Are you disappointed that the government hasn’t made it tougher to buy guns? Perhaps you’ll be pleased to know that a new layer of bureaucracy and waiting periods have been imposed on those who want to buzz around in a little trainer aircraft. “FAA finalizes rule on student certificates” explains that what used to take an hour will now take weeks.
What if you’re a terrorist? If you want to make sure that you’re legal during the flight to your terrorism destination, you’ll have to wait “up to three weeks” until your new plastic certificate comes in the mail. If you’re not too picky about the legalities of that final flight, you can, of course just open the door to an airplane and press the start button. (Heavier aircraft don’t have ignition keys.)
This will kill off a lot of business for flight schools, in the meantime. Europeans often come over here to get a pilot certificate. They get TSA clearance using a web site over in Europe. They do all of their ground school reading in the evenings. Then they show up during a three-week break from their job and hammer out all of the flying required for a license. Now they won’t be able to do this because they won’t be able to solo until they’ve been here for about three weeks.
#howtoshrinktheeconomy
All the flying in three weeks? That’s a little scary.
Speaking of scary, how safe are those R22s?
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/faa-helicopter-makes-emergency-landing-in-copiague-intersection-1.11399117
How safe was that particular R22? I would say very, based on the article that you cite. Although the autorotation was imperfect (evidenced by helicopter rolling over onto its side), neither occupant was injured.
Scary to complete one’s Private in three weeks? If we assume 50 hours of flying time that’s just over 2 hours per day (i.e., one lesson in the morning and one in the afternoon).