It's time to start banning airplanes!

T

TheBluesMan

Moderator Emeritus
This line of thought was started by bradleyt on another thread, but it was so good I thought it deserved a thread of its own.



bradleyt - "This is clear evidence why we need to prohibit civilians from owning airplanes. Just ban them! If it saves even one life, isn't it worth it? ONLY the military or police should have them, with a few exceptions for "grandfathered" commercial outfits; the government should take them over

to protect the public. Why does anyone need an airplane? With all the thousands of them out there, think how much more dangerous it is? At the very least we need to get rid of the small ones."



I agree completely, it is unfortunate that it takes a national tragedy like the one in Martha's Vinyard to wake up the country to the dangers of airplanes. Especially those hi-cap airplanes, when one of those goes wrong, a lot more people die. Airplanes should be limited to less than 10 passengers. Let's do it for the children!



Y'know, Kennedys have been killed in the past by guns, and now Teddy is trying to take them away. I think that he really should be pushing for the elimination of all trees and airplanes too.
 
TheBluesMan, your heart is in the right place, but our great country isn't ready for such sensible but radical proposals. Yes, many more civilized countries, such as Russia, don't allow individual citizens to simply fly across the country. But our airplane culture will not permit us to make such wholesale changes at this time.

However, we do need to close some loopholes, and I'm sure everyone will agree that in the interest of safer skys we should adopt some reasonable regulations.

For example, it is foolhardy to allow one pilot per airplane. The FAA has required trained copilots for years in the right seat of every commercial airliner. It is reasonable to require the same precaution on everything from Lear Jets to gliders. This regulation has the obvious added benefit of reducing air pollution, and the waste of precious resources by greedy citizens who have previously insisted on having an entire airplane for themselves.

And, single engine airplanes are simply an accident waiting to happen. Every private plane must be refitted with a second engine, or made inoperable. A third choice would be for responsible citizens to turn in their dangerous, single engine planes at their local, governmentally-controlled airport. Please call before you arrive, and the FAA will refund all fees paid in the prior year. Note that if you inadvertently turn in the wrong airplane we cannot be held responsible for return of the aircraft. Please see our website at http://www.PlanesRUs.gov/ for a list of prohibited aircraft.

Night flying is incredibly risky, as is flying in any kind of inclement weather. Henceforth, all private pilots must file flight plans, and they must receive clearance from the National Weather Service indicating they have clear weather and adequate time to reach their destination before sunset. There will be a reasonable charge for this service, and incredibly boring and interminable public hearings will be held before that fee is set.

Since a piece of luggage was washed ashore at Martha's Vineyard, it is entirely possible this luggage contributed to the pilot's loss of control. From now on, carryon luggage will be limited to purses and attache cases for all private planes. Other luggage must be stowed, in a locked container. Each aircraft will be fitted witn a standard-sized metal box to test the size of carryon luggage.

Surely everyone will agree that not all citizens should be allowed to operate aircraft. Accordingly, any citizens matching the following criteria will be immediately prohibited from further flight privileges:

1. Convicted felons;
2. Any citizen who has ever been convicted of any misdemeanor;
3. Any citizen who has been indicted for any crime, felony or misdemeanor;
4. Any citizen whose eyes cannot be corrected to at least 20 / 40, although exemptions may apply for vision problems up to and including complete blindness under the Americans with Disabilities Act (a $10,000 fee may apply);
5. Any citizen dishonorably discharged from the service, or ever fired from government employment of any kind, at the local, state or federal level;
6. Any citizen with 3 points or more on their automobile drivers license.

Future regulations are under consideration, and you may submit your ideas for further loophole closures to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Remember - if only one life can be saved, responsible citizens will agree that any amount of inconvenience is worth that benefit. Let's do it for the children, and the Fatherland .... uh, I mean our great country.
 
You guys spoke too soon. NBC Dateline is going to have a report on "Just how safe are those small planes anyway". I believe it's on Monday night. (I think)

Look what happened with guns in 1968 after the Kennedy deaths. It only follows about light planes.

[This message has been edited by Contender (edited July 19, 1999).]
 
Bluesman,
I think that Uncle Teddy should move to ban all coastal waters. After all, it is the water that is responsible for the deaths in this incident, not planes, or cars, (as in a previous incident), or drunk driving, or an inexperienced pilot, or anything that that could possibly be the result of a personal action or judgement. The water, that evil unregulatable flow of power is the cause of these deaths. Let's just ban and fill in all of the coastal waters of the U.S or at least New England so that there are no bridges to drive off, or oceans to fly into and we will save lives. We could use the Rocky Mountains, esp. the ones with ski areas as a source for the fill and save even more lives. Of course, this would be expensive so we would have to raise taxes, but it could be done as a public works project and save the taxpayers money in the long run by hiring inner city youths and giving them job training, skills, and self-esteem as they would be working to make America a safer place to live and eventually this savings would be passed on to the American people.
I got a better idea, let's use liberals as fill.
B
 
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