Posted for "terrence o'neill" <troneill@charter.net>:

 Jeff and Gary,
 
 Remember the original post, in which I said that pilots were not the only
cause of fatal accidents ... that airplane design was slow evolving because
most of us avoid thinking outside the box, and set up systems to discourage
it.  When poop happens we unfairly blame the pilot ... because we don't
understand how to blame basic airplane design, so we can't talk to that.  We
talk to what we know -- i.e. no comments have been offered responding to mine
about improving airplanes.
 
 The fatal accident statistics haven't changed significantly in many years, so
we exaggerate small changes with distorted graphs and hype... to justify the
existence of those who are supposed to promote aviation (not just safety),our
overregulated activity.  Our beloved bureaucrasts and competing industries
 slowly squeeze out people who love flying by raising the cost and increasing
the inconvenience.  They ignore the intent of the law, stated at the top, and
they ignore the conditions therein stated -- that a definite safety need has
to exist to justify any new regulation, and make new regs anyway.  They do
offer us relief in our experimentals, and in our ultralights.   But I think
youo'll agree a lot of businesses just don't want us up there looking at their
strip mines, their clearcut forestry, their polluting plants, etc. and they
can afford to suppress us a little.
 
 Returning to my basic whine -- some airpanes are more difficult to fly safely
in adverse conditions, than others.  They can be improved.  All pilots are
pretty good, just as all drivers are pretty good.  We need to cut them a
little slack, like we do drivers, who are also us, and who handle amazing
complexity, without someone telling them 'Okay, you can pull out into traffic
now; and you gan climb that hill, and you can  turn onto I-70..."  And they do
it with an acceptable lev el of safety, and without medicals every two years.
 
 We can do without a huge amount of the regulation, by tying transponders into
GPS maps ... both inexpensive now.
 Safety will be maintained for one simple reason: pilots do not want to crash.
 
 We can also improve things by giving them airplanes that are safer under
adverse conditions ... with stall-spinproofing, with ballistic chutes, with
ejectable fuel, with quiet power, etc.  Let's encourage it.  Does anyone
remember the EAA's experimental design competition/contests?  That's the
spirit we could improve. We're improving pilots right out of flying.   Support
improving the vehicles now.
 
 Terrence