Interesting blog and opine!!

The next and biggest threat to GA (part 2)
August 26th, 2013 by John Petersen
We may already be seeing the beginning of the government’s plan to eliminate VFR flying.

Following the initial reporting by Ken Mead of AOPA, FLYING’s Robert Goyer, (among others) have been relaying the growing numbers of random, unfounded stops by heavily armed, threatening teams from CBP, Homeland Security, and local authorities of aircraft that were flying under VFR rules.

Pilots should consider the following:

1. The government has identified VFR flying as an area that they do not control in the way that they do most other areas of transportation. They will work to eliminate that ambiguity.

2. The government is being influenced by a concept described in a book, read and promoted by President Obama, named Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness, by American academics Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein. One interviewer, reported, “When I talked to Thaler earlier this year about Nudge and asked him what was the core theme of the book, he said: “The central question is really whether by understanding human nature you can use what we call “choice architecture” to devise policies and institutions that make it more likely that individuals will make decisions that are good for them.”” Thaler has just come off of a stint working in the Executive Office of the President at the White House where his job was to devise situations where people were put in situations where the choices they were given were biased toward decisions that the government had determined beforehand were beneficial.

It is not unreasonable to suggest that the probing, increasing visible stops of pilots by authorities could be the initial attempts to “nudge” the aviation system in a direction that they desire (or to test to see what kind of response they get).

3. Federal and local agencies now use massive, overwhelming, intimidating force in unthreatening situations. For example, John and Martha King were confronted as though they were known drug runners when they were stopped by four cars worth of gun drawn officers because of an N-number confusion. The point is that there is a clear, new, nation-wide attempt by law enforcement agencies to default to force and intimidation as the de facto approach in increasing numbers of situations. There is a clear trend toward intimidation.

4. The most likely scenario – one used in many other situations – is to capitalize on an upcoming event, either contrived or not, to try to make the point that this lack of control presents the country with a vulnerability that must be eliminated.

5. There are a number of defensive strategies that could mounted to fend off this trend. One is to begin to raise the awareness of the importance of VFR flying by reminding the pilot community of the unique, beneficial value of coming and going as we wish. A clear community-wide commitment to the values of VFR flight would be useful if there were a future run at visual flying.

Another would be to become increasing vocal, as AOPA and FLYING, and other publications have been, about the efforts of the government to stop pilots without probable cause.

There could also be defensive legislative remedies as well.

It would be very sad to lose the last real example of freedom that aviators in the U. S. (and not many other countries) have — to take to the sky without a reason or necessary destination, only because of the joy and wonder of it all.

It's coming my friend. We may not see it, but our children easily could. They slip it in us just a little at a time you see, that way it doesn't hurt, not even just a little bit.

Oh wait, I am being paranoid.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.

VFR is #1 on the list. Your guns are #2 on the priority. Maybe. It's close with your healthcare.

Some things such as ag flying can't be IFR no matter how bad the gov wants it. I wouldn't doubt that kind of BS from the current administration. It may be 30 years from now, but I won't file any type of flight plan to fly around my local area, just not happening.

Can you imagine all the normally VFR traffic suddenly filing? The system would shit the bed.

This piece seems a bit of speculation. Where did you copy it from?

Hey, Zane.
If you ask nice, one of the moderators will likely remove your double post.....

lc

Feel free to take this one out too......

Littlecub wrote:Hey, Zane.
If you ask nice, one of the moderators will likely remove your double post.....

lc

Feel free to take this one out too......

Happens to the best of us...

You were pretty quick on that, because I deleted it within a minute or so.

Yep. Both the best, and the rest!

Timing is everything... at some things.

lc

It is unfortunately reality. The 25 year plan after 911 is that all airborne traffic will be identified, tracked and monitored. It is coming, and there is not a damned thing we can do about it. Not only here in the US but in all Western Countries. The young will adapt and accept. Us the stubborn older, will never accept it .Only through our eventual death will we escape the perpetual need for government to control every aspect of our lives!
I feel it's a great time to be in middle age. No way do I want to be young. This small and hopelessly crowded world is due for a big change soon and I'm not sure if I wanna be around to witness it.

X2


lc

I see the recent slate of armed stops and searches in a slightly different light. I really blame the Patriot Act, the creation of Homeland Security and the untold billions poured into it in the last 12 years.

We've created a massive hammer that now roams the country looking for nails to pound, as they need to DO something with all that money and training.

As with others of you I have come to the conclusion that the U.S. has abandoned the principals I hold dear, Freedom, Capitalism and Self-reliance among them. The new path the majority of Americans have decided upon requires Government intervention and control in every aspect of their lives. I too don't believe it can be reversed but I have decided to delay it as much as possible so that I can hopefully live out the remainder of my life with the greatest amount of personal freedom. To this end I am supporting organizations that fight for what's important to me, such as:

Safari Club International
National Rifle Association
Trout Unlimited
AOPA

Last night I joined:

RAF
EAA

The EAA was an interesting choice. I don't own an experimental plane. But a friend asked if I had ever thought of supporting the Young Eagles? I'd heard the name certainly but that was about it. Introducing kids to GA seems like a great idea, especially with the ranks of GA dwindling as it (we) get older. Coincidentally I have been thinking that my next plane will indeed be an "experimental".

Backcountry pilots, and others whose jobs have them flying close to the ground, are without a doubt the most skilled in the GA fleet, and need to be the greatest defenders of VFR flying.

I tend to agree with mnewb1, there aren't enough VFR flights covering large enough areas to make eliminating them an interesting target. Customs and border protection working with other paramilitary organizations created by the Patriot Act seem to have the senseless drug war that has ragged unsuccessfully for decades in their crosshairs. Profits from sales of drugs and large consignments of weapons have supported rebels and terrorists around the world since well belt Iran/Contra and that seems to be the perpetual target. Civil VFR aviation just isn't worth pursuing directly. That doesn't mean that government policies won't make it more difficult or expensive to continue with our treasured pastime (ADSB & other requirements are coming) but those aren't directly focused on killing VFR flight, they are more likely to be misguided attempts to improve the dismal safety record of general aviation.

GA has a superb safety record. The last complete year stats are available show only 272 fatal accidents in 20.4 million hours flown according to AOPA. That's a 0.00133% accident rate! If you assume 100mph average that's 0.13% per mile travelled.

Now look at autos. 29,450 or so fatal accidents in 2011 for 2.9 billion miles driven. That's 0.001% rate per mile.

Even at a couple orders of magnitude higher than autos by back of envelope calcs, it's still extremely low and pretty damn safe.

Ill take it. Especially since as PIC I have a lot of control over whether or not I become a statistic. I think less so on the roads when you consider the modes of accidents.

Zzz wrote:Can you imagine all the normally VFR traffic suddenly filing? The system would shit the bed.

This piece seems a bit of speculation. Where did you copy it from?

Zzz, came out of the AOPA email that I receive, and it might not be just VFR he's trying to talk about, I think that it would start like it is in Canada and has been for years, Your almost required to have a flight plan to get off the ground!!
I think that would be the first step, OR you will be required to have a mode S as in capstone project.
Or you will have to have something transmitting like spot or spydertracks when ever you leave the ground!!
Hope I'm gone by then!!

The mention of Cass Sunstien should tell you all you need to know. He is an "Orwellian Progressive" not my term, in the Obama administration. This goes a lot further than GA. We need to get these people who lust for power out asap.

In many country's around the world they already have this -It's like "controlled flight" - In Argentina you must get permission to fly from one airport to another -subject to a large payoff of officials .You must "request" and pay a healthy "tax" to continue your flight . It's a way of control we've never had to deal with in the USA .I think this is another attempt to control the movement of aircraft and occupants within a area. They have 2 UH-60 helicopters at BVU and I believe there DHS owned and operated, -they snoop around airport and area . Just another of our rights being eroded and more for the limp brain politicians .

IMHO the "National Security" excuse has been over used and abused for quite some time, by every spectrum of the political landscape.
Along the lines of what 182 STOL driver said I can see, after the subject has been beaten up for years, a slow deliberate expansion of class B, the mode C veil and perhaps some class C/D airspace. Maybe even the expansion of transponder and ADS-B rules to include more aircraft and airspace as well, might as well make more of us spend a few bucks while they are at it.

dplunkt wrote:The mention of Cass Sunstien should tell you all you need to know. He is an "Orwellian Progressive" not my term, in the Obama administration. This goes a lot further than GA. We need to get these people who lust for power out asap.

Anyone that wants to hold an elected office lusts for power. I have never seen one of any breed that didn't. The job attracts power seekers the way shit attracts flies.

How do you suggest getting "those that lust for power" out of power?

mnewb1 wrote:
We've created a massive hammer that now roam the country looking for nails to pound, as they need to DO something with all that money and training.

...and anyone of us that sees the world any differently than they do start to look an aweful lot like a nail to them.