Pat Stewart
Well Known Member
I've been watching all week for a discussion to start on what was said this week at Oshkosh. Anyone have an update.
Translation: "We're trying to delay and deflect long enough for Congress to lose interest and the rest of you just give up."The administrator says "It's complicated".
Yep.Sigh.
Thing seem to be happening in congress though. The Pilots Bill of Rights 2 (PBOR2) is in committee, and was in need of cosponsors. I called the 2 Iowa senators on Tuesday, and on Wednesday they signed on. Whatever difference my 10 minutes of time caused, it was worth it!
It now has more than half of the senate as co-sponsors. Thats a good sign.
... Ahmmmm... Hey Gil, you did a lighting plan for me of my current shop space that is totally PERFECT about 8yrs ago. Amazing that there is not a shadow in any corner (bring your sunglasses). We've been talking about how perfect your guidance was for the last 8yrs. So, in the coming months we have to recreate such perfection. Are your tools still current (T8 / T5?)? Sorry for the interruption .
supported by all pilots
If true, that would take first prize in the "blatant lies from minor bureaucrats" contest. What a ridiculous statement. And even if it were true -- how exactly would a third class medical change that? I guess listening to these guys is like going to see a sci-fi movie... you just have to suspend disbelief.?over 90% of GA accidents are in large part due to pilot use of drugs and alcohol.?
They (the FAA) have made that perfectly clear over the past several years. While making numerous promises to "look into it", they have actually done absolutely nothing. It's a loss of power that no bureaucracy would tolerate without being forced into it.Based on this, and assuming it is accurate, I think we will not see 3rd class medical reform until Congress forces it on the FAA.
Unfortunately not true.
Apparently 52,000 pilots don't agree with the PBOR2 as ALPA put this letter out back in June.
That really ticks me off....seriously, airline pilots are opposed to eliminating the third class medical?
Apparently 52,000 pilots don't agree with the PBOR2 as ALPA put this letter out back in June. As is typical with these kinds of statements it presents a concern to get the reader excited ("allow medically unfit pilots unfettered access to the national airspace at altitudes up to 18,000 feet, which
also includes commercial airline traffic carrying passengers and cargo") with no data to support how this situation would not be any different from today with all of the "daily self certified" pilots currently occupying that same airspace.
I guess back to my coffee as well.........
There's a difference between ALPA and pilots in the trenches.
Always has been so. For years ALPA opposed changing the age 60 rule while most members, at least those I knew favored it.
Membership, what's that? The internal political power base rules.
I've known a few airline pilots including my uncle. Only a few, I admit - and they were remarkable in that they had the four following opinions:
* they characterized our general av aircraft as 'puddle jumpers'.
* they had no respect for us or our sport.
* they hated their flying jobs - characterizing themselves as 'flying bus drivers'.
* they didn't want to learn about general aviation.
My uncle had no respect for any aircraft that had less that four engine kerosene burners. Hopefully that doesn't represent ALPA members now - maybe the ALPA membership will speak up.
Thankfully that doesn't represent the membership here on the VAF.
That really ticks me off....seriously, airline pilots are opposed to eliminating the third class medical?
If ALPA feels that it is not in their best interest then they should oppose it. I hate to break it to some, but GA is a safety threat to them, I hate to count the number of RA's I have had with VFR GA traffic in the clouds.
I hate to break it to some, but GA is a safety threat to them, I hate to count the number of RA's I have had with VFR GA traffic in the clouds.
bob burns
N82RB RV-4
Bob, I respect your right to express your opinion. GA is a safety threat eh? It's good to know where we really stand with the ALPA professionals.
You want an opinion? I think the third class medical requirement kills a lot more pilots than midairs ever could. A high percentage of GA pilots (and more than a few Part 121 pilots) hesitate to obtain the regular medical checks and procedures that would save lives.
. . . and as i stated GA is a safety threat.
bob burns
rv-4 N82RB
The third class medical accomplishes exactly zero.
There are many people that like bureaucracy for bureaucracy's sake. It doesn't matter to them if it is accomplishing anything, or how much it costs, or what happens when it goes wrong and there is no recourse. They like it just to give themselves a comfortable feeling that someone else is in charge and they don't have to think for themselves. And, that other people can't be trusted with thinking for themselves either.
Usually, however, such people are not pilots.
Ditto. If I hadn't been worried about the medical cert I'd have called the **** doctor and avoided an MI.Amen! Amen! Ducking the medical radar is what enabled the progression of the disease that almost killed me!
... there are to many people on the roads that should not be medically driving but they are. do you thing it will do GA any good when someone with 20/400 vision crashes into a house.
bob burns
rv-4 N82RB
dan you are right. but bringing the medical standards up to modern standards is what needs to be done. a lot of disqualifying conditions need to be eliminated and updated but just tossing it out is not the answer. there are to many people on the roads that should not be medically driving but they are. do you thing it will do GA any good when someone with 20/400 vision crashes into a house.
and as i stated GA is a safety threat. most RA's are from VFR GA aircraft being where they should not have been. I have had two near misses, both with GA aircraft. one while on the ILS13R at DFW a RV-6 went under me about 100 feet. yes he was in the class b without a clearance. the other was a 310 in the clouds VFR. he popped out of a clouds just as I got an RA on him.
bob burns
rv-4 N82RB
There is not, nor has there ever been, any shred of evidence to show that the third-class medical exam has a measurable effect on accident rates and safety in light airplanes. To the contrary, the medically-related accident rate for gliders and now LSAs shows no statistical difference to the rate for the rest of light GA. No spate of medically-caused accidents drove the adoption of the third-class medical, and no findings from those non-existent accidents drove the criteria for the exam--it was simply someone's rectally-extracted idea of what constituted "good health", imposed for no other reason than because the military and airlines had a medical exam so by God, private pilots will too.
If we really want to do something about safety, why doesn't the FAA take all the millions of dollars of taxpayer money and all the hundreds of thousands of man-hours spent on making sure light airplane pilots can turn their heads and cough, and use that instead to do something meaningful about stall/spin and other loss-of-control accidents--you know, one of the largest causes of accidents--beyond just wringing their hands and admonishing pilots to just "be better pilots"?
Sort of a cheap shot DanH.
There is plenty of finger pointing to go around. Not all ALPA pilots are anti-light airplane prima-donnas.
BTW, I have written my legislators and complained to ALPA.