24 ms·

You don't see the danger in pilots running a commercial aviation business with a personal license? They're not like cars where you can willy around and if thing

You don't see the danger in pilots running a commercial aviation business with a personal license? They're not like cars where you can willy around and if things go wrong usually it's at 30mph...

SapphireSun 11y ago
Yea, when I was going through pilot training it took me a while to realize why it was so dangerous compared to cars. The biggest reason, in my opinion, is that in a car, you can stop and get out and you're ok. In a plane, you can't stop and get out, you're trapped. If you bail out, now you have an unguided missile. Private pilot licenses have much lower standards than commercial operations. Commercial has tighter maintenance and training requirements, and is consequently much more expensive to run. Until around the 1960s to 1970s, air travel was very very dangerous. People died quite regularly. It was the implementation of serious safety practices and regulations that changed the risk to be safer than riding in a car, and public perception. Since aviation makes the country go, and people have an innate fear of flying, the FFA is both concerned for the increased loss of human life and the loss of trust in flying that would translate to the commercial sector if this went through.
- pc86 11y ago
  GA is nowhere near as safe as automobile travel.
feld 11y ago
I wasn't looking at it from that perspective. I was looking at it as a rideshare service. Example: a pilot already has a flight scheduled and you can join if there is room available. Not one where they are trying to make a living off of chartering people around. Adding humans to these existing flights does not make them more dangerous, but creating more private charter flights may very well be more dangerous. There is some good data linked above that indicates they are equally dangerous. YMMV I guess.
- HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
  So Jim in Vermont is going to New Haven, CT tomorrow to see his sister. Jeff has a business meeting in the same city and figures he can save some time waiting around in airports if he flies with Jim and pays half the costs. At takeoff time, weather around the CT coast looks iffy. Jim would rather stay home and see his sister next weekend instead. Jeff can't get a flight on such short order, and tells Jim he really needs to make the meeting or a big contract is lost. He offers to pay Jim 2x the full flight costs to make his meeting. What Jim will do in this situation is likely very different than if he hadn't agreed to take Jeff along.
  - feld 11y ago
    :( poor Jim and Jeff

You don't see the danger in pilots running a commercial aviation business with a personal license? They're not like cars where you can willy around and if things go wrong usually it's at 30mph...

SapphireSun 11y ago

Yea, when I was going through pilot training it took me a while to realize why it was so dangerous compared to cars. The biggest reason, in my opinion, is that in a car, you can stop and get out and you're ok. In a plane, you can't stop and get out, you're trapped. If you bail out, now you have an unguided missile. Private pilot licenses have much lower standards than commercial operations. Commercial has tighter maintenance and training requirements, and is consequently much more expensive to run. Until around the 1960s to 1970s, air travel was very very dangerous. People died quite regularly. It was the implementation of serious safety practices and regulations that changed the risk to be safer than riding in a car, and public perception. Since aviation makes the country go, and people have an innate fear of flying, the FFA is both concerned for the increased loss of human life and the loss of trust in flying that would translate to the commercial sector if this went through.

pc86 11y ago
GA is nowhere near as safe as automobile travel.

feld 11y ago

I wasn't looking at it from that perspective. I was looking at it as a rideshare service. Example: a pilot already has a flight scheduled and you can join if there is room available. Not one where they are trying to make a living off of chartering people around. Adding humans to these existing flights does not make them more dangerous, but creating more private charter flights may very well be more dangerous. There is some good data linked above that indicates they are equally dangerous. YMMV I guess.

HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
So Jim in Vermont is going to New Haven, CT tomorrow to see his sister. Jeff has a business meeting in the same city and figures he can save some time waiting around in airports if he flies with Jim and pays half the costs. At takeoff time, weather around the CT coast looks iffy. Jim would rather stay home and see his sister next weekend instead. Jeff can't get a flight on such short order, and tells Jim he really needs to make the meeting or a big contract is lost. He offers to pay Jim 2x the full flight costs to make his meeting. What Jim will do in this situation is likely very different than if he hadn't agreed to take Jeff along.
- feld 11y ago
  :( poor Jim and Jeff