Rules and regulations - are only worthy when they create more benefit (value) than the burden they impose (in other words, when their net value is positive).
I manage a manufacturing plant that must be LEAN, and produce profit, while maintaining people safe and complying with financial, labor and environmental regulations. Therefore anything that is not value added is considered WASTE, including unnecessary rules. If we waste too much we are forced out of business, either by the market, or by our own stockholders. Government, unlike manufacturing, has the freedom to be capricious, incompetent, and wasteful, and often creates unnecessary rules just to flex muscle or make political statements. Government only needs to worry about fooling enough gullible people to vote them in every 4 years. The maintenance restriction for Sport Pilots is an example of government incompetence and waste. Most bureaucrats on the FAA won't survive 10 seconds in the real world, where they would need to produce true value (for a customer willing to pay for it) in order to earn a paycheck. Eliacim ----- Original Message ----- From: Ed Burkhead To: 'James B. Brennan' ; 'John Cooper' Cc: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 5:28 PM Subject: RE: [ercoupe-tech] RE: pilot maintenance J.B. Brennan asked: > . . . but why is a PP considered able to cope with this > but a SP is a Stupid Pilot?? . . . I think we can all agree that the actual difference in training is trivial (when it exists at all) and the FAA's restriction on Sport Pilots is insane in terms of training and ability to do the maintenance. The FAA has shown and admitted that it has put arbitrary restrictions on the Sport Pilots to encourage them to seek higher level licenses and provide reward privileges for those who do. I'm betting it's the reward/encouragement factor that causes this restriction to be continued. On the other hand, you are hardly ever wrong when you bet on a fault being caused by simple incompetence. Ed
