4 ms·

The flight ban is also being enforced by the FAA. Probably difficult to find a pilot willing to put their career at risk. I'm not clear why my tax dollars via t

by jsz0 16y ago

The flight ban is also being enforced by the FAA. Probably difficult to find a pilot willing to put their career at risk. I'm not clear why my tax dollars via the FAA should be used to fund the PR response of a public company.

pyre 16y ago
I can see them putting some restrictions on the area due the the massive amount of press that will want access to the airspace (i.e. to prevent aerial traffic jams over the hardest hit areas or the areas with the most damning photos). But the idea that BP is pulling the strings and that only BP-charter flights can get clearance is getting too close to the realm of Big Brother (well, closer to the Neal Stephenson vision of the future in Snow Crash where corporations rule everything) for me.
- waterlesscloud 16y ago
  Funny, there's dozens of aircraft aloft over my city of Los Angeles at any given moment, and it's far smaller than this spill. Crowded airspace is not the issue.
jrockway 16y ago
Career? You do know that if you have a pilot's license you can just go rent a Cessna for $100 an hour, right? (And a pilot's license is not that hard to get. It's like a driver's license; except that when I got a driver's license, I had to have 100 hours of driving logged before I could take the test. For a pilot's license, it's like 40 hours.)
- jsz0 16y ago
  There's no ramifications for violating FAA restricted airspace?
btilly 16y ago
The flight ban is a minor issue. The reasons for the flight ban are not. The problem is that the oil spill releases vapor. Said vapor has two nasty tendencies. The first is that it makes people woozy so that they make bad decisions. The second is that it can explode when exposed to fire, such as may be found in airplane engines. Unless you understand how to avoid the risks, flying low over an oil spill is a really good way to get yourself killed. (Incidentally the observant may wonder why the workers aren't being provided with masks. They weren't until people complained. Now they have the masks. But unofficial reports say that BP is threatening to fire people who use the masks. This fact alone shows sufficient hypocrisy that I'm expecting BP to dodge all responsibility as fast as possible. Just like Exxon did when they got over 3000 lawsuits over people sickened by fumes from the Valdez spill thrown out because "they just had flus and colds". Yet another reason for them to not want photographic documentation of the cleanup efforts.) Update: See http://www.adn.com/evos/stories/T99032316.html http://www.adn.com/evos/stories/T99032316.html for background on how Exxon dodged health claims, and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/26/gulf-oil-spill-cleanup-wo_n_591346.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/26/gulf-oil-spill-clea... for confirmation that there are health problems with the cleanup this time.

by jsz0 16y ago

pyre 16y ago

I can see them putting some restrictions on the area due the the massive amount of press that will want access to the airspace (i.e. to prevent aerial traffic jams over the hardest hit areas or the areas with the most damning photos). But the idea that BP is pulling the strings and that only BP-charter flights can get clearance is getting too close to the realm of Big Brother (well, closer to the Neal Stephenson vision of the future in Snow Crash where corporations rule everything) for me.

waterlesscloud 16y ago
Funny, there's dozens of aircraft aloft over my city of Los Angeles at any given moment, and it's far smaller than this spill. Crowded airspace is not the issue.

jrockway 16y ago

Career? You do know that if you have a pilot's license you can just go rent a Cessna for $100 an hour, right? (And a pilot's license is not that hard to get. It's like a driver's license; except that when I got a driver's license, I had to have 100 hours of driving logged before I could take the test. For a pilot's license, it's like 40 hours.)

jsz0 16y ago
There's no ramifications for violating FAA restricted airspace?

btilly 16y ago

The flight ban is a minor issue. The reasons for the flight ban are not. The problem is that the oil spill releases vapor. Said vapor has two nasty tendencies. The first is that it makes people woozy so that they make bad decisions. The second is that it can explode when exposed to fire, such as may be found in airplane engines. Unless you understand how to avoid the risks, flying low over an oil spill is a really good way to get yourself killed. (Incidentally the observant may wonder why the workers aren't being provided with masks. They weren't until people complained. Now they have the masks. But unofficial reports say that BP is threatening to fire people who use the masks. This fact alone shows sufficient hypocrisy that I'm expecting BP to dodge all responsibility as fast as possible. Just like Exxon did when they got over 3000 lawsuits over people sickened by fumes from the Valdez spill thrown out because "they just had flus and colds". Yet another reason for them to not want photographic documentation of the cleanup efforts.) Update: See http://www.adn.com/evos/stories/T99032316.html http://www.adn.com/evos/stories/T99032316.html for background on how Exxon dodged health claims, and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/26/gulf-oil-spill-cleanup-wo_n_591346.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/26/gulf-oil-spill-clea... for confirmation that there are health problems with the cleanup this time.