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Jim Sower wrote:
It was the government (and the Japanese) who brought us seat belts and shoulder harnesses, air bags, emission standards and a whole bunch of other beneficial developments.
Nawh! It was the Scandinavians to brought us seat belts. In the Volvo's. What the gov brought us was anti-lock brakes. 10 years to early. (Remember the deaths the first go 'round with that technology.)
If Detroit had been left to it's own devices, we'd still be driving 6000 lb cars getting 9 mpg with nothing at all to prevent you from being impaled on the steering column in an accident, brake lights and turn signals as tiny and invisible as style desired, etc. etc.
Now Jim, I'm not that old, but I can remember what was happening in the '70's. The gov didn't bring us gas mileage, the Japanese did.
I don't think it was the government screwed up general aviation. I think it was a combination of liability issues and the unwillingness of the industry to invest in research and development. I'm not at all certain which, if any, of these was most important.
Why was the industry unwilling to research and develop? Could it be that the customer base was not allowed to purchase elsewhere due to government fiat? The truth of the matter is that legislators and bureaucrats are not engineers, and are piss poor arbiter of what is good technology. What they are good at is running to the front of a parade so they can say they're leading it. So be it. Let's talk about something important.
EWP. Taste great or less filling?
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