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Permalink Reply by Matt Hoecker on August 10, 2021 at 1:04pm

This is such a ridiculous and obvious overreach.  Chalk it up to another example that  "Common sense is not so common" (especially when it comes to our government.) 

While I haven't looked too closely into the details of the Warbirds case, I can understand the issue.  Charging high "instruction fees" for "instruction" in classic WWII planes certainly feels like the exploitation of a loophole, so I get the initial complaint.  Whether there should be those restrictions on charging for flights in warbirds (or experimental) and whether it enhances safety is an argument for a different day, but I can see the logic whether I agree with it or not. 

But to specifically target all airplanes in these categories, and not make an exemption for aircraft that the owner is flying with an instructor for training is just asinine.  It's decreasing safety by not allowing pilots to get training and serves absolutely no logical function to add any safety in any way.  In some ways it's hard to believe that anyone would be this narrow minded and illogical, but refer to my previous statement on common sense.

I'm sure that in a year we'll have a ruling that makes more sense and common sense will, at the end of the day, prevail.  But how we keep getting such buffoons making these decisions in the first place is beyond me. 

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