the course of their job, end up nothing more than people reacting to the same pressures and fear as anyone else. When the dust settles on this crash at Austin it would be wise to point out that it is the wrong course of action to demand an immediate government solution for all, to what might be one individual's long term problem. After all, it is an election year.

dirtstrip wrote:I tell this because the US Border Patrol was singled out early by the public and media for not scrutinizing hard enough the people it let in. I believe those first border agents that saw my cashiers check knew well what the law allowed but continued to go above and beyond because that is a reaction to pressure and fear from the public.

I don't exactly see the public demanding greater scrutiny on checks, when a check was signed, or any currency transport-related crime for that matter. Talk about splitting the wrong hairs. The power has been given to the border patrol to make our lives miserable, but where's the common sense? Every single story I have heard about the border patrol being abusive and overly scrutinizing hasn't amounted to a hill of beans in my overall personal safety. The TSA is arguable. At least they remove stinky people from planes.

There is an overpowering sense that the government must react to things that scare the public, regardless of rationale, but the objective that spawns any action never trickles down from the guy who dreamed it up, to the guy who digs the ditch. Who's steering the ship?

1SeventyZ wrote:So, 58Skylane, how do you feel about FOX news?

Yep.....I like FOX news!! Always have, actually .

I have to laugh though at how many times i've heard this one before, after a G.A. crash.... "And he didn't file a flight plan""" heard it again yesterday from one dunce newsbabe here in san diego...they all seem to think flight plans are required and even if he did how would that have prevented him from taking off...maybe she thinks he would have to divulge the fact that he was planning to fly into a building.